Patrick Dougherty

Six to Receive 2023 North Carolina Award, State’s Highest Honor

RALEIGH, N.C. — The state’s highest civilian honor, the North Carolina Award, will be presented to six distinguished North Carolinians Thursday, Nov. 9, at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Governor Roy Cooper will present the awards.

The award was created by the General Assembly in 1961 to recognize significant contributions to the state and nation in the fields of fine arts, literature, public service and science.

The 2023 honorees are Honorable David Price for Public Service, Honorable G.K. Butterfield for Public Service, Fred A. Whitfield for Public Service, Marsha White Warren for Literature, Patrick Dougherty for Fine Arts and Mandy K. Cohen, M.D., M.P.H., for Science.

“These individuals have contributed so much to our state and nation thanks to their remarkable careers and achievements,” said Reid Wilson, secretary of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. “Each of them has enhanced the lives of North Carolinians through their impressive accomplishments in public service, literature, science, and the arts.”

35’ X 35’ and 21’ tall

Material: willow from Quebec

My son Sam who has been my assistant for six years, has matured as a sculptor, and has played an ever-increasing role in the design and execution of the ten large sapling sculptures produced in 2022. In a previous era, he helped build Cutting Corners, a very geometric sculpture built at Mounts Botanical Garden in 2019. He returned with me in November of 2022 to try to best our previous effort with a final tour de force. We wanted a work which would tower at the tree top level and one that could be seen easily from many vantage points in the garden.

The result, Fit for a King, offers a mirage, a luxurious dream of a fantasy palace placed among palms and flowering trees. Its central core has a high dome with a round window or oculus at the highest reaches. It has a staccato of round windows high around the central barrel and larger luxurious ones below. Its central volume has a grand feeling and can be accessed from any one of four entry halls. I remain intrigued that Sam and I were once again able to conjure and tease such a sculpture from the piles of small saplings which constituted our building material.

2022 is my retirement year from traveling and building larger work. Sam will open a traditional pottery in Stokes County NC. In 2023 Dorothy Juhlin Bank, the heart of our operation in Chapel Hill, will finally get a moment to herself, and I plan to produce work in my studio in Chapel Hill, NC. I appreciate the enormous groundswell of interest in my work over the years. Thank you.
Patrick Dougherty

Photos: courtesy the artist

75’ X 100’ and 16’ tall
Material: willow from Quebec

This work includes three tiny houses built on site in the deep woods of New Hampshire. I imagined a sculpture that would somehow engulf these structures and unsettle contemporary architecture once and for all.

In the poetic realm, reality is topsy-turvy: fish can speak, clouds can fall in love, and trees observing human behavior might have all kinds of emotions. My intention was to create a wall, a maelstrom of saplings which would seem to overtake these manmade structures and give the illusion of flowing through doors and out windows, cascading over roofs in one unstoppable moment. Poetically, this sculptural wall has feelings and is envious of the conventions of human architecture. As it makes its way, it mimics details of the architecture it encounters and produces some geometric shapes of its own.

Photos: Alnoba docents and Patrick

30’ X 20’ and 16 feet tall
Material: Local willow

Jackson Hole, WY, is a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts, and the JH Center for the Arts, with support from the city’s public art program, imagined the appeal of a sculpture constructed from the area’s local willow. Even though vast open wilderness surrounds the town, the city center itself is cramped for space and any open area is coveted for multiple uses. Every day I longed to expand my work into a more central location in the adjacent park, but that grassy field is reserved for weddings, tented dinners, concerts, and the farmer’s market. So we tucked the sculpture into a corner pocket owned by The Center, and worked to have it inhabit the space and announce itself.

Finders Keepers is a sculpture with seven fluted pinnacles, each folded into itself so that it creates an alcove, a step-in place for visitors. These folded towers are tall enough to capture the attention of passersby and are grouped around two inviting courtyards. Woven windows abound and conjure the feeling of viewing village life and the untamed mountains beyond from the safety of a protective thicket.

Photos: Sam Pope

90’ X 20’ and 14 feet tall
Material: Willow harvested locally

In 2015 I constructed Daydreams, using a classic turn-of the-century Montana schoolhouse as a foil for a sprawling sapling sculpture that offered swirling skeins of branches on the interior and a cascading element crossing the roof.

In July 2022, I returned to build a new sculpture entitled Cursive Takes a Holiday. It starts as a tendril on the front porch roof and becomes a series of nooks and crannies topped with a looping, swirling edge to lead the eye from the schoolhouse towards the woods beyond. In my mind, the burden of school children practicing handwriting within the strictures of three given lines is relieved as students run pell-mell to recess. I fantasied that magically the pent-up cursive itself also escapes through the door and becomes a kind of unfettered writing style, rambunctious and free. The unruly line swoops and turns in large gestures and finally settles into a kind of freeform architecture, a playground for exploration.

Photo: James Florio

32 feet in diameter, 20 feet tall

Material: Several varieties of local willow

Horseshoe Bay Farms is an historic farm complex on the shore of Lake Michigan. Because this sculpture is located at the back of the historic site, it needed to call attention to itself when seen from the main road out front. Hence the five tall towers. In addition, the towers were designed to handle the heavy snow load this area experiences in winter.

Our biggest hurdle was the Niagara Escarpment which runs under the site. This deep layer of limestone made digging for the structural uprights challenging.

Visitors can move through the circular hallway that connects the towers and make their way to the interior courtyard. There they might spend an intimate moment cradled by the sculpture and experience the carefree aspect of Happy Go Lucky.


Photos: Courtesy Horseshoe Bay Farms and the artist

66’ X 14’ and 12 feet tall

Material: Dogwood, elm, and willow gathered locally

Thinking of the windswept nature of Kansas, I decided to experiment with a strong, double-wall construction. This provided the opportunity to create cone shaped interiors that feature the Kansas sky and exterior walls that are more freeform and flowing. Big windows offer interesting views in all directions. Situated close to the art center, the sculpture has easy access for visitors.

Photos: courtesy the artist

60’ X 30’ and 21 feet tall

Material: Willow from Ramo.eco in Quebec and a variety of yellow willow from CBG

Since the site for this sculpture is outlying to the general activity of the Garden, I wanted to create something that could signal itself from a distance. With that in mind, we built six tall thin towers with a series of connecting hallways. Using the yellow variety of willow provided by the Garden, we were able to delineate a swirling wave to unite the hallways and towers. This wave swoops up and down and all around to add visual excitement to the surface, and, together with golden domes on each tower, calls to visitors to come check it out.

While we worked (in every kind of weather), we had an ongoing conversation with walkers who use the area. The Garden’s Grounds Department and Construction Department were especially supportive of our efforts.

This work is part of the Chicago Botanic Garden’s celebration called FLOURISH: the Garden at 50, which runs from May 13 to September 25.



Photos: Courtesy Chicago Botanic Garden

60’ X 25’ and 12 feet tall

Material: Willow from Ramo in Quebec

The footprint of this sculpture is three interlocking jigsaw pieces. As the work proceeded, these puzzle shapes were obscured by the development of the upper reaches with their sense of motion and whimsy. Fly Away Home is sited at a pivotal point in Carpenter Park, right beside the sidewalk used by pickleball players, basketballers, picnicking families, and children ready to play. The design specifically gives easy access to all comers. Immediately behind the sculpture is a small lake which offers interesting reflections of the work too.

Photos: Courtesy the artist (top) and Kurt Hilton Photography

Video: Kurt Hilton here

25’ X 25’ with each of four elements 12 feet tall

Material: Mixed hardwoods, primarily sweetgum

Taking inspiration from the rural landscape and those big round hay-bales that litter the fields along Alabama highways, this sculpture, entitled Roly Poly, features the swirling end-grain of those iconic bales. Wrapping loose hay as tightly as a ball of twine, the baler produces roll-along motion that is captured as the grass is prepared for storage. This sculpture transforms all the truckloads of saplings gathered by the garden crew into four tightly bound, swirling “bales” that, if given half-a-chance, might roll back into the field. Viewers are encouraged to step inside and be caught up in the action. A thank you to the staff of the Huntsville Botanical Garden and all the volunteers who helped make the sculpture possible.

Photos: Courtesy the artist

Willow purchased from Ramo in Quebec
40 feet X 20 feet and 22 feet high at tallest

This work consists of five vessel forms leaning against each other to suggest familiarity and reciprocity. It was conceived as a family grouping; thus the title.

Photos: Dave Lovejoy

Willow
70 feet X 20 feet and 15 feet high

Overnight, it seemed, the Kapnick Caribbean Garden lawn transformed from grassland to wonderland as sculptor Patrick Dougherty — the “Stickman” — and his son, Sam, led nearly 100 volunteers in turning 30,000 pounds of willow saplings into an immersive art experience.

In reality, it took three weeks, the volunteers working in teams of four, four hours per shift. The piece started with four identical elliptical shapes; it ended with a 70-foot long, 15-foot tall, 20-foot wide sculpture that seems to rise and fall, ebb and flow, twist around itself — as if an invisible force had pushed it this way or that.

Patrick named it Sea Change, the term signifying a “great transformation.”
“But it also reflects what happens in the ocean itself, the wind that plays on it, the ebb tides that push it,” the artist explained. “We thought those things would be reflected in the surface as we made it.”

Jennifer Reed


Photos: Brian Janssen

Willow
100 feet X 20 feet and 15 feet high

Making the Birds Proud is a new work located adjacent the SCAD Museum of Art which sits beside a busy student thoroughfare providing the sculpture with a never-ending audience. Designed like a standup folded greeting card, it hints at a storybook fable unfolding.
I joked with passersby that the front facades were built by “primitive architects” while the reverse side with its free form construction method seemed like the work of an indigenous tribe. There is a zigzag path within and visitors are invited to enter, to explore, and to let their own stories unfold.

Photos: Patrick, DJ Hellerman

Sycamore, ash, and cherry
25 feet X 50 feet and 15 feet high

Using a simple line drawing, we laid a footprint which then swirled into three covered spaces and several galleries open to the sky. The work is sited in a grove of black Locust trees, and one tendril of the sculpture climbs provocatively into one of the trees.

Since the sculpture is located near the entrance to Eliza Howell Park where streets converge, it creates a nice focal point for bringing people to this under-used city park. Sidewalk Detroit’s goal is to bring much deserved attention to this huge natural resource and open space in the middle of urban sprawl.

Many neighbors lent their energy to the build by gathering, leaf removal, and actual weaving with Patrick and Sam.


Photos: Lunar Haus

Red maple and sugar maple

30 feet X 50 feet and 15 feet high

The design for this work was a strong response to the site chosen by the organization, an irregular grove of Scotch pines near the elevated Wild Walk. The work consists of five elements in a big surround circling an inner courtyard. We wanted to accommodate the large number of visitors and provide for easy traffic flow. In order to suggest reciprocity with the pines, we intertwined some of them in the surround. One of the five elements uses a natural Y in a pine tree’s trunk to create an elegant window.

Paying attention to climate, we made a knife-like edge for the top and lots of openings to avoid snow build-up when winter comes.

Photos:

Willow from Ramea Phytotechnologies, Quebec

50 feet X 35 feet and 14 feet high

Kousa dogwood is one of my favorite flowering trees and was the inspiration for the design of this installation. We started with the idea of three of its flowers as a footprint. We proceeded by expanding the petals upward to build walls and towers. The result is a series of three towers and twelve supported rooms for visitors to explore.

The sculpture is situated beside the visitor center of the Sandhills Horticultural Gardens, providing easy access to visitors. The staff and college community of this beautiful garden gave us wonderful support throughout.

Photos: Carla Butler, Meredith Butler

Willow, sweetgum, and sycamore

30 feet X 20 feet and 16 feet high

Central to this sculpture is an American elm tree, previously unremarkable on the periphery of the front yard. All other possible sites were reserved for concerts and other activities. So we set about creating a work that would interact with this tree and show it off in a new way. We created four sapling elements which engage the tree in pairs - two high in the branches and two lower. These four corners create a large room around the tree’s trunk.

As we worked, we saw this interaction work its magic; the inner room became its own exhibition space. Visitors came in droves and were reminded of the role of trees in our human activity, their sheltering of us, and the comfort we can glean from our relationship with them.

Photos: Rachael Pacella/Capital Gazette, Patrick McNamara

35’ X 20’ and 22’ high

Material: Willow from Fredonia, NY and local maple

Southern Comforts is located in a bucolic setting with cows grazing across the road and tractors working in the near distance, an area known as Happy Valley. We felt a sharp contrast with the more urban sites of other works. Given this rural site, we tried to place the sculpture to attract the attention of people passing by on the winding country road. The five elements sit in a grove of very large pine trees, leaning into them and implying interaction between the sculpture and the pines. In order to enhance the look from the road, we perched a globe atop each element.

The overall impetus for the project was an effort to join in the re-invigoration of the old Patterson School. That effort has created a new art presence in the valley, which includes the Western North Carolina Sculpture Center.

Photos: Alistair Burke

75 ft X 35 ft and up to 15 ft high

Material: Willow from Fredonia, NY

Free as a Bird is located right in the heart of Antler Village on the Biltmore Estate. Given the large crowds that Biltmore draws, we wanted something palatial and roomy, with walking areas to accommodate large numbers of visitors. We aimed for a free-wheeling sculpture to occupy the site with flowing energy. The work is lit at night, further enlivening the space.

During construction, a pair of mockingbirds came from a nearby holly bush to serenade us every day. They seemed to be staking a claim to the work. We decided to name it in their honor.

Photos: Rachael McIntosh

50’ X 30’ and 14’ tall

Material: mixed hardwoods

Hooky is a deviation from a straight line and, if I did deviate from my straight-line responsibilities, I might be found exploring this curvy new sculpture.

My starting point for the work was a review of seed shapes from Texas trees -- seed pods from Mesquite and Locust trees, for example. I commandeered their crescent shape and laid out five variants on the ground in a pleasing configuration. From the ground up, each of these curved spaces became a woven bivouac.

The placement of the sculpture near the mainline walkway of the garden is sure to encourage passersby to stop and explore. I made sure that there were plenty of doors and windows so that the viewer could look out and look in. I particularly liked interjecting the sculpture under the overhanging branches of the nearby trees. I imagined that, when the leaves come on, the sculpture will seem to be cradled by its surroundings.

Photos courtesy Fort Worth Botanic Garden

50’ X 30’ and 14’ tall

Material: sweetgum from Serenbe community in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia

This work was planned in the new green space situated beside the Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design. I thought of shrubbery parading as architecture and wanted to reflect the cityscape of Atlanta with its stair-stepping skyline.

The sculpture consists of four elements, blocky and varying in height, sited on a hilltop. Visitors to the park can explore it close up, but it is also visible to passing traffic on Ferst Street.

Photos: courtesy of the artist

50 ft X 50 ft and up to 16 ft tall

Material: willow from Quebec, Canada; local red maple for supports

The site for this sculpture is up a mountain, very remote from civilization, intended by the sponsor to encourage resort guests and residents to venture out into the far reaches of nature. We needed a bulldozer to ferry material up the mountain and an all-terrain vehicle for the harrowing climb each morning.

The sculpture itself was also conceived to encourage exploration for guests of Blackberry Mountain. It consists of seven elements laid out concentrically to surprise guest hikers and to challenge them to enter and find their way to the center. Its shape reflects a line of mountains in the distance to further enhance the connection with Nature.

Photos: Ingalls Photography

30 ft X 20 ft and 16 ft tall

Material: willow from Fredonia, NY

On my first visit to the school campus, a small grove of old trees presented itself as special, suggesting that it remained uncleared because of its inherent interest and sanctity. This copse is located near the chapel and arranged in a natural oval. I conceived my sculpture there as a series of chapelettes set in an ellipse with a scalloped wall to connect them. The five pieces have doors to invite visitors in, and, once inside, one can go further into a central room, an inner sanctum. There looking up will reveal the canopy of trees over the sculpture, creating an awareness of the protective nature of these trees and the grandeur of their upper branches.

Photos: Ben Jordan

35 ft X 50 ft and 13 ft tall

Material: willow from Fredonia, NY

Spending time in the woods, I have often noticed the intricate pathways that insects make on leaves, in the dirt, under the bark of trees. Ants, leaf miners, bark beetles, caterpillars – all create wandering pathways, with frequent switchbacks and hairpin turns. As a starting point for this sculpture, we laid out such a track onto the ground, creating a rollicking trail that twisted and turned. The single wall follows this trail and is further expanded with a series of inner bivouacs and a series of outer courtyards. The sculpture sits at the top of a hill near a grove of birch trees which give it scale and add an element of friendly camaraderie.

35 ft X 25 ft and 20 ft high

Material: ligustrum, cherry laurel, and sweetgum harvested locally

My initial thoughts as I approached this installation were on solid geometry, which led me to thinking about pyramids, especially the Nubian pyramids built by ancient African kingdoms. I decided to take this new-to-me shape and to tip it off-kilter by propping each of the four geometric shapes on small pillows. I thought of it as turning solid geometry on its head. Visitors are invited in to explore and perhaps to remember fondly their favorite high school class.

Photos: Sarah Graves, courtesy Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.

60 ft X 30 ft and 18 ft high

Material: mixed hardwoods

For this work, we wanted to take advantage of a provocative site in a small pocket park near the college library. The site is bordered by walkways on three sides giving maximum viewing opportunity to the college community. Additionally, we wanted to engage visitors from the surrounding areas who come to enjoy the beauty of the campus. The work consists of a winding wall along two semicircles that are joined by a gateway obelisk that allows passage through. The outside ends of the snaking wall each features a tower and the wall itself has a series of walk-in buttresses to add interest.

Photos: Courtesy of Davidson College, David Ramsey

64 ft X 36 ft and 13 ft high

Material: willow from Fredonia, NY

Still enchanted by the majesty of the Royal Palm Grove at the McKee Botanical Garden, I focused my second artwork there on the corridor of trees where the Grove begins. My goal was to use spaces on both sides of the path in a provocative way and to create enclosures with the feel of tropical lounges. I linked the spinning tops of these four cabanas with an excited flowing line that arches over the walkway, jumping the path four times, and leans familiarly on the majestic palms.

Photos: Bob Joy

35 ft X 25 ft and 9 -18 ft high

Material: Locally harvested cedar and maple, plus willow from Fredonia, NY

This sculpture is located by the education pavilion where garden visitors and children gather. It consists of seven amphora-like shapes, to mimic the decorative planters seen throughout the garden. For dramatic effect, we built these shapes in various outsizes from nine feet to a towering eighteen feet.

Photos: Patrick Dougherty

40 ft X 25 ft and 14 ft high

Material:  Locally harvested Norway maple, cherry, and elm, plus purchased willow from Fredonia, NY

 Thinking of English knot gardens and trying to imagine a work for the city congestion of Washington DC, I produced a wild scribble and characterized it as “urban scrawl.”  I transferred this “chicken scratch” drawing to graph paper and plotted the sketch in the grassy lawn on the right side of the Garden’s glass conservatory.   From this footprint, I hoped to conjure a zany three-dimensional object that viewers could explore.   This work is planned to be part of the Garden’s Bicentennial Celebration in 2020. The Garden boasts more than a million visitors a year, and this sculpture sits in the middle of the hubbub as visitors stream from one national attraction to another.

Photos: Patrick Dougherty, Chris Ellenbogen

See more at www.USBG.gov/Dougherty  

Two segments 12 ft tall that occupy 15 ft X 25 ft

Material:  Locally harvested sweetgum

 Inspiration for this work came from the leaf of the sweetgum tree itself.   We laid out the five-pointed shape on the ground to see what would result if a leaf shape grew tall into a building.   Our desire was to intrigue visitors and pull them into this fantasy.

 The title comes from a John Prine song and the associations with a bucolic moment in childhood, a glimpse of the natural world in harmony, along the Green River where paradise lay.   

Photos:  Michael Cortez

50’ in diameter and 14’ high

Material:  willow from Double A

 When I set about designing this work, I was exploring ancient symbols of community and encountered one that looked like a wheel with a central hub and naturalistic spokes that turned back on themselves.  We made our circular hub fourteen feet high and added seven spokes that wind off that core.  I noted that these meandering spokes suggest the same patterns as the roots of the surrounding beech trees, as they trail across the ground with the trunk of each tree as the hub. 

 The work is located in a grove of beech trees used as a meeting place and near the community fire pit.  The arms or spokes are of varying heights and have rooms within to be explored.  

Photos: Rob Coshow

50’ X 35’, and 17’ tall

 Material:  willow from Double A

 For this project, my starting point was leaves and their vein patterns.  When consolidated for practical considerations, this idea morphed into a fleur-de-lis pattern.  The finished configuration has a strong center ridge with tendrils branching off, providing seven “rooms” for visitors to explore. 

Photos:  Mark Chester, Brian Switzer (aerial view)

50 feet in circumference and 25 feet tall

 Material:  several cultivars of willow harvested from the university’s Agricultural Experiment Station

 As the name implies, this work is a hilltop surprise.   Sited near the parking lot and where summer concerts are held, the sculpture has great visibility and easy accessibility.  Its design was driven by practicalities – the expansive site and the need to withstand snow load and wind.  The result is a series of five pinnacles on a circular plan with an inner courtyard and a meandering path that winds through the interior to accentuate a sense of exploration. 

Photos:  Courtesy MLA and Euan Kerr/MPR: Christmas photo: Wendy Composto

 13’ tall, 35’ wide, and 100’ long

 Material:  five varieties of willow harvested locally

 With a Colorado rattler as my inspiration, I laid out its twisting shape on the ground, scaled up dramatically in size.  As we worked, the snake’s coils morphed into walls, tunnels, and vestibules to be entered and explored. 

 Photos:  courtesy DBG, Patrick

16’ tall with a footprint 35’ X 50’

 Material:  willow from Fredonia, NY

 This exuberant work is situated so that visitors first view the upper woven rim from the hill above, a view of overall frolic and sweep.  In contrast, the experience at ground level is of an intricate maze of passages with many windows and doors, and entering the sculpture provides a very intimate experience. 

 This is the third sculpture I have built in this exact location, and is strikingly different from the first two.  The project was highly anticipated, and many visitors came to offer well wishes. 

Photos: Patrick, Nick Kelsh Watch video here

15’ tall with a footprint 60’ X 12’

 Material:  willow from Owens Valley

 Buddy Buddy ‘s design was inspired by the Museum’s collection of ceramics.  I took great liberty with that idea and imported country pottery shapes from North Carolina.  The work needed to be crowded into the available space, which led to a familiarity among the five elements.  This sense of rustic camaraderie suggested a buddy system; hence the title.

Photos:  Patrick

75’ X 35’ and 18’ tall

 Material:  willow from Double A in Fredonia NY

Cutting Corners consists of five interlocking rectangles with rolled tops and lots of intriguing interplay.  The elements lean out from the center, mimicking the garden plants around them.  The rise and fall along the rim gives the work a devil-may-care feeling and provides a contrast with modern architecture. 

Watch video here.

Photos:  courtesy Mounts Botanical Garden

Material:  willow from Double A Willow, Fredonia, NY

“Every flatlander loves a windswept mountain.”

Windswept ‘s design was intended to mimic the ridgelines and sheltering slopes of the mountains seen through its windows.   The work meanders through the beautiful Cannon Gallery, creating large circularities.  The lower regions provide numerous small enclosures, which invite visitors to enter, explore, and enjoy the different views. 

 Watch flyby video here.

Photos:  courtesy BYU MOA

50’ long, 15’ wide, 18-20’ tall

 Material:  poplar, sugar maple, and some hornbeam

 Highbrow straddles an historic walkway at the front entrance of the Kentucky Museum on the Western Kentucky University campus. The sculpture consists of four large gatehouses set in a zigzag pattern down the stone-lined path.  The four elements lean casually on one another and suggest the familiarity of friends waiting in line for an upcoming event.  The work beckons to students who pass by, as well as to the unlucky caught in traffic on the nearby campus thoroughfare.

 The title of this work, Highbrow, suggests lowly material aspiring to be a museum piece. 

 Photos: Bryan Lemon

75’ long, 30’ wide, 22’ high

 Material:  willow from Double A Willow in Fredonia, NY

 This work consists of nine elements situated in front of the USU Merrill-Cazier Library, a busy crossroads of campus life.  The area is beautifully landscaped and a nearby group of trees provides the sculpture with a sense of scale.   Given Utah’s weather, my snow plan includes a design without closed tops.  The sculpture, when viewed with the dramatic line of mountains in the background, invokes the feeling of the windswept wilderness above.

 Inspiration for the work came from far afield.  I found a photo of an indigenous funerary site, where a group of central towers became support for a flurry of haphazardly added rooms.  I was intrigued by this version of architecture not driven by planning or good order but instead by expediency and momentary inspiration.  Inappropriate for a high rise or an office building, this devil-may-care approach can add mystery and idiosyncrasy to a temporary work such as this.

 Photos: Andrew McAllister

Footprint 45’ X 30’ and  22’ tall

Material:  willow from Double A Willow in Fredonia, NY

The search for an appropriate site on this large ski resort brought us to the gondola landing near the training slope for young skiers.   The work consists of six towers, and a flying fence that unites them.   Three of the towers stand inside that enclosure and three stand outside.  I needed a design that would be able to handle the eight feet of snow the area typically gets each winter as well as high winds.  Given the immense landscape, the sculpture also needed to be one that could be read from a distance, hence the towers.   I aimed for a sense of intimacy within the interior by arranging the towers to create an inner courtyard.  The winter plan is to sculpt the snow in such a way that young skiers can come off the gondola and ski through the sculpture.  

Photos:  Trevor Smith

Footprint 30’ X 60’, and 20 ft tall

Material:  Several varieties of willow locally harvested

 I began this work thinking of Japanese pottery in square shapes and similarly shaped hedges I have seen.  The design morphed as I worked to include sloping shoulders to shed snow, those shoulders strongly outlined, and ended with doodads on top. 

 The sculpture is sited within a crescent of trees, creating an intimate space behind it.  Some of the individual elements lean;  some bend at the waist, falling into each other.  This is meant to suggest camaraderie and interdependence. 

 Photos:  Jack Affleck, Raj Manickam

Footprint 45’ X 45’, and 14 ft tall

Material:  Willow from Double A Willow in Fredonia, NY

This sculpture began with thoughts of listening devices aimed at the open skies to take in that special California light.   It consists of six elements that swish around an inner courtyard and each of which flares out as it rises up.  The tops are edged with bands of sticks that coordinate the relationships among the individual elements. 

The work is sited in front of the Walnut Creek Library in busy Civic Park, in close proximity to one of the major thoroughfares.  No sooner had the barriers come down than the site was flooded with visitors big and small.   The title Sure Enough is a Southernism that evokes a state of complete satisfaction.  

 Photos:  Kim Harrington

125 ft long, and 14 ft tall

 Material:  Willow from Double A Willow, Fredonia, NY

 The Taft’s current exhibit of works by Tiffany reminded me of the central role of a twisting tendril in the Art Nouveau movement.  This gave rise to the idea of a vine searching its way across the front lawn.  This growth factor is exemplified by the rolled piping that festoons the top of the sculpture as it sweeps across the yard.  The forward motion creates small eddies that act as impromptu bivouacs and invite visitors to explore.

This project was initiated by Tim Maloney, president and CEO of Haile/ US Bank Foundation, whose partnership with Artworks made possible this first foray into contemporary art for the Taft Museum. 

Photo:  Robert A. Flischel  

Footprint 100 ft X 25 ft, and 16 ft tall

Material:  Various species of willow, with the structural skeleton of hackberry, elm, and ash.

This sculpture began with thoughts of small islands I’ve seen off the coast of California and Zen gardens with floating islands.  With these ideas in mind, I came to see Chapman Green as a sea of green and to imagine wagons crossing the prairie as islands in a sea of grass.

The work consists of seven elements which rise up out of the park’s expanse of grass like natural outcroppings.  It is situated on a small crescent with the amphitheater on one side and a public walkway on the other.  Passersby can easily step up into the pathway running down the middle and just for a time be in nature and unaware of the urban setting.

Photo:  Geoffrey Hicks

Footprint 80 ft X 40 ft, and 12-14 ft tall

Material:  Persimmon, live oak, and sweetgum

This sculpture is situated between the Welcome Center portico and the walkway to the gift shop.  The work presents an interior experience for the visitor with vaulted passageways and four light wells with unexpected views of the sky.

Visitors step from the portico into memories of forts and childhood play.  Moving through the sculpture sets a mood and provides a transition from the work-a-day world into the beauty of this Low Country garden.

Photo: David Fatteleh, Wayne Eggleston

Footprint 35’ X 35’ and 12 -14’ high

Material:  Roosevelt weed, ligustrum, and ash

The inspiration for this work was a Spanish cathedral, but I decided to build only the corners.  Thus this sculpture consists of five L-shaped elements that sit at odds to one another, giving them a rough and tumble look.  The surfaces are a bit rude and raw like the terrain of the hill country where the material was gathered.   When pressed for a title, I imagined cowboys herding cows through the mesquite trees and decided on a cowboy salutation. 

Photo:  Johnny Stevens, Austin-American Statesman, Thomas McConnell

NIce article here

Unbound article with video interviews here

Footprint 50’ X 35’ and 15’ high

Material:  Willow from Fredonia, NY

The site for this sculpture features a banyan tree whose aerial prop roots suggest a vertical knot.  I decided to build a complimentary horizontal knot, a fleur-de-lis hedge with walls that hopscotch over each other in an endless loop, a three-dimensional unity symbol.  The resulting sculpture has nine rooms for visitors to explore, and many doors and windows. 

This “knot garden” is located in a pivotal spot in the Garden, next to the music venue and the open meadow that hosts community activities.  

Photos: Ken Johnson

Footprint 12’ X 78’ and 16’ high at tallest

Material:  Maple, sweetgum, and persimmon

The Ackland Art Museum sits adjacent to one of the busiest junctions in Chapel Hill.   Building a large sapling sculpture just off the curb and in the museum’s front yard meant constant conversations with passersby and engendered a level of anticipation in those who saw the process while caught in traffic.

The Ackland has a significant antiquities collection, and the quintet of animal pouring vessels played out in saplings at the building’s entrance is my attempt to turn the museum inside out.  The sculpture to the left of the entrance which is shaped like Aladdin’s lamp sporting a bird head for its spout is modeled after an ancient Mesopotamian vessel on display within.  I imagined a kind of greenware menagerie where the sculptural shapes might suggest at once both horse and teapot.  When asked if each object had a name, I suggested that visitors are “free to name their favorite chia pet."

Photos:  Diane Davis

Diameter 35’ and 20’ tall

Material:  Several varieties of willow

The site for this work is peppered evenly with tall Ponderosa pines, and needed a distinctive presence.  I chose a circular design to create a recognizable focal point against this backdrop.  Inside, a courtyard allows a more intimate view of the sculpture while also giving a new perspective on the exterior and the towering trees viewed through the many doors and windows.  The work also features a double wall with a series of ten chambers, five open to the sky, and five consolidated as towers that mimic the shape of the tops of the surrounding Ponderosa pines.  Visitors can walk inside this double wall, but not feel confined because lots of doors and windows give visual relief. 

Working in Montana in September, we were caught up in the uncertainties of fall weather.  Over our three-week stint, we experienced snow, ice, driving rain, and sun, every day a surprise. 

Photos:  Shanenon Starrett and Kevin O’Dwyer

Center tower:  24’ X 24’ and 22’ tall

Four gateways: 10’ X 5’ and 16’ tall

Four pyramidal shapes:  5’ X 5’ and 16’ tall

Material:  Willow

Inspiration for this work came from ancient observatories.  The center tower has a large oculus in the ceiling to enhance the feeling of looking skyward.  The outlying pyramids reference Stonehenge and other such monuments to ancient astronomy. 

At the same time, the sculpture offers the visitor an invitation to a quiet retreat, a secret bower, a get-away into Nature’s respite.   The title was borrowed from a Percy Bysshe Shelley poem.

 Photos:  Pierre Charbonneau

50’ X 45’ and 12’ tall

Material:  Willow

This sculpture drew inspiration from ancient glyphs and power symbols. An example shown here was recently discovered in Kazakhstan when seen from space via satellite.   This find reflects symbols found in Celtic and other cultures which seem to be based in organic patterns of vines circling back on themselves, suggesting group consolidation, a sense of connecting individuals into a community.

The work has thirteen rooms and multiple windows and doors, hallways of variable heights to allow for viewing across walls and to invite exploration.  The sculpture was designed to fit the bucolic setting with trees providing a green surround.   It loops back on itself like a rollercoaster and nearby viewers are sure to be “thrown for a loop.”

 Photos:  Pierre Charbonneau, Patrick Dougherty

Nine elements occupying an area of 33' x45’ with a height of 14 feet.

Material:  Willow

As I traveled across South Dakota, I was struck by the assortment of grain storage bins that populate every farmyard. Spanning different eras, these “container forms” harken back to ancient granaries, winnowing baskets, and ceramic storage jars.  From my vantage point, these collections of shapes, some short, some tall, suggested a likeminded community situated with its back to the wind. My design for the South Dakota Children’s Museum emerged from these collections of familiar shapes.  It includes nine structures that lean together and make a sticktown for small fry to explore.

The sculpture occupies a wonderful spot in the outdoor play area, and each element has a woven opening to the sky.  These skylights add interest and will also help shed the winter’s snow load.  In a further effort to extend the life of the sculpture, willow sticks buried in the ground are being encouraged to root adding some foliage as well as increased stability.

People in South Dakota are very handy and I was constantly amazed by the farm “know how” of the volunteers who helped with the construction of the sculpture. Despite the inclement weather, everyone arrived on time and ready to work.  I will fondly remember Brookings and the Children’s Museum as one of my best overall experiences.

As we put the final touches on the work, we became aware of an atmosphere of intense anticipation, a near child insurrection as we heard repeatedly, “Why CAN’T we go there NOW?!”   We left feeling that we were leaving behind not just a sculpture that hinted of the granaries and silos that dot the South Dakota landscape, but perhaps containers of good will and community. 

 Photos:  Mike Mogard, Jackie Toft

Seven large faces with 60’ X 30’ footprint and 18’ tall

Material:  Several varieties of willow and red twig dogwood

This work consists of seven large faces that peek out from both sides of a line of old growth Douglas fir trees.   Initially inspired by masks and totems of Northwest indigenous peoples, they morphed during the building process into caricatures of human surprise.   The arrangement of elements corrals the trees and creates among them a room of ancient tree trunks, thick and luxurious.  Perhaps this invitation to rub shoulders with the craggy bark of such oldsters is the best part of the work.  At the last minute, a hint of the heads of Easter Island statuary emerged as we fitted each head with a suitable hat.

Photos: Rick Paulson

16’ X 12’ footprint and 23’ tall

Material:  Mixed hardwoods, primarily sweetgum and red maple, gathered from local property

The limited interior space provided a challenge, but it also had the advantage of allowing an extra view of the sculpture from a balcony above.  Many varied steeples, spires, cupolas, and clock towers grace Charleston’s historic skyline, and I took my inspiration from these.  The resulting sculpture consists of three shapes that shadow the spires in the distance.  I fitted them into the museum, capitalizing on the walls to stabilize and “trap” the leaning figures.  Each has its own set of windows and doors to allow for exploration. 

With this reflective design I hoped to provide a connection with the museum’s permanent collection so rooted in Charleston’s history.   At the same time, I wanted to provide contrast by suggesting a wild, carefree, untamed presence of Nature in the midst of colonial furniture and portraits of past dignitaries.  

Photos:  Rick Rhodes Photography and Imaging

Size: approximately 40’ X 20’ and 18’ tall

Red maple and sweetgum from Duke Forest

Placed in the open meadow known as the South Lawn, this sculpture can be viewed from all 360 degrees.  I was interested in making a work with high visibility that spoke less of shelter and more of circus, celebration, and whimsy. 

The tops for the different towers were suggested by various shapes in the surrounding gardens.  A potted plant on a nearby walkway inspired my favorite, the headdress on the second figure. 

Photos: Bill Lefevre, Erika Juhlin, Rick Fisher

Overall 25’ X 40’ : Nine jars, 12 ft tall, 6 ft in circumference at the base, 8-10 ft wide inside

Willow from Double A Willow in Fredonia, NY

Inspiration for this sculpture came from several sources:  remembering the fable of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves in which the thieves hide in jars; encountering online images of the Plane of Jars in Laos with children playing among the funerary jars spread over acres; and, also online, exploring street scenes of developing countries where clay jars are still important to daily life.  These led me to want to give children at BADM a set of oversized jars with the opportunity to explore within.

I wanted to maximize the experience for kids wandering in and about the sculpture AND to create and interesting view from above.   (The tops of the jars can be seen from a higher walking trail.)

These jars are a jolly bunch and, when they have a party, they invite children to a big“wingding.”   We hope that children will be intrigued by the name and use it to celebrate.

Photos: Stian Rasmussen

50’ X 25’

Material:  Willow

The design for this work evolved from a California doodle, an inspired case of automatic writing.  I laid out the resulting convoluted line as the footprint, then worked up.  Overall, the sculpture consists of seven loops with additional intriguing spaces made by connecting walls.    

This is the second work for the Palo Alto Art Center.  Double Take  (2011) was much loved during its tenure, so interest in the new work was keen.  Nearby residents checked on the progress of Whiplash daily during the installation. 

Photos: courtesy of Palo Alto Art Center

35 feet in diameter and 18 feet tall

Material:  Sweetgum saplings

This sculpture is especially sensitive to its site -- an intimate setting with a brick serpentine wall and fountain behind it, nestled under a guardian coastal oak tree that shelters the area.  It consists of a dozen elements situated around a circular courtyard.   Six of these elements are towers, and six are open to the sky.   This circular configuration is crowned by whipped stitch piping that crisscrosses the tops and surrounds the grassy inner courtyard(25 feet in diameter). 

From the outside, it looks a bit gothic, mirroring the gothic flavor of the wall behind and the museum building too.   Only when one enters into the inner courtyard can the viewer take its full measure. 

Volunteers were great and made a good team.  Their willingness to throw themselves totally into the work led to a great piece. 

Photos:  Jennifer Lucy;  Echard Wheeler;  Bill Tiernan/The Virginian-Pilot. 

40’ X 35’ and 25’ tall

Material: gray birch and Norway maple

Early Christians borrowed symbolism from ancient peoples.  Many of these symbols were based on vines and branches, as can be seen in Irish illuminated manuscripts.  The sculpture at College of Holy Cross was laid out on one of these early common symbols—three spirals with a center core.  Even with starting parameters, a good sculpture leaves room for improvisation and creative response.  As this work developed, the spirals grew to be towers and the walls were peppered with doors and windows. 

Just Off the Beaten Track is sited on Linden Way, the formal approach to the campus, with the hope of enchanting students and visitors alike.

Photos:  Thomas Rettig and Virginia Raguin

50’ X 30’ and 30’ tall

Material: red maple

The site chosen for this sculpture was just inside the forest curtain, with the unmanaged forest on one side and the manicured garden beds on the other.  This position invites visitors to venture farther into the natural world.

Inspiration for the design came from the material – spectacularly long thin maple saplings.  In an effort to use the full height of these specimens, I decided to build four pinnacles or gothic spires and then to interrupt the stability of these architectural forms with a rambling, undulating wall that seems to flow capriciously around the towers. 

Photos:  Troy Thompson; Virginia Raguin

50’ X 25’ and 12’ high at the highest point.

Material: Willow

My starting point for this work was thinking about petroglyphs and figures drawn on rocks by local Native Americans.  Some of these are images that suggest wildly shaking hands and feet, and I abstracted these to yield the footprint for the sculpture.  As the work grew into three dimensions, the spaces between fingers and toes became cabanas and shadow lines…  The resulting piece that grew up from the footprint suggests something an indigenous tribe might have built. 

Footprint in Green sits on a small brook in a very bucolic park within easy view of visitors.  It faces the activity center and pool just across the street and the area where hikers park, catching the attention of all. 

Photos:  David Lauer

Seven jar shapes covering 50’ X 20’ and 12-16’ tall

Material: willow and witch hazel

Lucky Seven (aka De sju önskekrusen) is spread across the meadow dedicated to being free as a child -- part of the cultural center based around the birthplace of Astrid Lindgren, author of the Pippi Longstockings books so beloved by children the world over.   As it meanders, the work engages two groves of birch trees. 

Inspiration began with the Plain of Jars in Laos, segued into the idea of childhood wishes and genies in jars, and connected with Pippi Longstockings’ putting messages in a bottle.  The result is a group of jar-shapes in which children can play and have a magic moment and tuck away their dreams and wishes for tomorrow. 

Participating in this project were Work Away volunteers from France, Germany, Syria, Japan, Kenya, and the US—all coming together to explore sticks and build these lucky dream jars.

Photos: Örjan Karlsson

Five truncated conical shapes;  14’ high and covering 30’ X 25’

Material:  sweetgum, sourwood, and red maple

This sculpture sits in a premier spot on the events lawn of the Gainesville Garden, satellite of the Atlantic Botanical Garden.  This location is also adjacent to the visitors’ center and near the entrance to the outdoor amphitheater, allowing for easy interaction with the public.  Visible from the parking lot, it beckons and invites people in.

The tops of the five cones are open, offering a fringed view of the sky and suggesting the unfurling of flowers in springtime.  Together the cones form a cluster with an expansive interior that visitors can walk into and find new views of the surrounding gardens through windows and doors.  

Photos:  Bill Head (top) and Atlanta Botanical Garden

50’ X 20’ and 14’ high

Material:  elm and crape myrtle, surplus material, from Bent Oak Tree Farm in Belleville, FL

The front of the Appleton Museum building and the pools that line the entry are segmented into rectangles.  It was this format that inspired the design for the sculpture.  The work consists of five rectangular pieces that mimic the geometric entry; however, these shapes relax into the landscape, leaning lazily into two trees and into each other.  Thus the sculpture reflects the building’s right-angled design but adds an element of whimsy and repose with leaning shapes and frayed tops.  

The work is situated so that visitors will be engaged easily on their way from the parking lot.

This project had an interesting facet in the involvement of trustee inmates from the state women’s prison, who helped with gathering material and with the building phase.  This had the effect of a cultural exchange as Patrick and his assistant learned about the hardships of prison life and the inmates became art converts. 

Photos: Kyle R Walling

Three elements, each 13 feet in diameter; tallest is 21 feet high

Material:  willow from Double A Willow in Fredonia, NY

This sculpture is situated in the Royal Palm Grove, the signature place in the McKee Botanical Garden.  The royal palm setting has a fantasy feel, inducing thoughts of the Arabian Nights.  So I wanted to build something regal with a magical presence to enhance the fantasy.  Each of the three towers leans against the palms to suggest dependence.

This project had a wonderful group of volunteers who came together like a small indigenous tribe to work on beauty and to burnish our object till it shone in its location.

Photos: Bob Joy

One big tower surrounded by five smaller towers;  overall, 26 feet in circumference and 21 feet tall

Material:  Southern sugar maple, sweetgum, and elm from Ayr Mount

Located beside the River Walk within a copse of trees, A Sight to Behold was inspired by the concept of a pleasure dome, as in Coleridge’s Kubla Khan.  I was thinking of an architectural folly in a mystical landscape.  It features five small towers surrounding a central barrel.    I gave the top of the central tower an oculus open to the natural world and the sky above, when a visitor commented that it looked like “nature’s observatory.“  The small towers are accessed through the center one but have windows that look out and frame the woods for viewers.   All are connected by doorways to invite exploration.

The title emerged as a Southern colloquialism voiced by more than one passerby.  “Well, isn’t that a sight to behold!”

Photos: Grey Egg Productions and Todd Stabley

Video by Grey Egg Productions here

Six towers covering an area 50’ X 30’ and 18’ tall at its highest

Material: willow

This sculpture is located in the heart of campus, near the school’s historic magnolia tree and in front of the newly renovated library.  Its towers, open to the sky, mimic the tower forms of the library and are arranged to give the work an elaborate looping interior.  Three major gateways welcome visitors as if to a medieval city.

Photo:  Fred Field

On view until July 2016 as part of the Wonder Exhibition

16'h at tallest X approximately 12' wide  X 90' long

Materials:  willow from Double A Willow, Fredonia, NY

This sculpture is inspired by ideas of growth and escape.  It is comprised of ten elements placed provocatively in the gallery to suggest seeds in their initial thrust, sending up tendrils to find light.  These teardrop-shaped “seeds” flash and careen and rebound on walls and ceiling.

The seed objects, like rustic bivouacs, relics of the natural world, invite visitors to step within.   Conceptually, visitors are thrust underground to experience the growth activity and emergent forces of Nature. 

Photo:  Ron Blunt

Five interior pieces over an area 30’ X 20’ and 15’ tall;  two exterior elements

Material:  willow

Daydreams is built in and on a replica of a prairie schoolhouse. This schoolhouse was built new to look old and to provide the backdrop for the sculpture.   The work, composed of five interior and two connecting exterior elements, is entitled Daydreams for all the dreams of the wild that sustain children as they endure the whine of imparted knowledge.

Photos:  Djuna Zupancic and Michael Proppe

Three pieces covering an area 50’ X 35’ and 14’ tall

Materials:  sweetgum and maple

This sculpture is nestled in a pine grove and scaled for the pines around it.  My inspiration was a group of shrubs which constituted a folly in a famous Los Angeles garden.  I used a similar configuration and up scaled it for the Cape Fear Botanical Garden. 

The work is a labyrinth featuring light wells and hallways.  Visitors are invited to explore a sense of palatial space. 

Photo credit:  Tom Keever

Five elements, 22’ tall, each 8-12’ in diameter

Materials:  Norway maple, striped maple, sweet pepper bush, American buckthorn, beech

The title of this work alludes to the instinct for building that birds developed over centuries of evolution and Patrick’s idea that humans also retain some of the same pre-programming.

Inspiration for the design came from the gable of an historic shoemaker’s house on the grounds of the Peabody Essex Museum.  Each of the elements has a front side with that gable design and a back side with a European turret, reflecting the stark contrast for new settlers to America between the stone architecture of the Old World and the clapboard shingles and gables of the New.   

The sculpture relies heavily on a thornless honey locust tree in front of the Crowninshield Bentley House, with two of the elements leaning on this tree.  The elements are also askew from each other so that all the gables can be seen at zigzag angles from the intersection of streets out front.  

Photos:  Fausto Braganti (top), courtesy of PEM (others)