By artist: PATRICK DOUGHERTY STICKWORKS ENVIRONMENTAL INSTALLATION ARTWORKS

Patrick Dougherty is a sculptor from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Although born in Oklahoma in 1945, he was raised in North Carolina. This is where Patrick lives with his wife and where he raised his son and daughter. He purchased the original one room log cabin and 10 acres of land when he was 28. This house became his first sculpture. He added unique touches as well as additions to the home. He used old barn timber, fallen trees and rocks he dug from the ground.

Patrick earned a B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina in 1967 and then received a Masters in Hospital and Health Administration from the University of Iowa in After a term of service in the US Air Force, at the age of 36, he returned to graduate school at the University of North Carolina earning a degree in Art History and Sculpture.

At as child he spent a lot of time in the woods outside his childhood home, playing with his 2 brothers and 2 sisters. He became quite at ease with the natural surroundings of the forest. The shapes of his structures are very organic and natural. He often describes his work as “each stick being like a pencil mark in a drawing.” Each stick offers itself as texture to his structures as well as providing a sense of movement.

Patrick’s first “stick” sculptures were small ones that set on top of pedestals. Since startling his professors with these primitive building construction techniques, his works have grown in size, scale and number. Instead of small sticks he now used tree saplings as construction materials, along with tree branches, sticks and sometime vines. Often times the leaves of the branches are also included. Because of the nature of his materials, his constructions, eventually deteriorate, returning to the earth from which they came, and making way for something new.

Sometimes his works are free standing, anchored by saplings dug into the ground. Others are supported by a natural structure such as a tree or a man-made structure such as a building. Many of Patrick’s works have a playful side. The image at the top is like an awesome playhouse and the one to the right reminds you of a tube slide at a water park.

The sculptures here resemble containers for fluids –bottles, pitchers and jars. All were erected by water.

The work on the right was erected in Hawaii. It used the support of the large trunk and tree limbs of the natural growing tree. The one below is somewhat reminiscent of primitive cliff dwelling structures. Humans as a species, used sticks as their first building materials. Our genetic code may well include a familiarity with these natural materials as well as an inborn sense of how to work with them.

These large face like works show a whimsical and playful approach. Don’t we all have a sense of childlike wonder looking at these imaginative works. The one below is dedicated to Dr. Seuss.

In order to accomplish his monumental tasks, he follows a process that has worked out well. It includes a thumbnail sketch of his plan and how he envisions it as a completed work. He then gathers his materials, a part that usually requires some helpers- often filling up a tractor trailer with saplings and bundles of branches. Next comes the basic structure of the work- the support- which must hold and distribute the weight. This is followed by layers of sticks, all intertwined to provide the idea of movement. Last, he fixes up any areas that do not appear to his liking. Because his works are an installation, he lets others help with the process. There is an energy that is created not only from the site itself, but from the materials and the people who come to work or just to observe. The artwork becomes a living example of a sense of community- our relatedness as humans.

Now at age 68 he has created well over 230 sculptures for sites all over the world. Each of his artworks has its own story, as each one takes at least 3 weeks to complete. It is a problem solving event and problems arise everyday. Patrick says he must be flexible, like the saplings he works with.

WHO: PATRICK DOUGHERTY WHAT: STICKWORKS INSTALLATIONS WHEN: PRESENT WHERE: WORLD WIDE WHY: THE 5 ‘‘W”’s OF ART