Ordinary materials + ordinary spaces + awakening the extraordinary wonder of a child at play = effective public art through twisted beauty
Sculptor Patrick Dougherty engages local communities around the world to enter into works of art created with twigs and vines. I feel fortunate to have experienced two of his works.
The first, titled “Lean On Me,” is located in an open field amidst St John’s Abbey Arboretum in Collegeville, Minnesota. It was constructed in 2012. At the time, Dougherty predicted the sculpture would succumb to decay in about two years. It is structurally sound to date, possibly as a happy side effect of cold winters that slow the process of degradation.
The second, titled “A Bird in the Hand,” is located amidst a city park within the town center in Reston, Virginia. It was constructed in April 2015. The smell of recently-cut wood hung in the air surrounding the entirety of the sculpture, possibly a happy side effect of warm, humid summer days.
Dougherty’s constructions draws one to enter in physically, to explore the passageways that flow one into another.The abundant windows and doors also move the explorer back outside, to experience the life that swirls in both directions. It was difficult to capture a clean photo in Reston as children kept running into the frame or peeking a face through a fabricated window.These twisted beauties revealed graces available when encountering nature with the curious spirit of a child:personal journeys inward may be interesting while needing engagement with the outer world to release their full joy.
Graceful Intersections 