Photo by Meda Kessler
Patrick Dougherty’s stick sculpture already has survived a Texas snowstorm plus blustery spring winds and rains. The sculptor finished his piece mid-February at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, following a three-week timeline. Dougherty worked alongside son Sam, his full-time construction assistant, as well as local volunteers. In a just-released documentary called Stickman, Dougherty said he was inspired by some mounded shrubbery that he termed “crescents,” for his FWBG design. You’ll find it in the Fuller Garden; it appears like a micro village of free-form huts. It’s designed as an interactive piece that visitors can walk in and through. We followed a squirrel as he scurried about the structures. Dougherty builds his stick sculptures to withstand the elements for typically up to a year. A 5-minute piece produced by EC Films in conjunction with the FWBG and Botanical Research Institute of Texas shows his process and method. Find it at youtube.com/watch?v=jN9wXUMjPAw. See the work in person at the garden, 3220 Botanic Garden Blvd., fwbg.org.