World-Renowned Sculptor Patrick Dougherty Retires

PRESS RELEASE December 9, 2022
Contact: Dorothy Juhlin, Executive Assistant to Patrick Dougherty

North Carolina artist Patrick Dougherty, builder of “Stickwork” sculptures around the world, is
retiring after a forty-year career. He has created over 330 monumental site-specific works, using
tree saplings as construction material. These temporary sculptures have entranced and
delighted visitors of all ages and conjured rich associations with childhood play while exploring
the relationship between architecture and art and the important role of Nature in our modern
lives.

From his earliest works, Dougherty has enjoyed bringing art to public places, where there is no
studio door to close. “Beyond the huge personal pleasure that I gain from working with the
simplest materials, I believe that a well-conceived sculpture can enliven and stir the imagination
of those who encounter it. For viewers the pleasure is elemental and beyond politics and
financial forces. I like activating public spaces and being part of the world of ideas. Sculpture has
been a transfixing and rewarding career and one that has allowed unique access to communities
across America and the world. I have harvested saplings by the truckload and made an equal
number of friends.”

Over the course of 2022, he and his son Sam created ten works at art centers, botanical gardens,
colleges, and universities. They consider these some of their very best works. For example,
The Rookery at the Chicago Botanic Garden features six tall thin towers (21 feet tall) 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.”

The work in March, called Fly Away Home, has a footprint of three interlocking jigsaw pieces and
sprawls mazelike and whimsical.

The final “Stickwork” installation was completed on December 6 at Mounts Botanical Garden in
West Palm Beach, FL. “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 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

For more about Patrick Dougherty visit www.stickwork.net.