Patrick Dougherty has made a reputation in the art world for his fantastical landscape sculptures woven from twisted saplings. Soon, his work will be well-known among Wacoans, too.

A Waco group has recruited the North Carolina artist to build one of his creations in Pecan Bottoms at Cameron Park this fall as part of the park’s centennial celebration.

The nonprofit Waco Cultural Arts Fest recently won a $25,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant to fund the project. It will be built during three weeks in October, using volunteer labor and brush, vines and bamboo culled from Cameron Park.

A Dougherty sculpture in Hawaii, titled "Na Hale Eo Waiawi," shows his technique of twisting saplings into whimsical shapes.
Patrick Dougherty photo

“The process is part of the fun,” said Doreen Ravenscroft, head of the Waco Cultural Arts Fest, which has done other sculpture projects along the Brazos River. “It creates a conversation. It will be a shared experience in watching it grow. . . . His work is whimsical, all tilted and twisting. It becomes a small playground. I think it will appeal to the kid in everybody. It’s like being a Lilliputian in Gulliver’s Travels.”

Robbie Barber, an associate professor who teaches sculpture at Baylor University, recommended Dougherty. He said he’s been watching Dougherty’s work in art journals since the mid-1980s and wanted to bring him here before his increasing fame puts him out of Waco’s reach.

“It’s excellent work,” he said. “It’s stood the test of time.”

Dougherty plans to visit Cameron Park in the next month or so to scout an exact site and get inspiration for his piece. His sculptures are sometimes abstract, natural-looking forms and sometimes giant representations of objects such as bottles, houses or people. Examples of his work can be viewed on his Web site, www.stickwork.net.

In a phone interview last week, Dougherty said even people who don’t have an education in art are often enchanted by the sculptures, in part because they are made of something primal and close to nature: sticks.

North Carolina artist Patrick Dougherty uses local materials to weave his head-turning sculptures.
Patrick Dougherty photo

“I tend to think a good sculpture is one that has a lot of personal associations,” he said. “As people’s imaginations are pricked, they might imagine an indigenous culture, or their own play as children, a bird’s nest or something they read in National Geographic. Or they might see it purely as an art work, as a collection of shapes and lines and its relationship to the environment.”

Barber, the art professor, said Dougherty’s art is modern yet accessible to the public.

“My goal has always been to expose this community to contemporary art, and I think this goes a long way in achieving that,” he said. “This will shake people’s notions of what is art. Children will get it. You never have to argue with children about art.”

Ravenscroft said the piece will highlight a familiar natural landmark and make people think about it afresh, like the “The Gates” project, in which the artist Christo installed orange fabric panels throughout Central Park in New York City.

Artist Patrick Dougherty, who will be creating an installation in Cameron Park this fall, uses sticks, vines and brush from the area to make landscape sculptures.
Patrick Dougherty photo

The Cameron Park piece will be featured on an Interstate 35 billboard as part of publicity for Cameron Park’s centennial, and arts fest director Ravenscroft hopes that it will become a tourist attraction.

“I think they can take away the image that Waco is adventurous about public art,” Ravenscroft said. “We want it to be fun. We want to share it.”

The volunteer effort to harvest brush in Cameron Park will be organized by the city parks department. Parks director Rusty Black said it will be good to clear some invasive species from the park, such as bamboo. Brush collectors might want to watch out for poison ivy, he added.

The official cost of the project is $50,000, which includes “in-kind” local marketing and volunteer work as well as funding from the Waco National Sculpture Exhibition, funded by the Clifton Robinson family.

Ravenscroft said the Waco Cultural Arts Fest won the NEA grant based on the group’s past history in developing public art, putting on events and doing arts outreach.

“All that experience helped us get that award,” she said. “It’s a huge honor for us.”

jbsmith@wacotrib.com

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