Speak for the trees
Artist brings his awareness of sticks, saplings to Maryland Hall in Annapolis
An artist who has traveled the world to install sculptures made with sticks and saplings has started work on a new piece outside Maryland Hall in Annapolis, and the public is welcome to view the installation and completed work, which will be in place for one to three years, depending on the weather. Patrick Dougherty and a team of volunteers collected sycamore trees, sweet gum and willow from the Eastern Shore early last week. Maryland Hall said they cut branches and saplings from the ground but left roots in place, so the trees could regrow.
They brought back four truckloads. Thursday volunteers stripped the branches of the fresh green leaves of spring while Dougherty and his son Sam built the scaffolding necessary to make the piece.
Dougherty decided to build under a large shady tree on the campus, working with what nature was offering. He said there will be four elements to the sculpture which will sweep through the tree and come down on the other side.
“People, when they look at my work, their immediate reactions are about their relationship with the natural world, like a bird’s nest they’ve seen, playing in the woods when they were children, their first kiss under a lilac bush,” Dougherty said.
The addition of a sculpture can also make people more aware of the beauty in nature they see regularly.
“Sometimes the trees are seen as just furniture, they’re not really studied, but when you put a sculpture near it, there’s often an awareness of the size and the bark and how the limbs work, it draws people in under there,” Dougherty said.
In the past, Dougherty has made castles, rolling waves, figures and faces, and he has installed more than 300 pieces around the globe.
“For me, it’s as much about drawing as it is anything. You’re using sticks of different line weights to create surfaces that are provocative,” he said.
Maryland Hall Director of Creative Advancement Damian Sinclair said the organization wants to think about what is possible beyond the interior walls of the building, and that is why when Dougherty had a cancellation, they jumped to bring him out to Maryland Hall.
“In retrospect, it’s amazing because now with COVID we have a project that’s outdoors, that people can visit and it’s positive and energetic,” Sinclair said.
Sinclair used to work with Dougherty, and also saw Dougherty’s work when it was featured as part of the Wonder Exhibition when the Renwick Gallery, part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, reopened in 2015. Dougherty and other artists filled the rooms of the gallery with their towering art.
“To think that we can bring that to Annapolis and have this in our community is really special,” Sinclair said.
Sinclair said they also want to build a shared sense of campus with neighboring Wiley H. Bates Middle School, a performing and visual arts magnet school. Arts Integration Specialist Tayler Grimail said she has been working with Maryland Hall since last summer. Students have been learning lessons that tie back to Dougherty all year long.
“Students have participated in activities ranging from storytelling using his sculptures as inspiration, creating their own math problems based on his structures, connecting musical compositions to various sculptures based on the mood of the music, as well as sketching out their own Patrick Dougherty inspired sculpture,” Grimail wrote in an email.
Dougherty building next door gives students the chance to see construction from start to finish. They are already planning how to integrate the sculpture into lessons next year.
“Our science team hopes to incorporate the environmental connections into their lessons, the math department hopes to integrate aspects such as calculating the curvature of the structural lines and surface area of the sculpture, and students can further understand the elements of plot by using the sculpture as inspiration for their story writing,” Grimail wrote.
Dougherty said he thinks one lesson in his work is a basic one many kids learn playing in the woods: what makes things fall and what makes them stand up. Balanced, sound construction is another lesson.
Dougherty will be working to install the piece outside Maryland Hall from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Friday and from May 17 to 21.