Land of the Giant Wicker Beehives meets the House of Sticks. On second thought, ground-level Robinson Family Treehouse meets a kinder, gentler version of the Wizard of Oz talking trees.
Those are some thoughts that crossed my mind Thursday when Bruce and I visited the McConnell Arbortum & Gardens where we saw one of the coolest sights ever:
A willow-stick wonder of a towering, curvy hollow sculpture. Its bent-willow openings serve as windows, doors and even skylights. The entire, multi-roomed structure is created entirely of thousands of carefully cut, placed and woven willow branches. It’s anchored to a huge oak tree, which gives it an ancient, organic look, as if the stick structure’s age is the same as the tree’s – surely hundreds of years old.
But the willow house is not even 1 month old. What’s more, with a little luck, its life expectancy could last about two or three years. Hopefully, long before then you’ll make a point of visiting it.
We were fortunate on Thursday to meet the brains, brilliance and brawn behind this amazing piece, Patrick Dougherty, an environmental artist from Chapel Hill, N.C.
For almost three weeks he’s lived in Redding at the McConnell guesthouse as he worked on this latest natural masterpiece. (He also ate in Redding, of course. In passing he gave high praise to Country Kitchen’s chili, which he said was about the best he’d ever had.)
Thursday Dougherty was just one day short of his deadline for the project’s coming-out party. As a few volunteers raked up willow scraps, Dougherty circled the sculpture from a distance, arms crossed, head cocked. He surveyed his willowed wonder from every side.
He seemed satisfied, then paused to autograph a volunteer’s stub of a stick.
Meanwhile, another volunteer, Tom Vlahos, said he was so inspired by being part of Dougherty’s grand stickly architecture that he could imagine building a less ambitious version himself for his newborn granddaughter one day.
Vlahos said working with and for Dougherty was both an honor and pleasure.
“Patrick is so congenial,” Vlahos said. “He stops to thank people every day for helping. And this is someone who’ll be flying to France for another project.”
True enough. Dougherty has traveled the world leaving behind more than 100 structures similar to the one he designed and constructed at the Arboretum in Redding.
Soon, Dougherty will move onto other countries, like France and Ireland, to work his magic with sticks. All his work appears on his Web site, http://www.stickwork.net..
Dougherty, who said he lives in a log house (but he’d wouldn’t mind living in a stick house), said there’s no way he could accomplish what he does without help.
“We had a lot of community support here,” Dougherty said as he handed the autographed willow stub to the volunteer.
“You can’t do it all yourself. Luckily it’s easy to train people. Everybody knows about sticks.”
(Photos by Bruce Greenberg – Slide show by Joseph Domke)
You’ll find Patrick Dougherty’s willow sculpture on the west side of McConnell Arboretum & Gardens, 1135 Arboretum Drive in Redding, off North Market Street.
Cost: Free to Turtle Bay members. Non-members pay $12 for adults; $10 for seniors and $7 for children. Garden-admission only costs $6 for adults and $4 for children and seniors.
For more information call Turtle Bay at 243-8850
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