Acclaimed woven-wood artist Patrick Dougherty has installed a one-of-a-kind outdoor sculpture at Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark. With more than 1000 hours of help from local volunteers--as well as the expert assistance of Five Rivers MetroParks personnel--Dougherty created a nearly 200-foot-long tunnel that coils sinuously around Wegerzyn's North Plaza. Woven entirely of willow branches that had been encroaching upon the fishing lakes at Englewood MetroPark, the sculpture has openings that invite the visitor to explore its rustic interior and to enjoy beautiful views of Wegerzyn's formal gardens. 
Photo by Bill Franz
Dubbed "A Wiggle in Its Walk," our serpentine sculpture is quite distinctive from Dougherty's past creations, which are reminiscent of nests, lairs, vessels, and mythic shelters. He took full advantage of the North Plaza's central location, clear visibility from four directions, strong geometric presence, and proximity to the Children's Discovery Garden. The sculpture is expected to remain standing for approximately two years, after which the material will be transferred to Wegerzyn’s composting facility.
Photo by Ed Lehman
The sculpture and its associated Branching Out programs will be used to narrow the widening gap between the “plugged-in generation” and the natural environments by encouraging children to explore and appreciate the natural world and to recognize the need to preserve it.
Find our Dougherty page on Facebook
Sponsorship
The Wegerzyn Gardens Foundation has raised nearly $68,000 to cover the costs of this exhibit and the associated Branching Out programs. Freund, Freeze and Arnold, the Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District, and The Marjorie M. Ivey Charitable Fund of the Greater Saint Louis Community are leading sponsors of the exhibit. WYSO is our media sponsor.
 
| 
Photo by Kaye Carlile
Click here to learn about Patrick Dougherty
Click here to learn about how it was done
Click here to watch a video
 Creative photographic rendering by Jason Heaton
|
|
|
| Dougherty has created his “installation art” in over 200 venues throughout the United States and 17 other countries. He has received many awards and grants, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. In a recent full-length article on the artist and his work, the New York Times (October 6, 2010) stated:
“At 36, he went back to school, straight into the graduate art program at the University of North Carolina, 10 minutes away. His first stick work, a man-size tangle of saplings made on a picnic table at home, startled his professors, he said. They thought ‘it was too complete for someone who’d been blundering around in the netherworld.’
“Since then, he has made well over 200 startling (and delightful) pieces for sites all over the world — woolly lairs and wild follies, gigantic snares, nests and cocoons, some woven into groves of trees, others lashed around buildings. And in August, he was invited by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to make a piece for its centennial: you’ll find ‘Natural History,’ five winsome wind-blown pods that Mr. Dougherty described as ‘lairs for feral children or wayward adults,’ near the Magnolia Plaza there.”
Further information about Dougherty can be found at his web site, www.stickwork.net.
| 
Photo by Kaye Carlile |
|
|
|
|
|
|
