In 2008, internationally acclaimed sculptor, Patrick Dougherty, installed a whimsical and earthy sculptural edifice upon the northeast corner of Cache la Poudre St & Cascade Ave on the Colorado College Campus. We knew it wouldn’t last forever but we were a little saddened when we realized that they were gone.
Jessica Hunter Larsen, I.D.E.A. Space Curator at Colorado College, says: “In 2008 when artist Patrick Dougherty created one of his signature branch-and-sapling Stickworks
projects in front of Armstrong, he intended it to be temporary. He said that we would know when it was time to remove the sculptures. The last windstorm made the decision clear, and the sculptures
will soon be taken down and their component branches reused for other art and landscaping projects. We bid the Stickworks a fond farewell!”
Without much fanfare, the sculptures were removed yesterday – revealing for the first time in nigh-on 4 years a patch of earth devoid of the undulatory presence of Doughtery’s mindscapes. Goodbye Stickworks! Godspeed! If you feel so moved, please reveal your emotional response to the absence of the Stickworks in the comments section below.
12 Responses to Bidding Adieu to Patrick Dougherty’s Stickworks
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I had the pleasure of working with Patrick over two years to help make this project a reality. He is one of the kindest, truest people I’ve been lucky enough to know. His art is installed all over the world and always evokes a passionate response from those who experience it. As Patrick would say, there’s something about sticks that we all understand from childhood intuitively. I am sad to see it go, look forward to other imaginative works in that space!
It was great to have Dougherty’s work here. Thanks Jessica & Idea Space!
i was intrigued and delighted like everyone in the neighborhood when the sculptures went up in 2008. now i’m in grad school in oregon, and i just got to work with patrick on an installation at osu! it was lovely and nostalgic and forward-looking all at once. sad to let go of the past, but i also get to walk past a new sculpture every day while i’m here. truly beautiful observation, thanks for marking the passing.
My family business, Assemble’ Dancewear, brought in some dancers from the TV show, “So You Think You Can Dance” to teach workshops to the local dancers. While these incredible dancers were visiting, the very talented Teresa Lee (TeresaLeePhotography.com) did an incredible photoshoot with them.
Teresa took some exquisite pictures of these dancers inside Patrick Dougherty’s Stickworks!
The dancers included Kourtni Lind, Courtney Galiano, Jimmy Arguello, Kherington Payne, Gev Manoukian, and Shaundra Noland.
I am happy to supply the pics if need be!
All the dancers were so thrilled to use this beautiful work of art to create more art, and many of them have gone on to use the photos in their portfolios.
I hope you display the pics of the dancers inside the sculptures.
Oh no!! My 3 year old daughter and I used those houses to run through while we laughed hysterically. My favorite memory, though, is taking a break in one house last year to eat a hot dog and chips and talk about how one day, she too would go to college like the young people we saw walking by. Good bye stick houses! We’ll miss you but treasure the memories.
Stickworks has been a favorite passer-by playground for us! Hide and seek, tag, photo shoots, and just enjoying the abstract lines in a linear world. I have to say that I feel some sadness about them being gone. My daughter and I noticed them last week, and commented on the fact that they seemed to be more “off kilter” than usual. We were lucky to have this art for as long as we did! We will miss them too!
I love the stickworks! They freak me out at night but they are such an awesome edition to the campus. I shall miss ye sticks
Oh nooooo!
Thank you for the informative interview with the artist. I will miss seeing the piece but enjoyed it while it was here.
They so reminded me of the impromptu forts we made or discovered as children, maybe between two bushes that grew together, which became treasured secret hiding places. You couldn’t help but feel childlike when exploring the stickworks. I will miss them terribly!
We will miss them also. I am so glad that I have some wonderful pictures from the day my husband & I ran around enjoying them when they first appeared. I’ve watched them weather over the years and I suppose like all natural structures… Dust to dust. Thanks CC!