Patrick Dougherty's Stickwork at Naples Botanical Gardens

Steve, Stephenie and me with Patrick Dougherty
and his son Sam in front of "Sea Change"

The day got off to an inauspicious beginning when I put my gardening gloves on on the wrong hands. "No," Stephenie gently said when I asked her. "The leather goes on the inside." Somewhat chastened -- but still game -- I switched my gloves and got ready to work. Assistance was needed on a sculpture being built, and I was there to help. 

Artist Patrick Dougherty and his son Sam had come to the Naples Botanical Gardens to build the latest Stickwork, a sculpture woven from saplings. Although Dougherty has created more than 300 Stickworks around the world, each one is unique. Once Dougherty receives a commission, he visits the site to get the literal lay of the land and some inspiration. For the Naples project, Dougherty said he was initially struck by the amount of space that needed to be filled. An expansive build was in order. Not surprisingly, he was also struck by Naples' location on the water. He decided the creation's final shape would mimic the swells of waves coming in off the Gulf. Its title: "Sea Change." 

Dougherty has the process of building a Stickwork down to, well, an art. Each build takes 21 days from start to finish. For "Sea Change," the project began with a delivery of 30,000 pounds of willow saplings from Montreal. The delivery was supplemented with some coastal plain willow harvested from the Botanical Gardens' own property. While they are super talented, the Dougherty team alone couldn't bring a Stickwork to fruition within this timeframe. And so community participation has become an important component of Dougherty's work. Enter Stephenie, Steve and me. 

From Day 1, volunteers had been on site assisting with whatever needed to be done. A woman working with us was on her fifth shift and had seen the sculpture at every stage of its creation. Color me jealous. But given the distance to Naples, we could only work one time. We decided to participate towards the end of the build, so the sculpture was close to being finished when we arrived. 

That doesn't mean we weren't fully occupied during our time on site. We began by helping with clean up of the many twigs and other detritus that littered the work area. Once things had been tidied up to Patrick's satisfaction, we were charged with what he called "preening" the work. 

Impossible as it may seem, there are no screws or ropes or anything else manmade holding the Stickwork together. The sculpture is created entirely by the weaving together of bent sapling branches that are filled in with the twigs and flyaway stuff. (I'm sure there's a horticultural term I should use, but as you may have gathered, gardening is not my bailiwick.)  Our primary task was tucking those tendrils in to allow the branches to define the sculpture's shape. It was surprisingly meditative work. Steve also circled the structure and cut the ends off errant branches that stuck out, both interrupting the Stickwork's lines and creating a potential safety hazard to visitors. Kids and adults alike will use those doors to experience the sculpture from different perspectives or, perhaps, play a game of hide and seek. Throughout the process, we chatted with Patrick about his work. It was a special afternoon that I'll always remember. 

If you're in the area, stop by the Naples Botanical Gardens to walk through "Sea Change." It would be particularly fun to see the sculpture lit up with lights during the holiday season. "Sea Change" will be on view through November 2023.  At the two year mark, the sculpture will have lived a full life and be taken down.   

For a wonderful interview with Dougherty from CBS Sunday Morning, click here. He's just as genial in person as he is in this interview. To see images of a variety of Dougherty's Stickworks and read more about him and his process, click here for his website. And for more on the Naples Botanical Gardens, click here. 

Here's to artsy adventures!