Artist Patrick Dougherty creates these amazing sculptures out of sticks that look they belong in some magical world. By bending, molding, and weaving the long saplings he is able to construct structures you can walk into or wrapping nests that flow over buildings. The sculptures are constructed on site and use locally sourced materials and local volunteer labor. Eventually since they are made entirely of organic materials, they will disintegrate back into the landscape, which is such a nice concept. When I saw this book, I immediately thought of the nests in Where the Wild Things Are and googled around to see if he had any part in that, but didn’t find anything. This book is Patrick’s first monograph and features 38 of his projects, sharing sketches, and process photos along with commentary from Patrick. The photos are quite impressive and I can only imagine how incredible it is to see one of these pieces in person. I look forward to that day! In the meantime this book is available here.

© Julia Rothman 2007