Dougherty (Patrick)

Born in 1945 and raised in the woodlands of North Carolina, Patrick Dougherty developed an appreciation for the utility of sticks during childhood play and became aware that sometimes a thicket of branches can achieve the effect of a natural drawing. Despite a career in health administration, he continued to pine for wild places, and in the early 1980s he tried his hand at weaving tree saplings into large three-dimensional sketches. In subsequent years, Dougherty has developed a body of work that seems to fly through trees, overtake buildings, and define, in his stand-alone structures, a kind of modern primitive architecture. He has made over two hundred sculptures around the world and currently lives in Chapel Hill with his wife, Linda, and his son, Sam.