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Inside Iowa State, a newspaper for faculty and staff, is published by the Office of University Relations.

Sept. 26, 2008

Sapling sculptor to give campus lecture

by Teddi Barron, News Service

Environmental sculptor Patrick Dougherty will speak on campus Wednesday, Oct. 8, as part of the College of Design's 30th anniversary celebration.

Dougherty's presentation, "Building Sculpture on Location: A Melding of Design and Community," will begin at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Union Great Hall. It's free and open to the public.

At the invitation of the Ames Public Art Commission, Dougherty will be in Ames from Sept. 28 to Oct. 19, working with volunteers at Ada Hayden Park to create an organic, free-standing sculpture. He combines his carpentry skill with his love for nature to build large-scale, on-site temporary sculptures out of tree saplings.

His work has evolved from pedestal-scale sculptures to immense environments that require truckloads of saplings. During the last two decades, he has built more than 150 works throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. In the past five years alone, his work has been exhibited at arboretums, botanic gardens, parks and sculpture gardens in 19 states and four European countries.

He has created sculptures at the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.; the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the Copenhagen Botanical Gardens, Denmark.

Dougherty holds degrees from the University of North Carolina and the University of Iowa. He resides in Chapel Hill, N.C.

More information is online.

Summary

"Building Sculpture on Location: A Melding of Design and Community," by Patrick Dougherty

7 p.m. Oct. 8

MU Great Hall