The Art Department at the College of Saint Benedict & Saint John's University has some exciting news.
Environmental artist Patrick Dougherty will be at CSB/SJU from September 3-21, building a large-scale outdoor sculpture with saplings harvested sustainably from the Saint John's Arboretum.
Dougherty weaves tree saplings into enormous, whirling, animated shapes that resemble tumbleweeds or gusts of wind. His work invites people to interact directly with the environment in unexpected ways. Visitors will see the sculpture under construction throughout the month of September alongside the main entry road to SJU. Volunteers are always welcome, and because of the sheer scale of Dougherty's work many of them will be needed!
There will be two public events linked with the creation of the work that UMN students are welcome to attend. Patrick will give a public presentation on his work and his philosophy of environmental art at the CSB Gorecki Family Theater on Thursday, Sept 13th at 7:00PM. There will be a closing celebration in honor of the completion of the sculpture at the Arboretum site along the entry road to SJU on Friday, Sept 21st from 5:00 to 7:00PM.
If you would like to learn about the project and/or get involved in any way, you are encourage you to do one of two things:
1. Reply to stickwork@csbsju.edu with an indication of your interest to be involved in some way, and our volunteer coordinator, Sienna Kuhn, will contact you.
2. Visit our blog at www.stickwork-csbsju.org for links to Patrick's website, images of other projects and a daily update on the project once it begins in earnest on September 3rd.
Questions can be directed to the project's coordinators, Rachel Melis rmelis@csbsju.edu and Br. David Paul Lange dplange@csbsju.edu
Co-Sponsors:
CSB/SJU Fine Arts Programming
CSB/SJU Faculty Development and Research Committee
Central Minnesota Arts Board
Saint John's Arboretum
Saint John's Abbey
CSB/SJU Environmental Studies Department
Saint John's Pottery Studio
This activity is funded in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, through a grant from the Central Minnesota Arts Board as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.
