VAIL - At Ford Park in Vail, Patrick Dougherty will tell you that sticks have been a part of his life for a long time.
“I’m probably calling on my own childhood in making forts and so forth,” Dougherty said.
Most recently, he’s been at Betty Ford Alpine Gardens with his son getting a truckload of sticks – hundreds of them from clearing projects at ranches and nearby lakes – and using them for an art exhibit.
”We have a footprint so we’re trying to lay that out now, thinking about some squarish Japanese pottery in one regard,” Dougherty said.
It will take about three weeks of work, but when it’s complete Dougherty will have created tall stick-like houses that people can walk through like a maze.
To help get the job done, more than 50 volunteers are stripping leaves and helping with the build, which in Dan Buenos’ case meant extending family vacation to help out with the project.
“My wife is a big fan so we decided to extend our stay a week to volunteer for this,” Bueno said.
Once the display is complete on June 22, people can walk around the houses and see them up close.
See more of Dougherty's work at this link.
