Finders Keepers by Patrick Dougherty
Title: Finders Keepers
Artist: Patrick Dougherty
Location: Center for the Arts, Jackson WY
Construction Dates: August 8-26, 2022
Ribbon-Cutting Opening Celebration: Friday Sept 9 6pm @ The Center Theater (free and open to the public)
Medium: Willow Saplings
Co-Presented: Finders Keepers by Patrick Dougherty was produced by Center for the Arts with project management services provided by Jackson Hole Public Art and art education provided by the Art Association of Jackson Hole.
Patrick Dougherty is an American environmental artist, best known for his sculptures and installations built with sticks and saplings. Finders Keepers, a site-specific sculpture, was constructed over the course of three weeks with the help of many local volunteers. It is made entirely out of locally sourced saplings found in Teton and Sublette Counties.
This sculpture is temporary and we hope all ages will enjoy it throughout the seasons for as long as possible. For your safety, and to help ensure others can enjoy this artwork over time, please do not climb on the sculpture. You are welcome to explore, wander, and enjoy!
“Finders Keepers is a sculpture waiting to be found. I hope that it intrigues those who pass by and that they revisit many times. Thank you to the Center for the Arts, JH Public Art and the community for supporting this project.”
ABOUT PATRICK DOUGHERTY: Traveling almost every day for over thirty years, Patrick Dougherty has produced a body of work that includes more than 320 large-scale “Stickwork” sculptures. He began grade school dressed in coat and tie and aspired to follow his dad into the medical field. However, at thirty years of age, he heard the call of the wild and enrolled in the art department at the University of North Carolina. His dad characterized the move as a “certified case of downward mobility,” but the sculptor found freedom in sculptural traditions and the visual world of ideas. You are invited to tag along, to see how a child’s affinity for sticks led to jumping out of one life and into another. Enjoy the path of no return, as the sculptor chronicles years of larger-than-life woven structures that enchant and beguile visitors.
Born in Oklahoma in 1945, Patrick Dougherty grew up in North Carolina, where he roamed the woods as a child. In the early 1980’s, he combined his carpentry skill with a love of nature and began to build sculptures using tree saplings as construction material. His work quickly evolved from single pieces on conventional pedestals to monumental-scale environmental works, which required saplings by the truckloads. He has built over 320 of these massive works, and become internationally acclaimed. His sculpture has been seen worldwide — from Scotland to Japan to Australia, and all over the United States.
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