To call Patrick Dougherty’s Stickwork at Saint John’s University Arboretum “ephemeral” just doesn’t seem right. The large structure at the entrance to campus has stood for more than three years, sagging, yes, aging until the title “Lean on Me” fit it more than when it was freshly constructed. The windows, around Halloween, looked like they were moaning.
My last look at Stickwork
For those of us who drive back and forth each day, it has been a welcome sight in all seasons and all weather. For me, it had a little extra significance– I spent a few hours on each stage: cutting willow to use in the walls, stripping leaves from stacks of willow and ironwood, then weaving willow into one of the walls. That was a truly blessed day of community, when I sat weaving willow walls with the art professor who brought the project to campus, Rachel Mellis. It turned out that not only did she also go to Grinnell College, but her grandparents had lived on our farm at one point.
Stickwork was a wonderful piece of art– in its construction, engaging students and community members, in its beauty engaging people throughout the state, and yesterday it had one final performance as it burned.
Here is a time lapse video of the burn produced by Saint John’s media services.
The work was always meant to be impermanent– in fact, it stayed up an extra six months. The burn was announced last minute, like a prairie burn, when conditions were right (no wind, a 20-degree day, the students not on campus). And now what we have is the prairie again.
Farewell, friend. Thank you for visiting our landscape.
Stickwork at its completion in September 2012