Art Lecture/Installation: Patrick Dougherty Improvises an Installation of Woven Saplings
Location
Phone: 202-339-6401
Dumbarton Oaks announces a new contemporary art installation by sculptor Patrick Dougherty opening with an Artist’s Talk on Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at 5:30 pm. The artist will begin installation of a woven-branch sculpture in the Gardens commissioned by Dumbarton Oaks on September 1st and continue work through September 21st. The public is invited to view the installation process during this time between the hours of 2-4pm daily (closed on Mondays). The completed sculpture will be on view to the public beginning on September 22, 2010 from 2-6pm daily (closed on Mondays). The sculpture will be on display through the fall, winter, and spring until it becomes naturally weathered and unable to maintain stability, then it will be disassembled.
Dougherty's project for Dumbarton Oaks will be created and installed in the Ellipse, one of the most familiar features of the Dumbarton Oaks Gardens. Originally designed by landscape architect Beatrix Farrand during the 1920s and surrounded by a sprawling boxwood hedge, the Ellipse was transformed by architect Alden Hopkins in 1956 by the addition of a double row of pleached hornbeams. Responding both to the monumentality and the static quality of this aerial hedge, Dougherty has proposed adding a series of what he describes as "running figures," or twisted architectural elements, that rise into the hedge and pursue each other actively and gracefully around the Ellipse. Given the improvisational nature of the artist's work, the final project might depart from this initial proposal. Dougherty will be using maple saplings harvested from a state forest in Virginia, where such saplings are routinely harvested and discarded to promote the growth of oaks in the forest.
Special Events
In conjunction with this installation, an Artist’s Talk entitled “Primitive Ways in an Accelerated World” will be held Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at 5:30pm in the Music Room. Admission is free but advance registration is required by emailing landscape@doaks.org or by calling (202) 339-6460.
Docent-led Garden tours are offered to the public Tuesday through Saturday at 2:10pm. Private group tours of the Museum and Gardens are available by advance arrangement by calling (202) 339-6409.
Closed on Mondays, Closest Metro stop is 1 mile away (Woodley Park Zoo/Adams Morgen Station)
Contact Information
Phone: 202-339-6401
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