The Progress of Meadowmorphosis
See all that’s happening this month!
World-famous artist Patrick Dougherty; artist-in-residence at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, May 2 - 22, 2011, during "Meadowmorphosis"
May 2010
Patrick Dougherty visited Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden a year before the sculpture was built. He chose the Anderson Wildflower Meadow as the location. "Meadowmorphosis" became the name of the process transforming this space into the site of Dougherty's sculpture.
May 2 - 4, 2011
For the first three days, Patrick Dougherty and a crew of Garden volunteers harvested local sticks and saplings in a sustainable way.
Dougherty, his assistant Andy Lynch and the volunteers harvested sweet gum and red maple. The Virginia Department of Forestry helped identify private landowners' sites in Hanover and Chesterfield Counties.
The courageous volunteers braved poison ivy, ticks and torrential downpours to get the material needed.
Sticks and saplings were bundled and loaded onto trucks to be transported to the Garden (Our thanks to The Davey Tree Expert Company and C.T. Purcell for their support).
More than five truckloads of material were off-loaded near the Meadowmorphosis site.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Patrick Dougherty and his assistant Andy Lynch map out the footprint of the sculpture with garden hoses.
The rough plan -- for the first time, Dougherty is using diamond shapes.
Seventy-six holes were dug. VCU art students assisted; they won this opportunity!
Sticks and saplings placed in holes. Garden guests wanted to know why we were planting trees with no roots. (photo by Don Williamson)
Meanwhile, "strippers" were hard to work stripping leaves off the sticks and saplings.
By the end of the first week, the first sticks were in place. (photo by Don Williamson)
Week of May 9, 2011
Patrick Dougherty and his assistant Andy Lynch work on the sculpture
Garden volunteers helped weave the sticks.
The sculpture starts to take shape. (photo by Don Williamson).
Patrick Dougherty clearly takes inspiration from the site of each of his sculptures. But what will he name it? (photo by Don Williamson)
Saturday, May 21, 2011
More than 70 Garden volunteers worked on the project -- what a team!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
The Children's Garden Spring Fling included a naming ceremony for the sculpture and made it official -- the newest jewel of the Garden is the "Diamonds in the Rough" sculpture by Patrick Dougherty.
Have 2 minutes? Check out our time-lapse video of the 3-week "Meadowmorphosis" of the Anderson Meadow + 5 truckloads of sticks, into Diamonds in the Rough. It's amazing!
