Mark Arts’ outdoor Stickwork sculpture — one of the last created by North Carolina artist Patrick Dougherty before his retirement — is headed to the woodchipper.
That had always been the plan for the whimsical three-tower sculpture when it was built by Dougherty and more than 120 area volunteers during a labor-intensive three-week period in May 2022.
But extreme heat and recent heavy snowfall led to the sculpture’s earlier-than-expected demise after just 18 months.
To build the sculpture, truckloads of elm, rough dogwood and willow sticks and saplings had been harvested from sites in and around Wichita, including Elderslie Farm, a city water reclamation area and the Great Plains Nature Center. Stripped of leaves, the saplings were then woven together to create the towers.
During his 40-year career, Dougherty had created more than 330 monumental, site-specific sculptures that were part of his Stickwork series.
Mark Arts officials had hoped its Stickwork sculpture, which was called Oh Give Me A Home, might last at least two years but its timespan fell short of that thanks to the Kansas elements. Some Stickwork sculptures have lasted up to three years or even a bit longer.