The Rambles by Patrick Dougherty

Dougherty leaves decisions about dismantling his sculptures up to the host institutions. Although many people have asked over the past two years how we would ultimately demolish the sculpture—suggestions included a large bonfire—the safest approach was deemed to be pulling down The Rambles and hauling it away. Buried portions of the vertical supports will be left in the ground to decay and the grass will be re-seeded.

Stay tuned for future outdoor sculpture installations at the Museum.

North Carolina artist Patrick Dougherty has created his monumental sculptures all over the world, but has never worked in Connecticut – until now!

Dougherty, who has created large-scale environmental installations all over the world, spent three weeks weaving 6 tons of native birch and bayberry saplings together to form The Rambles. The sculpture, which is 21 feet tall and over 1,000 square feet, overlooks the Lieutenant River and can be seen from most points on the site’s eleven acres. Nearly 100 volunteers helped in the construction process. Most of Dougherty’s works are temporary, weathering the change of seasons and enduring the elements for one to two years. The Florence Griswold Museum’s installation has been made possible through the support of the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and People’s United Bank. The Museum is also grateful for the support of Andy Baxter, David and Mary Dangremond, and Renee Wilson.

A Process Involving the Community

Dougherty likens his process to an artist sketching a picture. “Anything you can do with a pencil and paper, you can do with sticks,” he has remarked. He constructs his installations using local saplings to “sketch” structures that interact with nearby buildings and trees, introducing notes of whimsy and visual energy into familiar settings. Dougherty explains, “ I have learned to use saplings as lines and full-body motion as a kind of pencil.” Groups of large saplings are set into the ground every few feet and used as posts. From there, more saplings are woven together in different directions to form walls nearly a foot thick. No nails or fasteners hold his sculptures together—just the tension of the woven saplings and sticks.

What sets Dougherty’s works apart from other sculptures is how the community is engaged in the project. Volunteers are a key part of the process.

For the Museum installation volunteers – a diverse group of high school and college students, business professionals, artists, seniors and Target employees – from all over the state came to aid in the construction.

Called “the Jackson Pollack of saplings,” Dougherty looks to the layout, history, and “personality” of the site to guide his design. For The Rambles, Dougherty imagined a Victorian garden folly, many of which resembled architectural ruins and borrowed from the assorted shapes that make up the Museum’s Krieble Gallery. Two towers, one square, the other round, flank a maze of walls and archways. While the shapes are very distinct, there is a feeling that the structures are being reclaimed by the natural world. Visitors are encouraged to wander through the towers and examine the sculpture from different vantage point.