University to remove damaged tree art soon

Artist Patrick Dougherty's tree sculpture, which has been on the Front Green since October 2006, will finally be removed in the next few months, members of the University's public art committee said.

The temporary installation, an improbably balanced tangle of branches named "Square Roots," was partially destroyed in March when one of the nearby elm trees toppled and crushed the sculpture's middle section. The University removed the affected segment, but the remaining parts on each side were left intact.

Dougherty's piece was originally scheduled to be removed after about two years, said Jo-Ann Conklin, director of the David Winton Bell Gallery and a member of the art committee.

"Part of me would have loved to keep the fallen tree there entwined with the sculpture, but that had obvious safety concerns," she said. "There was just something very philosophically nice about Mother Nature taking over the sculpture."

In upcoming meetings, the committee will decide exactly when the sculpture will be taken down, Conklin said.

For Dougherty - an artist who always works with natural materials from the areas around his sculptures - the damage done to his sculpture was not unexpected.

"I thought it was an act of God," he said. "My work is temporary. It had a good life, for sure, but my projects generally live a life for one great year."

Dougherty, who completes eight to 10 works each year, has worked as a sculptor for the past 25 years. With the help of an office assistant and volunteers who live near his installation sites, Dougherty typically takes about three weeks to build one of his sculptures. He then usually takes a one week hiatus between projects, he said.

"Square Roots" was built mainly out of maple tree branches that were found by a landscape crew working about a 30-minute drive away from Providence, the artist said.

The Brown installation "was an expansive piece, and it was one of the first times I tried to use geometric forms in my work," Dougherty said. "It worked well in the way that it took over the yard."

Robert Emlen, a senior lecturer in American Civilization and a member of the public art committee, recalled that Dougherty's sculpture was met by a positive reception from the community when it was first installed.

"It was wonderful - it really complemented the landscaping of the Front Green," he said. "The sculpture was a nice play between the great structures on the green and the trees around it."

The committee, chaired by Chancellor Emeritus Artemis Joukowsky '55 P'87, includes Conklin, Emlen, Professor of Visual Arts Richard Fishman and Professor of History of Art and Architecture Dietrich Neumann. The committee usually chooses to display works of art acquired directly from the creators' estates or from other private collections, and the pieces are meant to be displayed for two- to three-year periods, Conklin said. Funding comes from both the University and private donations.

The committee, which had acquired six installations before Dougherty's sculpture, has not begun to discuss new installations, Conklin said. Once it does decide on a project, it will most likely take six months to a year to acquire the artwork and settle on a place for it on campus, she added.

Public art, Emlen said, "engages people and brings the campus alive. It is more than just a pleasure to look at, but it is challenging and helps us to consider our surroundings."