"Stickwork" art installation at Pease Park by Patrick Dougherty

This morning, we headed to the downtown Austin area, at Pease Park to check out the new art installation by Patrick Dougherty.  Appropriately known as Stickwork, artist Patrick Dougherty and his team of volunteers used seven truckloads of willow, elm, and ash sticks and saplings harvested from Stonewall, Texas to construct four whimsical huts in the middle of Pease Park.

Stickwork will be on display for as long as it naturally stays.  Rather than break down the huts, Dougherty "allows the elements to envelop the sculpture, a process that can take anywhere from 18 months to three years". Can you believe that North Carolina-based Dougherty has crafted more than 250 similar versions of Stickwork across the world?  It's pretty neat that the sculpture was created with the help of volunteers.  This means that the artist didn't even know what it would end up looking like until it was complete--which was yesterday--since each volunteer lent shape to the piece.  The art took about 3 weeks to create.

If you have ever been to Pease Park, you know that it is beautiful and full of majestic trees to climb.   So, although this amazing piece of art was there to explore, our kids explored it for a short amount of time, and instead headed straight to the gorgeous trees.  With the amazing overcast skies present, I just kept snapping photos.

Abbey wanted to wear a good twirling dress today.

My little ninja warrior!

I was drooling over all the trees!

Abbey loved this one in particular.

In fact, she didn't want to ever get down.  She was pouting in this picture, and saying, "I just love this tree so much, I don't ever want to get down."

I even captured her kissing this particular tree. 

Again, pouting as she never wants to leave this tree.

But there's my happy Abbey!

We highly recommend checking out the new art installation soon--before the elements change it too much.  It is so well done and the park is really fun to enjoy as well!