Buddy Buddy: Patrick Dougherty
March 1, 2019 – Ongoing
Patrick Dougherty debuts a site-specific willow installation at the Long Beach Museum of Art. Working together with local volunteers, his son Sam, the Museum Staff and Docents, the artist intricately weaves and assembles hundreds of harvested willow saplings on-site to create monumental, earthly sculptures. The three-day harvesting of the willow consisted of cutting, baling, and transporting vast amounts of the material back to the Museum. Combined with the artist’s love of nature and his mastery of ancient building techniques, the complexity and metaphysical nature of these forms dwell not only in the natural material and the structure themselves, but also in its accessibility where audiences can engage with and bear witness to the work’s life cycle throughout its various stages. “Making sculpture comprehendible” as Dougherty says, has consistently been his vision since the inception of this body of work.
This special outdoor sculpture is supported in part by a generous grant from the Pasadena Art Alliance, a 64-year-old organization of over 175 women who foster appreciation for contemporary visual arts in Southern California by supporting artists, exhibitions, educational programs and art-oriented, non-profit institutions.
Food for Thought
March 24 – May 26, 2019
Long Beach Unified School District High School Juried Exhibition
This year’s students were asked to reflect on food beyond what nourishes and sustains us, as what and how we consume inherently helps establish our identities, social boundaries and cultural diversities. Food is not simply consumed but experienced – each bite or meal the result of sun, water, animals and a chain of hands by which produce, grains and livestock travel within our nation’s agribusiness.
The breadth of work submitted considers the parallels between food and identity, food and privilege and food as a universal language of expression. The Long Beach Museum of Art wishes to thank the dedicated high school art teachers at Ernest S. McBride Sr., Jordan, Lakewood, Long Beach Polytechnic, Millikan, Reid Continuation, Renaissance, Richard D. Browning and Woodrow Wilson who guided students in making their works. The Museum would like to especially thank Christine Whipp, the Visual Art Curriculum Leader for LBUSD.
Image caption: Marisol Cruz, My Veins Don’t Come from Grape Vines, 2019, Renaissance High School for the Arts (Detail)
