Patrick Dougherty's Short Cut Removed from Prexy's Pasture

Patrick Dougherty, Short Cut, 2008

Many folks are wondering what happened to Short Cut, one of the most talked about and enjoyed sculptures in the Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational exhibition.  Earlier this spring, UW's ground crews removed the work which was reaching the end of its life.  Artist Patrick Dougherty said that his outdoor creations made from locally harvested saplings usually have about a two-year lifespan. 

Dougherty, an artist from North Carolina, has created works around the world.  His inspiration for his sculptural forms comes from the specific location of the work.  For Short Cut, the Veedawoo boulders that now grace Prexy's Pasture and other locations on campus became a reference for the four, large boulder-like structures which were placed strategically on an unpaved pathway on the north east corner of the quad that is the heart of UW's campus.  Without impacting the ability to still traverse the "short cut," the sculpture offered the ability to get lost in the work through a myriad of doorways.  Once inside the structures, the open forms offered views to the sky.

Short Cut was one of eighteen sculptures installed on campus and in Laramie that comprised the original exhibition.  It was the third work to be removed.  It was preceded by Deborah Butterfield's Billings (which was on view in the Art Museum lobby) and Steven Siegel's It Goes Under (which was located along the Laramie Greenbelt in West Laramie).  

Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational opened in 2008 as a temporary exhibition.  All of the works are on loan and are on view on a temporary basis.