For visiting environmental artist Patrick Dougherty, strawberry guava tree saplings are the ideal medium.

Dougherty, 66, is in the midst of putting up an installation on the front lawn of the Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly known as the Honolulu Academy of Arts), twisting, weaving and bending saplings culled from Ho‘omaluhia Botanical Garden into abstract sculptures 16 feet tall.

He expects to finish the piece by Saturday. The public can watch his work in progress from the sidewalk. Once completed, the installation will remain on the museum’s front lawn for about a year.

When completed, the cluster of large, rounded shapes will look as if they are bending to the tradewinds as well as the one-way traffic whizzing by on Beretania Street.

Dougherty described the sculpture as "an archipelago of shapes thrown across the front yard."

Strawberry guava is considered an invasive species in Hawaii, so Ho‘omaluhia was more than happy to donate it to Dougherty’s art project, with assistance from landscape architect Leland Miyano.

"They’ve got a beautiful, mottled bark," said Dougherty. "They’ll look beautiful when we’re done with them."

The shapes are inspired, in part, by many of the natural elements of Hawaii, including the wind and ocean currents and the crinoline folds of the Koolau mountains.

Dougherty creates his works of art with a concept in his head and improvises as he goes along. For this piece his temporary "model" was an empty sack of Kona coffee and its spontaneous folds.

"You have to react to what you see," he said. "You’re taking advantage of imminent possibility and the ability to react to a situation as it builds."

Part of the fun of his work is the spontaneity and interaction that occur with each installation. A couple visiting from California walked by the project last week and became part of the team of volunteers stripping the guava branches of their leaves.

Dougherty sticks the saplings into the ground as a foundation and then, standing on scaffolding, begins his bending and weaving. He doesn’t use any nails or hardware.

The self-taught carpenter is a former health administrator who went back to graduate school to study art at the University of North Carolina. He started experimenting with tree saplings as his construction material for installations in 1980. He’s built more than 200 massive sculptures, including installations at the North Carolina Museum of Art in his home state, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden in California, Jardin des Arts in Chateaubourg, France, and Sculpture in the Parklands in Ireland.

"I like the problem-solving that goes with any kind of making," he said, "whether it’s building a house or other structures — all these kind of dovetail with sculpture, which is about aesthetics and problem-solving."