Patrick Dougherty’s Mind-Blowing Nest Houses Made of Living Trees

No, this isn't the work of some gigantic bird. The living <a href="http://inhabitat.com/art/">art</a> you see before you was actually done by man - more specifically, artist and branchbender extraordinaire <a href="http://www.stickwork.net/">Patrick Dougherty</a>. Crafting human-sized <a href="http://inhabitat.com/grow-your-own-treehouse/">nest houses</a> made by actually <a href="http://inhabitat.com/video-grow-a-living-treehouse-with-terreform/">weaving growing trees into the shapes of houses</a>, cocoons, pagodas, huts, giant water pitchers and even people, Dougherty has traveled the world with his truly extraordinary sculptures. Click through our photo gallery for images of some of his coolest work.

This one, dubbed "Call of the Wild" has a surrealist feeling to it. Kinda makes you thirsty, no?

Who says living art has to reside outside? This one, called "Crossing Over" made its home inside the American Craft Museum.

The "Summer Palace."

Na Hale 'o waiawi (Hawaiian for Wild Dwellings Built from Strawberry Guava).

Dougherty's pieces almost look animated. Doesn't this one remind you of a group of kids trying to get into a window?

This installation entitled "Trailheads" at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC would be an ideal playhouse for a group of kids (or adults for that matter!)

Dougherty doesn't limit his subject matter to dwellings. This one, called Nine Lives, is a study of the human form

Like a quaint hobbit home, this twiggy residence sprung up at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden in 2005.

See the guy standing in the doorway? It really gives you a sense of how big these installations actually are.

Mr. Dougherty, who is now in his 60s, has a portfolio of over 200 amazing pieces from houses that look like a grove of trees to large pavilions that seem to have been built by a beaver. We call it art, but he calls it "stickwork." That's also what he named his book of thirty-eight of his most eye-catching these works which was published last year....<br><br><a href='https://inhabitat.com/patrick-doughertys-mind-blowing-nest-houses-made-of-living-trees/'>READ ARTICLE</a>

Reminiscent of Russian architecture, this dome-topped installation looks great against a snowy background.

Some of Dougherty's works are composed of simple forms - not this one! Imagine how much time and effort went into those arches!

Not all of Dougherty's works reside on the ground. This one, called Cell Division, proves that his art is just as effective on the side of a building.