I just recently returned from San Francisco.  I stayed for 3 weeks and was the assistant to Patrick Dougherty on his sculpture The Upper Crust.  He was hired by the San Francisco Art Commission to build a sculpture outside of City Hall.  This is my third time working with Patrick, and each time has been more exciting than the last.  These sculptures are amazingly rewarding to work on, you are in constant contact with nature in its rawest state.  The sculpture was build using willow woven into the tops of pollarded sycamore trees.  When the Sycamores bloom they will shoot through the scupture.  San Francisco Mike does an amazing service for the city with his sfciviccenter blogspot.  Check out his last entry of the sculpture at http://sfciviccenter.blogspot.com/2009/02/patrick-dougherty-and-upper-crust.html.  San Francisco Mike took the photo I used in this blog entry.