Salixology (WILLOWS & SCULPTURE) with Patrick Dougherty
Ologies with Alie Ward

Salixology (WILLOWS & SCULPTURE) with Patrick Dougherty

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 24, 20261 hr 13 min
  • Interview

It’s the Ologies 9th Anniversary episode – and the customary gift is willow. So I reached out to an artist whose work means a lot to me, and convinced world-renowned environmental sculptor Patrick Dougherty to chat about his work, and about willows in general. Twisting and tangling literal tons of willow saplings, Patrick and his crews create huge, site-specific sculptures that look like fantastical buildings, but made almost entirely of sustainably-sourced branches. I’ve loved his work for decades, and this chat was like a kid meeting their basketball hero. We also address: cleaning up ecology with willows, their spine...

Play episode

Opens the player: the full transcript, every word clickable, with translation and flashcards.

Try it: tap any word

Real sentences from the start of this episode. Every word is marked with its level.

Sentence 1 of 12 · 0:00

, .

Allie Ward. And this is a big one for us. It's a big one for me. It's our

Hear this sentence

Tap a word to see its meaning in your language.

Do you know these words?

8 harder words from this episode. Tap one to see what it means, then mark it.

  • C14:15
  • B215:13
  • B224:43
  • B229:56
  • B243:17
  • B253:09
  • C262:59
  • B266:04

Mark a few words and we'll tell you how this episode fits your level.

Is this episode right for you?

B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 42%A2 31%B1 15%B2 11%C1 1%
  • 88% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 169 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 296 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.

0:00

Oh hey, it's your new phone case you're not quite used to. Allie Ward. And this is a big one for us. It's a big one for me. It's our 531st episode, but more importantly, this week marks the 9th anniversary since Ology's first episode came out. So we like to look up those anniversary guides

0:19

and I was thrilled to discover that the customary 9th anniversary gift is Willow. I was like, what? I love Willow. I grew up around it. We had a creek in my backyard right outside the gate in a pasture. One of my favorite artists makes these willow sculptures.

0:35

If you listen to the field trip episode at the Natural History Museum of LA County, I did years back, I talk about this willow structure built in the gardens that so buoyed my spirits during a really dark time that I named my production company after it, Willow Hut. That structure was built by an LA artist by the name of David Lovejoy,

That was the opening. The rest of the episode (73 min) is in the player: every word clickable, with translation, saved words and flashcards.

Continue in the player

Automatically generated from the audio. May contain errors. Audio belongs to its publisher and is played from their feed. Rights holders can request removal — copyright & takedown policy