David Nash is known for works in wood and
shaping living trees. His large wood sculptures are sometimes carved or partially burned to produce blackening. His main tools for these sculptures are a chainsaw and an axe to carve the wood and a blowtorch to char the wood. Nash also makes
land art, of which the best known is
Wooden Boulder, begun in 1978. Over the years, the boulder has slipped, rolled and sometime been pushed through the landscape following the course of streams and rivers until finally it was last seen in the
estuary of the
river Dwyryd. It was thought to have been washed out to sea but, after being missing for over five years, the boulder reappeared in June 2009. Indications are that it had been buried in sand in the estuary. The sculptor had no idea of its location, and enjoys the notion that wood which grew out of the land will finally return to it. The boulder was last seen in 2015. Nash also makes sculptures which stay in the landscape. For example,
Ash Dome is a ring of ash trees he planted in 1977 and trained to form a domed shape. The dome is sited at a secret location somewhere in Snowdonia and whenever it is filmed, crews are taken there by a circuitous route to guard its security. In the late 1980s, Nash worked at the
Djerassi resident artist program, near
Woodside, California, where he used
Redwood and
Madrone wood for his sculptures. Nash has worked with schools, university groups, and teachers throughout his career. He has created a varied body of work in which the relationship between man and nature is a central theme. His artistic ethos has been one of direct, physical involvement with his chosen material – wood – and the landscape. Since 1967, his sculpture has formed two distinctive groupings; sculptures which connect with the outside, the landscape of making and placements, and works which are presented inside, within and in relation to, architectural environments. The
inorganic, non-
allusive sculptures that Nash makes using unseasoned wood are based on the universal geometry of the
cube, the
sphere and the
pyramid. ==Recent solo exhibitions==