David Nash is a sculptor who has been working with wood, trees and the natural environment for the past thirty-five years. His career has been an untiring exploration of the possibilities of form in wood and trees producing a significant body of work in Britain and all over the world.
His own experiences have led to a conviction of the value of interaction with the natural world and he would like to further stimulate learning through consideration of environment and natural processes. He is particularly interested in supporting teachers to use his sculptures as an inspiration for cross-curricular work. He has been committed to teaching since 1970 when he was a visiting lecturer at Maidstone College of Art and has continued to hold visiting lectureships and to lead art education projects based on his work in galleries and museums around the world.
Further information
Photo courtesy of Nicholas Sinclair. www.nicholassinclair.com
Biography
| 1945 | Born Esher, Surrey, England |
| 1963-67 | Studied at Kingston College of Art |
| 1967 | Moved to Blaenau Ffestiniog, North Wales, where he lives and works |
| 1969-70 | Postgraduate Study, Chelsea School of Art |
| 1999 | Elected Royal Academician |
| Appointed Research Fellow, University of Northumbria, Newcastle | |
| Awarded Honorary Doctorate in Art & Design, Kingston University | |
| 2004 | Awarded OBE |
Selected One-Man Exhibitions
| 1973 | Briefly Cooked Apples, Queen Elizabeth Hall, York and Oriel, Bangor, Wales |
| 1976 | Oriel, Bangor, Wales |
| Loosely Held Grain, Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol | |
| 1978 | Fletched Over Ash, AIR Gallery, London; Arts Centre, Chester; |
| Chapter Gallery, Cardiff | |
| 1979 | Parnham House, Dorset |
| 1980 | Wood Quarry, Elise Meyer Gallery, New York |
| Mixed Wood, Southampton University Gallery | |
| Galleria Cavallino, Venice, Italy | |
| 1981 | Pyramids and Catapults, St. Paul's Gallery, Leeds |
| 1982 | Two Views of Nature, Elise Meyer Gallery, New York |
| Oriel, The Friary, Cardiff | |
| Wood Quarry, Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo | |
| Yorkshire Sculpture Park (Fellowship Exhibition), Wakefield | |
| Kilkenny Art Gallery, Kilkenny Castle, Ireland | |
| 1983 | Sixty Seasons, Third Eye Centre, Glasgow; Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh; Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno, Wales; Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and Museum, Swansea; City Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent; The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin |
| Removals and Conversions, South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell | |
| 1984-85 | Ki'no Inochi, Ki no Katachi, Moriyama City, Shiga; Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Tochigi-ken; Miyagi Museum of Art, Sendai; Fukuoka Art Museum; Sogetsu Kaikan, Tokyo |
| Ki no, Kamakura Gallery, Tokyo | |
| 1985 | Hoge Veluwe, Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo (with Sjoerd Buisman) |
| Sculpture by David Nash, Bixby Gallery, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri | |
| Elm, Wattle, Gum, Heide Park and Art Gallery, Melbourne; | |
| Aveago Gallery, Sydney | |
| Galerij S65, Aalst, Belgium | |
| 1986 | Tree to Vessel, Juda Rowan Gallery, London |
| 1987 | Sculpture from the Djerassi Foundation, L.A. Louver, Los Angeles |
| Andrew Knight Gallery, Cardiff | |
| 1988 | Ardennes Project, Galerij S65, Aalst, Belgium |
| Chêne et Frêne de Pierre-de-Bresse, Réfectoire de l'Abbaye de Tournus, Musée Greuze, Tournus/Art Contemporain | |
| Vaughan and Vaughan, Minneapolis, Minnesota | |
| Drawings, Nishimura Gallery, Tokyo | |
| 1989 | Mosaic Egg, Annely Juda Fine Art, London |
| Oak and Birch, Galleria Sculptor, Helsinki | |
| Centre d'Art Contemporain de Vassiviere, Limousin | |
| Ashton Court Beech Project, Bristol | |
| 1990 | Drawings, Louver Gallery, New York |
| Chêne et Frêne de Pierre-de-Bresse, Musee des Beaux-Arts,Calais | |
| David Nash: Sculpture, Louver Gallery, New York | |
| David Nash - Sculpture 1971-90, Serpentine Gallery, London; National Museum of Wales, Cardiff; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh | |
| Galerie Philippe Casini, Paris | |
| Art Affairs, Amsterdam | |
| 1991 | Walily: Smoke and Turpentine, Centre for Contemporay Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw (with Leon Tarasewicz) |
| Poland Project, Galerij S65, Aalst, Belgium | |
| Criccieth Festival, North Wales | |
| David Nash: Planted & Carved, Nishimura Gallery, Tokyo | |
| Five New Sculptures, L.A. Louver, Los Angeles | |
| Sculpture 1971-91, Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno, Wales | |
| Wood Quarry, Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield | |
| 1992 | The Planted Projects 1977-1992, Louver Gallery, New York |
| Jan Weiner Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri | |
| Sounding Form: New Sculpture and Drawings, Peter Pears Gallery, Aldeburgh; Space 34 and The Marland Gallery, Snape Maltings Sculpture and Drawings, Gerald Peters Gallery, Dallas, Texas | |
| 1993 | At the Edge of the Forest, Oriel, The Friary, Cardiff |
| The Planted Works, Manchester City Art Gallery | |
| Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, Missouri | |
| At the Edge of the Forest, Annely Juda Fine Art, London | |
| Drawings, Nishimura Gallery, Tokyo | |
| Brændt Eg, Kunsthallen Brandts Klædefabrik, Odense | |
| 1994 | Voyages and Vessels, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu; Madison Art Center, Wisconsin |
| Otoineppu - Spirit of Three Seasons, Asahikawa Museum of Art, Hokkaido; Nagoya City Art Museum; Ashiya City Museum of Art & History, Kobe; The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama; The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura; Tsukuba Museum of Art, Ibaraki | |
| Nishimura Gallery, Tokyo | |
| Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Monica | |
| Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum | |
| 1995 | Gianni Giacobbi Arte Contemporaneo, Palma de Mallorca |
| Beyond The Forest, Palau de la Virreina, Barcelona | |
| Bat in the Box, Lizard in the Glove, Refusalon Gallery, San Francisco | |
| 1996 | David Nash: New Sculptures and Drawings, Art Affairs, Amsterdam |
| Three Places: David Nash, Cairn Gallery, Nailsworth | |
| Croesau, Wyan, Llestr, Pasg 1996, Oriel Y Ddraig, Blaenau Ffestiniog | |
| Green Fuse, Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry | |
| Eighteen Thousand Tides, Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne | |
| Line of Cut, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds | |
| Elements of Drawing, Leeds City Art Gallery | |
| Forms into Time 1971-96, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp | |
| David Nash: Sculpture from Japan, Annely Juda Fine Art, London | |
| Recent Sculpture and Drawing, Galerij S65, Aalst, Belgium | |
| 1997 | Stores and Hearths, L.A. Louver, Los Angeles |
| David Nash, Hans Mayer Galerie, Düsseldorf | |
| David Nash Sculptures, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen | |
| Sculpture from California, Haines Gallery, San Francisco | |
| David Nash - Language of Wood, PYO Gallery, Seoul | |
| 1998 | David Nash, European Foundation for Sculpture, Parc Regional Tournay-Solvay, Brussels |
| David Nash - Language of Wood, Banque de Luxembourg | |
| Red and Black, L.A. Louver, Los Angeles | |
| Stoves, Atlantic Centre for the Arts, Florida | |
| Drawings and Place, Maneten Gallery, Sweden | |
| Observation, Imagination, Realisation, Ucheldre Centre,North Wales | |
| David Nash Sculpture, Galerie Lelong, New York | |
| 1999 | Engaging with Primary Elements, Artists' Gardens, Weimar, Work Place, Haines Gallery, San Francisco |
| Gianni Giacobbi Arte Contemporane, Palma de Mallorca | |
| 2000 | Recent Sculpture and Charred Panels, Galerij S65, Aalst, Belgium |
| Line of Cut, Galerie Lelong, Paris | |
| Chwarel Goed - Wood Quarry: David Nash, Centre for Visual Arts, Cardiff; The Old Market Hall, Blaenau Ffestiniog | |
| 2000 | David Nash, Sculpture at Schoenthal Monastery, Langenbruck, Switzerland |
| Chicago Wood - Retrieved and Renewed, State Bridge Street Gallery, Chicago | |
| 2000-01 | Green and Black, Oriel 31, Newtown and tour to Wrexham Art Centre; Burford House Gallery, Lludlow; Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea. |
| Three Forms for Chicago, exhibition on Chicago's Museum Campus, Chicago | |
| 2001 | David Nash - Skulpturen & Zeichnungen, Kunst im Bethmannhof, Frankfurt |
| David Nash - From Wales | |
| Nishimura Gallery, Tokyo | |
| Black and Light, Annely Juda Fine Art, London | |
| 2002 | David Nash – Sculptures, Gallery Lelong, New York |
| David Nash – Neue Skulpturen, Galerie S 65, Köln | |
| 2003 | David Hash: Roche Beech, New Art Centre Sculpture Park and Gallery, Roche Court |
| David Nash: Holzskulpturen, Gerhard Marcks Haus, Bremen | |
| David Nash – Ruckkehr der Kunst in die nature, Galerie Scheffel, Bad Homburg, Germany | |
| 2004 | David Nash, Galeria Metta, Madrid |
| David Nash, Holzskulpturen, Stiftung für Bildhauerei und Georg-kolbe-Museum, Berlin | |
| David Nash Making and Placing Abstract Sculpture 1978-2004, Tate St Ives |
Selected Works in Public Collections
Stedelijk Museum, Aalst, Belgium
Aberdeen Art Gallery
Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp
Ishiya City Museum of Art and History
Ayr Art Gallery
Bristol Museum and Art Gallery
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Calais
Museum of Modern Art, Caracas
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
Welsh Contemporary Art Society, Cardiff
Fonds Regional d'Art Contemporain, Corsica
National Museum, Dublin
Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne
City of Edinburgh
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Fukuoka City Museum
Grizedale Forest, Cumbria
Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem
McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, Ontario
Espoo Karhusaari, Helsinki
Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art
Asahikawa Museum of Art, Hokkaido
The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu
Honolulu Airport, Hawaii
Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek
Ichikawa Museum of Art
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana
Iwaki City Museum
Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura
Abbot Hall Art Gallery & Museum, Kendal, Cumbria
Tickon Environmental Sculpture Park, Langeland, Denmark
Leeds City Art Gallery
Leicester Museum and Art Gallery
Fonds Regional d'Art Contemporain, Limousin
Arts Council of Great Britain, London
British Council, London
Camden Library, London
Contemporary Art Society, London
Government Art Collection, London
Tate Gallery, London
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Banque de Luxembourg
Dexia/Banque Internationale, Luxembourg
L'Ecomusée de Pierre-de-Bresse, Macon
Manchester City Council
Heide Art Gallery, Melbourne
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Morris Museum, Morristown, New Jersey
Nagoya City Museum
Margam Sculpture Park, Newport, Wales
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha
Nationale Park De Hoge Veluwe, Otterlo
Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Tobacco Museum, Prilep
Portsmouth City Museums & Record Services
Kunsthalle Recklinghausen
Métrobus de l'Agglomération Rouennaise, Rouen
San Diego Museum of Art, California
San Jose Museum of Art, California
Shimane Art Museum