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David Nash, exhibition, Henry Moore, Kew Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Roger Deakin, Sculpture, Wales, Wood
David Nash at Kew, King and Queen II, 2011, bronze
David Nash has an exhibition at Kew Gardens this summer with open air and indoor sculptures, drawings and films as well as an outdoor studio called the Wood Quarry.
‘David Nash at Kew: A Natural Gallery’ 9th June -14th April 2013 features the sculptor’s year long residency at the Royal Botanic Gardens. He has moved from his home in Blaenau Ffestiniog in North Wales with his family, to a cottage in the Botanic Gardens so that he can work on site in the Wood Quarry until September.
At Kew Nash has the opportunity to create a work in situ from an oak tree which had come to the end of its life. This is as he says ‘a vein of oak to be quarried’ and is the centrepiece of his Wood Quarry. “The life of the tree was formed in that place, the quality of its life echoes in it” and he is able to explore into the tree and a work will come out of it. This reminds me of Michelangelo finding the form concealed in a block of marble.
Preparatory drawing by David Nash
Preparatory drawing by David Nash
Oak in situ in Wood Quarry, beginning May
Oak in situ in Wood Quarry, end May
Homage to Brancusi?
Wood Quarry
Wood Quarry -Tolkien like branches ‘Dandy Scuttlers’
Other sculptures have been brought here and sited, often intriguingly fitting into their surroundings, echoing shapes of trees and settings.
Torso, bronze
King and Queen I, bronze
Cork Dome, 2012, cork oak
Detail of Cork Dome, 2012, cork oak
A beautiful piece of land art, created on site.
King and Queen II, bronze
A deliberate reminder of Henry Moore’s King and Queen in Galloway?
Two Sliced Cedars, 2010, charred cedar
Another more solid duo also rather Moore-like. The dense matte wood soaks up the light.
Detail of Charred Cross Egg, 2010, charred oak
Detail of Black Trunk, 2010, charred redwood
Details showing different wood qualities. Charring of the wood is a technique he often uses.
Black Butt, 2011, bronze
This piece is a permanent reminder of a piece of his work in Wales, a wooden boulder which gradually made its own way out to sea from his studio in Blaenau Ffestiniog, over a number of years from 1978 onwards and eventually disappeared from sight in 2003. The story is beautifully told in Roger Deakin‘s book Wildwood, which has a chapter on his encounters with David Nash. The boulder’s journey also features in the excellent BBC programme made during his recent exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The famous Ash Dome in Wales begun in 1977 is still evolving in the landscape. In this liking for integrating his work in and with the landscape he has a lot in common with Chris Drury, whose work I wrote about earlier in the year here.
It is interesting to compare these bronzes with the current Gagosian show of late bronzes by Henry Moore. Nash’s bronzes are hardly distinguishable from their wooden originals. Moore’s are large, polished and patinated, outdoor pieces brought inside, where they dominate and almost overpower the huge space of the gallery. The original tiny maquettes and some of the found objects -flints and stones- which inspired them are also on show and illustrate a common origin in nature.
There are many more Nash sculptures on show both outdoors and in the glasshouses. I shall return to these later in the summer when the Wood Quarry pieces are finished. For now you can see them on the Kew web site.
Finally a reminder of earlier sculpture exhibitions at Kew to which this is a very worthwhile successor.
English: Henry Moore sculpture at Kew Gardens, London, at an extensive exhibition of his work in 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Glass art by Dale Chihuly at an extensive exhibition in Kew Gardens, London, in 2005. The boat is in front of the Palm House, where there are two other glass sculptures. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Very inspiring! I’ve recently been experimenting with willow, rather a bland wood for sculpture but which is transformed by careful burning and polishing. I’ll be looking out for more of David Nash’s work in the future.
Thanks for catching up with these Steve. Willow is more workeable isn’t it – or is that just thin stems? Did you see the coracle making on my later post using willow? I shall do another post on David Nash a bit later in the Summer. I haven’t seen any of your sculpture – I shall check on your blog again!
Hi Diana, yes willow is soft and easy to work with but lacks the strength of a slow growing hardwood. I’ve been working on some thick trunks from a local willow that was cut back but it wasn’t until I used a flame on it that it started to show its character. The change was really remarkable. It’s never occurred to me to show something I make myself on the blog, but if I ever produce anything that I’m actually satisfied with maybe I will.I didn’t see your coracle post just yet but I will. I’m working my way through some older posts having been out the running for a few weeks. It’s good to be writing again as well!
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Isn’t David Nash brilliant! We saw his work at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Hi. Very interesting post. It celebrates many ideas, but to me, the role that older trees still play in the forest ecosystem… I especially like the “Charred Cross Egg’ and ‘Cork Dome’. Jane
Thanks Jane. I shall try and write more about his ideas in a later post. The indoor sculptures are all carved wood ones I think.
Diana – simply great! The ‘walking’ trees do look like they are in movement.
Thanks – he calls them Dandy Scuttlers which seems to be a mountaineering feature name and also 18/19 century slang!
I was at Kew several weeks ago and saw this being installed (the works in the glasshouses were already in place but not much outdoors was ready then) – thanks for reminding me I need to go back and see it! Thanks as well for including a few of his drawings. I’ve long been fascinated by sculptors’ drawings… I’m fairly sure this is the first time I’ve ever seen them done on glass!
I haven’t seen everything yet either! The drawings are actually chalk on black paper but mounted behind glass – I thought they looked quite good photographed like this anyway!. They are in a hut by the Wood Quarry. There will be some of his Ash Dome drawings in the exhibition in the botanical Gallery now I think.
Absolutely fascinating post. Thanks so much for including the YouTube video in addition to the photos. This morning I wrote on this quote from Buddha’s Little Instruction Book:
“`Praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow come and go like the wind. To be happy, rest like a great tree in the midst of them all.’” If all could celebrate and honor trees as does David Nash. Do hope you write again on this artist and his work.
Karen
Karen that is a great quote! I shall write again on him a bit later in the summer – there are many different aspects to his work. Glad you liked the film too – he is a very appealing person.
Hi Diana. His wooden sculptures are remarkable. I must admit that i hope most of the trees he works with are already near the end of their lives. I guess i’m protective of trees… You have a lovely weekend
I meant to make the point Kathryn that he does always (I think) use wood that has been already cut or fallen down or would be because of disease or danger. He also uses all parts of the trees as far as possible. I feel convinced that he is protective of trees too! I have had many battles against trees being cut down myself – the insurance companies are in charge in this country now unfortunately!
Thanks – I would love to see this. Nash’s exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park last year was superb. I wrote about our visit here http://wp.me/poJrg-1CF and here http://wp.me/poJrg-15X
I should have known you would have written about the Yorkshire Sculpture Park exhibition. I wanted to go but didn’t make it in the end. It is a great place – I went to a brilliant Chillida exhibition there. I’ve had a look at your two excellent posts and apologise for overlapping a bit – the Roger Deakin piece is a good write up though!