David Nash: Ash Dome (1977+)

In a private woodland location somewhere in Snowdonia, is a circle of twenty-two ash trees that have been growing under the gentle guidance of Nash for forty years. They have been bent in towards each other in a vortex that has now met to form a living dome. The dome creates a space that is only a little bit different from its surroundings, yet the sculptural intervention draws our attention to the natural processes and the passage of time. This is a sculpture that exists in the natural time scale, and changes through the years as trees record every growing season in their rings. This is art rooted in the landscape in the purist sense. It cannot be exhibited in galleries or sold by a dealer. It must remain where it was made as a permanent and ever-changing installation. Partly due to climate change, Ash Dome is currently under threat from the spread of ash-dieback.

David Nash works almost exclusively with wood. Usually, he carves the boughs of great trees that have fallen or that he manages to reclaim after they may have been felled to clear ground. He works with the forms already in the trees and has described his method as collaboration. When asked how long it takes to produce a piece of his artwork, he answers, “a hundred years or so,” including the time it has taken for the tree to grow.

His approach is one of truth to materials and he uses the properties of wood in the creation of his form. For example, he will carve deep parallel cuts into a column of wood and then kiln-dry the piece, causing the straight slices to curl and form waves. He uses fire to char the surface of some of his works, a process that both colours them and also preserves them. So, in his sculptures with living trees this truth to material is taken a step further and deals much more with the processes involved. These processes include his artistic guidance and intervention, as well as the biological processes of photosynthesis, respiration, transpiration and direct response to changes in environment and climate.

MORE:

David Nash talks about his work, including Ash Dome, in this interview at sculpture.org