David Nash at the Eisteddfod

31st July 2009

The work of David Nash is this years 'special exhibition' at The National Eisteddfod Meirion a'r Cyffiniau in Bala. Outside the Visual Arts Pavilion - Y Lle Celf - is 'Lightning Strike' a sculpture fabricated from weathering steel representing a bolt of lightning forking out into a tripod as it makes contact with the earth. This is the first time that Nash has shown a completely metal piece in an exhibition in the UK, as a form in its own right rather than a cast of a wooden sculpture. This sculpture in metal, a departure from his usual medium of wood, is one of two 'firsts' that Nash is revealing here at the Eisteddfod. The second is the up-dated film of 'Wooden Boulder'. In 2003 it was presumed that 'Wooden Boulder' had finished its journey from stream to river to estuary and had finally made it to the ocean and dissappeared. But last year it was re-discovered as it has become suck in the branches of a fallen tree, itself stuck in the soft sands of the river bed. This new film tells the story as it is today and shows the 'Wooden Boulder' at its current location revealing itself on the rare occasion of a very low tide, and prior lack of rainfall, when the water level of the river drops sufficiently to very briefly reveal the sculpture.

'Cracking Box' next to a drawing by Nash that demonstrates the sculptures that came from a windblown tree that fell near Maentwrog in 1978. The drawing shows that some of the sculptures in this exhibition came from the same tree, including the original 'Cracking Box' and 'Wooden Boulder'. The drawing also shows the journey 'Wooden Boulder' took from the tree itself to the stream, into the river and then how it was carried backwards and forwards with the tides once it had reached the estuary.

Three Forms Three Cuts

David is excited to be a part of this year's Lle Celf:

"I am delighted to be invited to exhibit my work at the National Eisteddfod particularly as Bala is so near my home and studios in Blaenau Ffestiniog. Nearly all the recent exhibitions I have taken part in have been overseas so this is an ideal opportunity for me to share with the people of this area some of the sculpture I have made with special emphasis on pieces made in North Wales with welsh oak."

Capped Block

Lightning Strike

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