In brief
Wooden Boulder

Left outside to weather

1 August 2011

David Nash is known for the large wooden sculptures he carves using a chainsaw and an axe. Sometimes he uses a blowtorch to char the wood and often leaves his sculptures outside to weather.

Nash also makes land art, including Wooden Boulder. In 1978 Nash carved a large wooden sphere and left it in the North Wales landscape to weather. He followed the journey of the sphere from a Welsh mountainside to the Atlantic Ocean.

Over time, the boulder slipped, rolled and was sometime pushed through the landscape following the course of streams and rivers until it was 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, it reappeared in 2009 after apparently being buried under sand in the estuary. The sculptor enjoys the notion that wood which grew out of the land will finally return to it.

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In brief

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