The Ashes of Nash
During the late 1970s, in a secret woodland location somewhere in Snowdonia, David Nash set a new paradigm for landscape art.
Secluded in an area of private woodland is ‘Cae’n y Coed’, where a circle of 22 Ash trees stand. They have been growing under the gentle guidance of artist David Nash for more than 40 years. Over the decades he has gradually manipulated their growth so they have 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 time scale of nature. It changes through the seasons and over the years. As each tree grows, they also document their times in each ring that marks annual periods of growth. They are, quite literally, ringing the changes.
The growth of the trees is fuelled by traces of nutrients lifted from the soil, powered by solar energy through photosynthesis and uses atmospheric carbon as its principal building material. Recorded in its very substance is information about weather and the changing climate, pollution levels, prevailing wind, the duration of each and every season that has passed since they were…
