Interview - David Nash: Sculpture in the raw goes back to nature

AT the end of a guided tour, during which he has waxed lyrical to dozens of staff members from Yorkshire Sculpture Park, David Nash finally takes a seat.

"It's the showman in me," he says.

"My tutors always said I would make a good theatre designer."

Nash, 64, shows no signs of slowing down. If anything, the YSP exhibition, open to the public from tomorrow, is a magnificent peak in an impressive career.

Grey-haired but fit and strong, Nash has the rough handshake of a horny-handed son of the soil. For this man, "artist" is a job title which means getting your hands dirty.

The sculptor works primarily with wood, and that means chainsaws, art on a large scale and braving the elements to create his sculptures whatever the weather.

Nash's exhibition is unveiled today to a selection of invited guests, but earlier this week the Yorkshire Post was exclusively invited on a guided tour Nash gave of his exhibition to the staff of YSP.

It took a couple of hours to walk through the four rooms of the underground gallery, but it could have gone on all day – this celebration of Nash covers the whole expanse of the massive grounds of YSP.

By the end Nash's enthusiasm showed little sign of waning and that of his audience is similarly limitless. His is the sort of sculpture that inspires that kind of feeling.

Maybe it's the medium. While many sculptors work in stone, marble, brass, iron, Nash works with wood. The warmth of the work is massively contributed to by the fact that it is carved in this material, but there is also a real sense of play with Nash's sculptures.

At one point he warns that many of the sculptures will crack and warp during the exhibition as the wood dries out.

"This piece will sound like a bullet being fired when it cracks, so don't be alarmed," says Nash.

As he talks the staff through the exhibition, Nash constantly touches his work, patting, stroking, grabbing the wood.

In the first room of the Underground Gallery, he lovingly talks about the enormous crown of a eucalyptus tree which he has carved on four sides to make a square-shaped sculpture.

One of the many invigilators taking part in this tour asks if they need to be aware of anything in particular – are people allowed to touch the artwork, for example?

"Well, there might be a splinter problem," says Nash, mischievously, but it is clear that he feels sculpture is something to be explored with all the senses, not something that should be simply put on a plinth and worshipped.

"I didn't want it to be all smooth edges and clean lines here. I wanted it to retain some of that rawness."

He returns to the subject later at the end of the tour when he talks about the sculpture park.

As his tour comes to its conclusion, his parting shot is a eulogy to YSP.

"This park is a people's park. It is a place like no other and you," he tells the staff, "play a key part in making that so."

When the tour is finished and he is talking one-on-one, I ask him to expand on this."I'll be 65 in November, and I've had a very long association with the place right from when it began. I had a solo show in 1982 and a residency so Peter Murray (executive director and founder of YSP) and I go way back. Peter has built this park from an educational ethic. A way of seeing art as part of the community, something important to the community and a good way of teaching people. When I imagine a show like this, for the public, I have to imagine someone coming in who doesn't know me and doesn't know anything about my work, and the most important thing for me to do is to make them not feel intimidated by an exhibition. I want them to feel welcome and this is a very welcoming space."

This exhibition has been three years in the making. There are more than 200 works by Nash dotted around the park – at Longside Gallery, the Underground Gallery, Bothy and around the grounds.

He has also created Black Steps, a commissioned piece for this exhibition which sees 71 huge charred oak steps on the walking route along Oxley Bank.

Esher-born Nash, who trained at Kingston College of Art, Brighton College of Art and the famous Chelsea School of Art during the Sixties, has worked from his studio in North Wales since finishing his training.

He has become famous for his use of chainsaw, axe and fire to create his monumental wooden sculptures. His work has been exhibited all over the world, but this summer's exhibition at YSP marks the most significant exhibition of his long career.

"It is a very special exhibition for me, to bring so much of my work together like this and have a chance to say something about what my work collected together means, is wonderful."

David Nash, YSP, tomorrow to Feb 2011.

June 9-13, Masterclass Drawing with David Nash, 10am-4pm, 355. 01924 832528. June 11, An evening with David Nash at Theatre Royal Wakefield. 01924 211311.