Artist in wood, and teacher, born in Esher, Surrey. He studied at Kingston College of Art, 1963–7. Then became visiting lecturer at art colleges and universities, including Newcastle Polytechnic, Royal College of Art and Newport and Dublin Colleges of Art. Between 1969–70 Nash attended Chelsea School of Art.

Nash’s decision in 1967 to base himself in Blaenau Ffestiniog, north Wales, was of key importance to the development of his work. In 1969 he took over an old chapel and there and in the surrounding woods he created his sculptures. At first these were painted and stained, but he abandoned this in favour of the natural colour and shape of the wood. His work, often witty, was in the form of clams, pods and tables, sometimes in series. Among Nash’s projects was the establishment of a field centre at Blaenau Ffestiniog and he also took part in events away from the area. In 1975 he was awarded a Major Bursary from the Welsh Arts Council. Took part in mixed shows.

One-man exhibitions included York Festival, in 1973; Air Gallery, 1978; Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, 1976–9; Serpentine Gallery, 1990; with a major retrospective, Wood Quarry, at Centre for Visual Arts, Cardiff, 2000. New Art Centre Sculpture Park, East Winterslow, showed Nash’s work Roche Beech in 2003 and Tate St Ives in 2004, the year that Nash had his fourth show at Haines Gallery, San Francisco, California. The exhibition Pyramids Rise, Spheres Turn and Cubes Stand Still was at Annely Juda Fine Art in 2005, the year that Nash’s three huge geometric forms, Pyramic, Sphere and Cube, were displayed in the courtyard of the RA, to which the artist was elected in 1999. The artist Will Nash was David’s son. Arts Council and WAC hold his work.

_{Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)}