Dicon Nance
Richard William 'Dicon' Morton Nance (1909 - ?) was a craftsman and artist who worked as an assistant to Barbara Hepworth at her Cornish Trewyn studio from 1959-1971.[1]
Early life[edit]
Nance was born in Nancledra in 1909[1]. His father was the painter and Cornish language revivalist Robert Morton Nance who exposed his son to art and crafts from an early age. Nance's parents reportedly regarded him as "not an intellectual"[1]. As a teenager Nance and a friend built a working scale model of a traction engine called "The Cripplesease"[2].
Career[edit]
In his early twenties, Nance worked as a general maintenance man for Bernard Leach. While working for Leach, Nance invent various machines, including an innovative take on the traditional potter's wheel which became known as the Leach Wheel.[3] Dicon received little or no recognition for this invention.[1]
During the Second World War Nance declared himself a conscientious objector and spent the first part of the war collecting seaweed from Cornish coves for use as agricultural fertiliser. In 1942, he was invited to travel to Ghana to join one of Leach's former apprentices, the artist craftsman Michael Cardew, in setting up a pottery to supply the needs of British West Africa. Nance found him a “very difficult man to help”. A lack of local resources resulted in the failure of the pottery and in Nance returning to the UK in 1945[1].
Nance also spent time working with UNESCO in Thialand for the International Labour Office for Crafts. During this time he designed a special basket wheelbarrow for making compost[4]
In 1946 Nance joined his brother Robert 'Robin' Nance to reopened Robin's pre-war cabinet-making workshop on the quayside at St Ives with the aim of producing affordable handmade furniture.[5]. Dicon Nance designed and built a morticing machine which could produce large quantities of identical and accurate components for their popular ladder-back chairs[2]
Nance attended evening classes in carving held by Barbara Hepworth's assistant, Denis Mitchell, and started producing small wooden sculptures. In 1959 Nance joined Barbara Hepworth at her Trewyn studio where he worked on various pieces including Forms of Movement about which we said[6]:
Like all Barbara’s versions … there was no attempt at making a replica with all the attendant measurements. Each form, though basically as the original, was judged on its own, especially if there was a change in scale.
Nance was a founder member of the Penwith Society of Arts.
Personal life[edit]
Dicon married Bernard Leach’s daughter, Eleanor (1915-1983) [7]. They had three sons John Benjamin Nance (1947-1981), Damian, and Jonathan[8].
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Tanya., Harrod (1999). The crafts in Britain in the 20th century. [New Haven]: Published for the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts by Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300077803. OCLC 40061324. Search this book on
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "crafts-people of St Ives Phil Whitfeld". www.artcornwall.org. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
- ↑ "BBC - A History of the World - Object : Leach wheel". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
- ↑ "Chapter 10: UNESCO – Thailand 1956-1958 | www.insearchofpeace.net". insearchofpeace.net. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
- ↑ "Robert NANCE | Cornwall Artists Index". cornwallartists.org. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
- ↑ Tate. "'Forms in Movement (Pavan)', Dame Barbara Hepworth, 1956-9, cast 1967 | Tate". Tate. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
- ↑ www.tandfonline.com. doi:10.2752/174967809x416251 https://www.tandfonline.com/action/captchaChallenge?redirectUri=%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.2752%2F174967809X416251&. Retrieved 2018-12-29. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "West Penwith Resources - Longstones Monumental Inscriptions (2)". west-penwith.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
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