Simon Nicholson

Who was Simon Nicholson?

Simon Hepworth Nicholson was the son of artist Ben Nicholson and his second wife, sculptor Barbara Hepworth who later became an artist himself.

Four years after Simon and his twin sisters Sarah and Rachel were born, their parents married. Nicholson attended Dartington Hall School before studying sculpture at the Royal College of Art from 1953 to 1954 and then archaeology and anthropology at Trinity College, Cambridge from 1954 to 1957. Like his parents, Nicholson lived and worked in St Ives from 1960 to 1964.

He moved to the USA in 1964 to teach, firstly at the Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia and then at the University of Berkeley, California. During this time he had solo exhibitions in San Francisco and Pittsburgh. Simon returned to England in 1971 and was an Open University lecturer until 1989. He became chairman of the Art and Environment course at the OU, which developed into a popular practical arts module. The associated week long summer school achieved some notoriety.

His work is characterised by an interest in the texture of different surfaces and materials, often taking the landscape as its starting point.