Grace Nickel

Grace Nickel, RCA is a Canadian ceramic artist and art instructor in post-secondary education.

Grace Nickel was born in 1956. She earned her BFA in Ceramics from the University of Manitoba in 1980; Museology Studies certificate, University of Winnipeg in 1981 and; MFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2008. In the summer of 1999, she was invited to the 9th National Ceramic Conference in Perth, Australia. There she demonstrated her work in paper clay as well as presenting work of Manitoba's ceramic community.

In 1991 she discovered paper clay while at the Banff Centre. Since that time she has employed that material to create sculptural ceramics. She has developed a number of architectural installations, including the Meditation Window at the St. Norbert Arts Centre in Manitoba, and Sanctuary, NCECA in Minneapolis, USA, 1995. Nickel completed a number of site-specific commissions, including tile installations and sculptural lighting for public and private architectural spaces. In 1999 she created a tile triptych to honour of the hosting of the Pan Am Games that was subsequently exhibited at Winnipeg City Hall. She created a work for the entrance to the Beechwood National Cemetery in Ottawa, Ontario.

Nickel teaches ceramics full-time in the School of Art of the University of Manitoba.

Nickel's work has been exhibited in the United States and overseas in Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Taiwan, including,

• Unity and Diversity Cheongju International Craft Biennale, Korea
• Northern Lights/Southern Exposure, Perth Galleries, Perth, Australia
• Inaugural Exhibition The Canadian Ceramic Museum, Fuping, China, 2007.
• Earth Matters NCECA Invitational Exhibition 2010, Philadelphia

and in Canada, solo exhibitions at,

• A Quiet Passage, solo exhibition, Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2002
• Mary E. Black Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2008,
• Gallery in the Park, Altona, Manitoba 2009.
• Arbor Vitae, solo exhibition at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in Waterloo, ON, 2015, at Actual Contemporary, Winnipeg, MB, 2016, Disjecta Contemporary Art Centre, Portland, OR, 2017, and the Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery, 2018.
• Eruptions, solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Burlington, 2019.

In Canada her work is included in the collections of:

• The Claridge Collection in Montreal,
• The Winnipeg Art Gallery, and
• The Government of Manitoba collection.

In addition her work has been acquired by:

• The National Museum of History, Taipei, Taiwan
• Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, Japan,
• The Taipei County Yingge Ceramic Museum, Taiwan.

• Bronze Award, 2nd International Ceramics Competition 1989, Mino, Japan.
• Judge's Special Award, Sixth Taiwan Golden Ceramics Awards, Taipei, Taiwan
• Inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2007