Detail shows the top of a tall, white column that serves as the column’s capital. It takes the form of a ring of standing leaves.
Grace Nickel

“I grew up in a very conservative part of rural Manitoba with no art classes available to me. Thanks to my parents who encouraged my interest in art, and a high-school teacher who urged me to study fine arts in university, against all odds I was able to develop a successful art practice and teaching career. For a woman of my generation to become a professional artist and a full professor at a university is a big accomplishment–and now, receiving a GGArts is a crowning achievement! I’m also pretty sure that I’m the only Saidye Bronfman Award recipient who grew up in Plum Coulee, Manitoba, the same rural community as Saidye Bronfman herself. This is something I’m extremely proud of."

– Grace Nickel

Grace Nickel is an artist and educator. Her studio practice focusses on sculptural ceramics and installation. She has won awards in the Mino International Ceramics Competition and the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale, and has had numerous solo exhibitions in Canada, including at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Burlington, and the Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery. Her work can be found in permanent collections including the Museum of Modern Ceramic Art in Gifu, Japan, the New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum in Taiwan, and the Fule International Ceramic Art Museums project in China. She has participated in the Cheongju International Craft Biennale, in Korea, and her work has been selected for several NCECA Annual Exhibitions in the United States. Nickel currently teaches at the University of Manitoba and lives in Winnipeg.   

Grace Nickel’s website

Selected work