Mar 28

Mar 28 2023 Saidye Bronfman Award Winner: Grace Nickel

*Grace Nickel*, 2022. Photo: Michael Zajac.

Grace Nickel receives the 2023 Saidye Bronfman Award

Grace Nickel, a sculptural ceramicist with four decades of experience making and exhibiting, is the recipient of the 2023 Saidye Bronfman Award. As both an artist and educator, Nickel’s reputation for fine craftsmanship and dedication to teaching are recognized by the Bronfman; the prize is awarded to excellence in fine crafts as well as in recognition of contributions made to the development of fine arts in Canada.

In the Spring/Summer 2023 issue of Studio (out now, get the print issue here), Tammy Sutherland, director of the Manitoba Craft Council, writes about Nickel’s expansive and awarded career:

Technical experimentation, conceptual refinement and engagement with the contemporary craft community are hallmarks of Grace Nickel’s 40-year career in the ceramic arts. Her reputation for painstaking research, persistence in exploring new territory and exquisite craftsmanship earn her the respect and recognition of colleagues, critics, and curators at the international, national and local levels. Her art practice focuses on sculptural ceramics and installation, where she investigates how material, process and scale impart meaning to form.
…
Ornamentation and intricate detailing are characteristic of much of Nickel’s work: pierced surfaces, webs of trailed slip, incised line work are enhanced with strategic applications of oxides, terra sigillata and glaze. Her work is both aesthetically pleasing and intellectually challenging. Nickel applies an archeobotanical lens to her investigations, referencing the past and present with regard to the life cycle of living organisms and to varied forms and functions of ceramics production.