The North West Ceramics Foundation is pleased to announce their next Speakers Series on Sunday, November 24, at 1 PM PST featuring Winnipeg artist Grace Nickel. The presentation is free and open to all. It will take place on Zoom, and registration is required. Please see here or below for information as to how to register.

Grace Nickel

Grace Nickel is an artist and educator living in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Treaty 1 Territory, where she teaches full-time at the University of Manitoba. She earned her BFA from the University of Manitoba and her MFA from NSCAD University in Halifax, NS. Fueled by on-going research and technical challenge, her large-scale sculptures and installations have received international attention and been widely exhibited. She has won awards in the International Mino Ceramics competition in Japan and the Golden Ceramic Awards in Taipei, Taiwan, and she has competed successfully in competitions for national public commissions. She travels widely in Canada and abroad for residencies and speaking engagements. A member of the International Academy of Ceramics and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, Nickel received the Governor General’s Saidye Bronfman Award in 2023. Her most recent exhibitions include the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts 2023 at the National Gallery of Canada, and a solo exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery – Qaumajuq.

Grace Nickel, , Commemorative Cameo. 2020–23,
Ceramic cameo 20 × 15 × 8 cm; fabric backdrop 61 × 91 cm
Porcelain with terra sigillata, rare earth oxides, glaze, transfer prints, ceramic decals, inkjet print on fabric

Nickel’s talk, “The Historical and Contemporary Legacy of Anabaptist Ceramics,” will focus on the obscure branch of ceramics known as Haban ware or Haban faience, produced by Anabaptist potters from the mid-16th to the late-19th century in Central and Eastern Europe. This important form of pottery was governed by the restrictions stated in the Book of Ordinances written by the elders of the ethno-religious Anabaptist communities, and centred around the maiolica technique on earthenware. Anabaptist ceramics connects to Nickel’s own cultural heritage. She will take the audience through her recent journey of researching her family history and acknowledging her past, revealing how this path of inquiry has had a profound impact on her ceramics practice. Following her talk, Nickel will engage in a brief conversation with Board member Dr. Carol E. Mayer, who, in 1990, curated the Koerner Collection at the UBC Museum of Anthropology, which contains numerous examples of Anabaptist Haban ware.

Please join us for this exciting and informative talk by Grace Nickel. The talk will take place on Sunday, November 24, 2024, at 1pm PST. All are welcome, but registration is required. To register, please see here. We look forward to seeing you!

For more on Grace Nickel, please see her website here.

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