Gail Nichols

Ceramics

Accredited Professional Member

Gail Nichols is a ceramic artist, recognised internationally for her innovative approach to soda glazing. Through extensive research, leading to completion of a PhD at Monash University in 2002, Nichols developed her unique vapour glaze aesthetic and technical approach to materials and firing.

Nichols makes vessels with soft organic forms and lush dimpled glazes that appear to ooze out of the clay itself. Her book, Soda Clay and Fire, published by the American Ceramic Society, has been heralded as a leading text on soda vapour glazing technique and aesthetics.

Nichols was born in the USA and completed a mechanical engineering degree at Michigan State University in 1976, and worked as a Peace Corps volunteer on an irrigation project in Malaysia before emigrating to Australia, where she began her ceramic studies in Sydney. Her studio is located on a rural property near Braidwood, New South Wales. She teaches at the School of Art, Australian National University in Canberra.

Online Resources

Elements: Clay; Discover, Define, Develop, Deliver

Feature image: Purple Rain 2014. Soda vapour glazed stoneware. Image courtesy of the artist.
Above image: The Mountain Blew Back 2015. Image courtesy of the artist.

Feature image: Purple Rain 2014. Soda vapour glazed stoneware. Image courtesy of the artist. Above image: ﻿The Mountain Blew Back ﻿2015. Image courtesy of the artist.

Feature image: Purple Rain 2014. Soda vapour glazed stoneware. Image courtesy of the artist.
Above image: The Mountain Blew Back 2015. Image courtesy of the artist.