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