Arbor Vitae by Grace Nickel at Actual Contemporary

My new body of work, Arbor Vitae, will be seen in Winnipeg for the first time. After a successful run at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in Waterloo, Ontario, in 2015, the installation will be exhibited at Actual Contemporary in Winnipeg, from January 22 to March 19, 2016.

Opening reception Friday, January 22, 2016, at 7:00 p.m.
Actual Contemporary, 300 Ross Avenue, Winnipeg, Man.

From Actual Contemporary:

“Nickel’s work advances her investigations of natural forms pitted against artificial construction and surfaces separated from and reintegrated with forms. The large-scale porcelain sculptures and tile installations negotiate the relationships between the natural and the fabricated, the austere and the embellished, flowing and frozen, hard and soft, two-dimensional and three-dimensional. She has been investigating new and experimental technologies, including fabric-formed mould making, vacuum forming, 3-D printing, and laser marking. Her explorations of these methods have led to a paradigm shift in her practice. Using non-traditional techniques that begin with materials other than clay, but are ultimately translated into porcelain, has changed the way she thinks.”