Author Profile
Richard Nickel

Richard Nickel is an artist, educator, writer, and member of the Studio Potter advisory board. He has exhibited both nationally and internationally. He has been published in several books on contemporary ceramics and in art journals. As a designer, Nickel has created posters for Crafted Indie Arts and Crafts Market, a cover illustration for Studio Potter, ceramic awards for Skutt Kilns, illustrations for Alt Daily, and animations for WHRO HealthBeat. As a ceramic sculptor, he has pieces in numerous private collections. Nickel has designed and painted murals in Rochester, New York; Niagara Falls, New York; Norfolk, Virginia; and Virginia Beach, Virginia. 

Articles

Trying times inspire revolution and innovation.
The Value of the Vessel
"How do you make something beautiful?" "Get out of the way."
A new animated comic from Richard Nickel for Studio Potter about the life of Adelaide Alsop Robineau and her masterpiece, The Scarab Vase.
Over the course of fifty years Mata Ortiz Pottery became an outstanding artistic movement and one of the most relevant ceramic expressions in the world. But how did such a young pottery tradition emerge, seemingly from nowhere, and quickly evolve? The most popular narrative, the “single story” distilled from a larger, more complex narrative, involves only a few men. What follows is our history, the multi-layered narrative, as told by the people who have lived it.
Flash tattoo illustrations created by Studio Potter's own cartoonist, Richard Nickel!
Richard Nickel creates a new comic for Studio Potter about the blue willow pattern. Blue willow china originated in England by Thomas Minton, who founded Stoke on Trent and worked with Josiah Spode, a printmaker and potter, to create the design as transferware. The design was based on Chinese porcelain imports and told a rather romantic fable of a wealthy mandarin and his young daughter.
Another animated short produced by Studio Potter's official Cartoonist Richard Nickel, showcasing the work of painter and ceramist, Zuzka Vaclavik. "The Kiln is a poem, a kind of curse against potters who choose to practice their craft in a less than virtuous manner."
Richard Nickel, Face Jugs – Part One and Two
In part two of Richard Nickel's face jug animation, he looks at the region of Edgefield, South Carolina, renowned for the rise of the alkaline-glazed stoneware industry.