EDUCATION

08/2022 – 06/2025 MFA in Ceramic Arts, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Arizona State University

09/2019 - 06/2021 BFA in Visual Arts, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver BC

RESIDENCIES & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

2024 Penland School of Craft, Playing with Paperclay Workshop with Shiyuan Xu, Bakersville North Carolina

2024 The Pottery Workshop Artist in Residence, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, China

2023 Arts in the Park Artist in Residence, City of Tempe, Tempe, Arizona

2022 Community Clay Inc, Summer Residency, Vancouver, BC

2021 Medalta Historic Clay District, Student Summer Residency, Medicine Hat, Alberta

2018 Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Mold Design and Casting with Rob Dolphin, Vancouver, BC

AWARDS

2024 GPSA Group Travel Grant, Arizona State University

2024 Galbut Prize Juried Exhibition, Honourable Mention, Arizona State University

2023 Ed Moulthrop Scholarship, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Arizona State University

2023 Curran-Bleakney Scholarship, Arizona Artists Guild

2023 Constellation Research Grant, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Arizona State University

2022 GPSA Jump Start Research Grant, Arizona State University

2022 Arts in the Park – Fence Art Grant, City of Tempe, Tempe, Arizona

2022 Herbert Smith Graduate Fellowship, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Arizona State University

2022 Katherine K. Herberger Scholarship, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Arizona State University

2021 BMO Financial Group 1st Art! Invitational Student Art Competition, Emily Carr University Visual Arts Representative

2021 Helen Pitt Bursary for Fine Arts, Emily Carr University of Art and Design

2021 Emerging Artist Award, Port Moody Arts Center, Port Moody, BC

2021 Scholarship Award, Arts Council of British Columbia

2021 Educational Advancement Scholarship, North West Ceramic Foundation

2020 Artist-In-Residence Award, Medalta Historic Clay District, Medicine Hat, Alberta

2020 Emily Cares Bursary, Emily Carr University of Art and Design

2020 Donna + Helmut Meisl Bursary, Emily Carr University of Art and Design

2019 Scholarship Award, Arts Council of British Columbia

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024 Rock Collection, Ceramics + Textiles + Site Group Exhibition, Arcosanti, Arizona

2024 Rock Collection, Nathan Cummings Group Exhibition, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona

2024 Camelback Mountain, Galbut Prize, Juried Exhibition, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona

2023 I Love Rocks: Lamp Version I, TAG I Love Lamp Group Show, Step Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona

2023 Outside Inside: A set of three stools for Earth House, All The Moves: IHR Art Exhibition, Arizona State University

2023 Outside Inside: A set of three stools for Earth House, Ceramics + Site: body/architecture/landscape, Cosanti Originals, Paradise Valley, Arizona

2022 Modern Artifacts: Various Works in Progress, New Graduate Exhibition, Harry Wood Gallery, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona

2021 Arizona & Utah Series, EarthBound Phase 3, Lipont Gallery, Richmond, BC

2021 Test Beans: Series II, Surface Level Exhibition, Curated by Kaitlyn Herlehy, Michael O'Brian Commons, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, BC

2020 Test Beans: Series I, Cactus Tea Set, Cactus Coffee Service Vessels, Art 4 Life Exhibition - Port Moody Arts Center, Port Moody, BC

2019 29. 47' 16.926'' N 95. 22' 41.4372'' W, curated by Julie York, Michael O'Brian Exhibition Commons, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, BC

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2021 Places I’ve Never Been, Ann Kitching Gallery, Port Moody Arts Center, Port Moody, BC

2021 Spatial Awareness, Michael O'Brian Exhibition Commons, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, BC

SELECTED WORK-RELATED EXPERIENCE

01/2024 – Present Production Assistant, Liz Cohen Studios, Phoenix, Arizona

09/2022 – 12/2023 Production Assistant, Matthew Barney Studios, Long Island, New York

08/2022 – Present Arizona State University Teaching & Research Assistant to Mikey Estes, Tempe, Arizona

03/2022 – 07/2022 Ceramics Hand Building Instructor, Pomo Arts, Port Moody, BC

07/2021 – 07/2022 Studio Production Assistant, Dahlhaus Ceramics, Vancouver BC

07/2021 – 07/2022 Ceramics Hand Building Instructor, Community Clay, Vancouver BC

07/2021 – 07/2022 Studio Technician, Community Clay, Vancouver BC

04/2020 – 07/2021 Ceramic Faculty Hiring Committee, Student-Elect Representative, Emily Carr University, Vancouver, BC

01/2019 – 06/2021 Ceramics Studio Technician, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, BC

01/2019 – 06/2021 Online Learning Mentor, Teaching and Learning Center, Emily Carr University of Art and Design

REVIEWS ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS

Weaver, Lin “Les lieux où je n’ai jamais été” June 8th , 2021, Culture Section

Grauer, Perrin “Nicole Ponsart Earns Scholarship, Exhibition with Sculptures Inspired by Virtual Road Trip” June 8th, 2021, ECUAD News Section

Newton, Steve “Emily Carr grads display their work in The Show to June 30” May 17th, 2021, Arts Section

Cleugh, Janis “Virtual road trip to southern U.S. leads to scholarship win, solo show in Port Moody” Tri-City News, May 13, 2021, Arts Section

“Nicole Ponsart: Places I've Never Been” Galleries West, May 20th, 2021 News

“How does coffee help with ceramics?” May 30th, 2021, YKLM Auctions

Nicole Ponsart is a ceramic sculptor from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Emily Carr University of Art and Design and is currently a Master of Fine Arts candidate at Arizona State University. She lives and works in Phoenix, Arizona, where her current research utilizes both the desert landscape and vast geologic history available to inform her work.

She is the recipient of numerous grants and scholarships through the British Columbia Arts Council, the Government of British Columbia and Arizona State University. Most recently, she was selected as an Artist in Residence for the City of Tempe, Arizona where she participated as a feature artist in their Fence Art program and was selected as an Emerging Artist for 2023 through the Arizona Artists Guild.

Her current research in collected soil, rock and mineral samples investigates the profound relationship makers have with the spaces which they inhabit. Utilizing ceramics practices, recycled materials and installation, her current body of work explores what it means to make place, inhabit space and reconcile with the various roles e play in governing systems of power.

 Growing up on the coasts of British Columbia, Canada, my perspective was shaped through the act of beach combing for stones with my family. It’s through this tactile act of discovery that I created a deep connection with clay through repetition, exploration and experimentation. I utilize this methodology of understanding in my graduate research to sift through complex histories, uncover embedded stories and dig into unfamiliar systems as a means to get to know the new country I find myself a part of. My ceramic sculptures utilize a metaphor of rock collecting to illustrate my position within systems of consumption and commodification of land. I aim to reimagine and reinterpret my relationship with inherited knowledge, geology, and rock collecting through the creation of work inspired by land while utilizing discarded ceramic, construction and craft materials bound for a landfill.