John Nickerson was born in 1939 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He received an undergraduate degree from Montana State University and a master of fine arts degree from Alfred University. Nickerson switched from ceramics to industrial glassmaking as a career after he graduated, first working as a designer at Blenko Glass Company in 1970 where he worked as the Designer in Residence for four years and designed over 150 items. He also taught at the Georgian College of Art and Technology in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, the Cleveland Institute of Art in Cleveland, Ohio, and Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, as well as working as a self-employed glass artist for thirty years before returning to clay in 2007. Nickerson has won many prestigious awards during his career, including a National Endowment for the Arts Craftsmen’s Fellowship Grant in 1981.
