Jack Clare Nichelson (b. May 12, 1934 - d. February 4, 2017) was an American sculptor
regionally known in the southeast of the United States. His body of work is comprised of abstract collages, relief boxes, and most importantly wooden sculptures he called “secular reliquaries” which were inspired by the Reliquaries he saw in the great cathedrals when visiting Europe in the early 1960s, and the works of German artist Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948) and also American visual artist Joseph Cornell (1903-1972). Constructed from wood and found materials, these pieces feature layered surfaces, compartments, and integrated objects that suggest fragmentary narratives. His collages and relief boxes emphasized texture, scale, and the balance of order and improvisation, bridging modernist experiment and folk‑inflected craft.
Paris Artist's Apartment
A Monument to the Collateral Damage of War: The Children
A Trip to the Moon
The Forgotten Killing Fields
Coral Scream
Defense Contract No. B49305638 (The Sweet Potato Dirigible)
The Odyssey
