Amy M . Nelson, MFA

At Creighton University Professor Amy Nelson is the Director of the Scheerer Scholars in the Arts program and teaches courses in ceramics and art and civic engagement. Her research interests include the intersection of art and social justice, social practice in the Visual Arts, ceramic materials, and craft history and practice. Professor Nelson is active in the Omaha community and committed to the role of the Arts in promoting justice. Currently she works to support the mission of the Siena/Francis House Homeless Shelter as a creative workshop facilitator with the Miracles Addiction Recovery program and through the CU Empty Bowls Project. For her work with the Siena/Francis House Professor Nelson was recognized in 2017 with the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Award for Excellence in Dedication to Mission, and in 2023 as the Siena/Francis Volunteer Leader of the Year and inducted into the shelter's Volunteer Hall of Fame. She has also worked to promote accessibility to the arts and equity in arts education and as a mentor in the Joslyn Art Museum’s Kent Bellows Mentoring Program. In 2015 Professor Nelson was honored as the Midlands Mentoring Partnership (MMP) Mentor of the Year for her work with young artists. Professor Nelson has served on The Union for Contemporary Art’s Board of Directors, participated in numerous exhibitions across the U.S. and has been an Artist-in-Residence at the Watershed Center for Ceramic Art and the Vermont Studio Center. She has given presentations, demonstrations and hosted workshops on ceramic art and techniques as well as the role art plays in civic engagement. Professor Nelson received her BFA from Creighton University in 1997 and her MFA from East Carolina University School of Art & Design in 2002.