On her return to Australia, Crowley was one of the most experienced Modernist artists in Australia, with a sophisticated understanding of Cubism. In 1932 she briefly taught at the Black Modern Art Centre before it was closed down. She then went on to start her own school with Rah Fizelle, which was renamed as the Important Centre for Modern Art and was in existence for five years. After a relationship breakdown between Fizelle and Crowley, the school closed in 1937. Fizelle remained at 215a George Street, Crowley however set up a studio at her apartment at 227 George Street. In 1937 Grace Crowley, Ralph Balson, Margel Hinder, Rah Fizelle and Eleonore Lange began planning a group exhibition which later came into fruition with fellow painters and sculptors, Frank Medworth, Dadsworth and Gerald Lewers in "Exhibition 1: paintings and sculptures""." The exhibition was opened by HV Evatt in the David Jones’ Art Gallery in August 1939. In the early 1940s she was one of the first Australians to move into pure abstraction.