Matt Nolen

1960 Born Key West, Florida

EDUCATION

—Gadsden Museum School, Gadsden Museum of Art, Gadsden, Alabama

—BA Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama

1983 Bachelor of Architecture, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama

1985 Masters of Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia

APPRENCICESHIPS AND RESIDENCIES

1998, 1999, 2001 Arts in Industry Program, Kohler Company, Kohler, Wisconsin

—Mary Schiller Myers Residency, Meyers School of Art, University of Akron, Akron, Ohio

—Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

—Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

—Residency Leader, Banff Center for the Arts, Alberta, Canada

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1995—Ceramic artist

1991— Adjunct Professor of Art, New York University, New York, New York

2002—Ceramics Area Coordinator, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York

 BIOGRAPHY

Matt Nolen uses earthenware with a majolica surface techniques to create intricately decorated surfaces requiring five to six firings. He uses decals and/or printed words to complete the visual message of the surface. Nolan has consistently used his work to comment on social, sexual, and political issues.

He began his career using the vessel form while pushing the boundaries of function.

His largest work, The Social History of Architecture, is a washroom he completed in 1998 at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, WI. In this installation he depicts private rituals in public spaces to explore the relationships of man and architecture. He then went on to create, “Public Garden, Private Garden I and II,” two public restrooms at the Meyers School of Art at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio.

Nolan has also created a number of sculptures, often busts that also explore and comment on political and social issues confronting the artist. As he says, “My figures tell the stories of those who are challenged by conflicts and are in the midst of emotional or psychological transitions. It is life lived within the complexity of these “margins” that interests me the most.”

Printmaking has also been a part of Nolen’s studio practice. He created a series of prints titled, City-States, each of which has porcelain speech balloons that share the thoughts of the people in the images.