Studio Sessions
Performance Sculpture
with Nathan Lynch
March 2026
About the Studio Session
How do you make a sculpture that is ready for, and finished by the presence of human action? What kind of emptiness must exist in order for a sculpture to become an open invitation to a stranger? If a sculpture is completed by a body, must it inherently borrow the formal language of utilitarian forms like chairs, bowls, or sinks? Or does a sculpture have its own vocabulary for use? To figure this out, we may need to juggle or dance or even lay down in our studios.
In this Studio Session we will consider how a sculpture can be both an object and a space for fleeting interactions, or a 'performance sculpture'. Moderately absurd experiments with objects to sit on, stand on, sing from, speak upon, hold, poke, and turn, will spur consideration of the breadth of what 'functional' ceramics can be, and how a redefinition of this term can both expand upon and deviate from 'utilitarian' ceramics.
About the Lead Artist
Nathan Lynch is a sculptor and performance artist who forefronts collaboration and experimentation. Lynch’s work merges his early experience as a prop master for a community theater with his concerns for political conflict, environmental upheaval, and human connection. His most recent sculptures and designed objects incite awkward, intimate interactions between strangers. With a BFA from University of Southern California and an MFA from Mills College, Lynch had the formative experience of studying with ceramic legends Ken Price and Ron Nagle.
Recent exhibitions include Ceremony at Morgann Trumbull Projects and When Life is Beautifully Strange at Montalvo Arts Center. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Wildlife Conservation Society for seabird nest designs on Año Nuevo Island, Farallon Islands and Channel Islands. Lynch is a professor of ceramics and graduate studies at California College of the Arts.
Logistics
This session is scheduled for Mondays, March 2, 9, 16, & 23 from 10am-noon PST (that’s Los Angeles time).
Registration is $320 and includes all four sessions.
Participants gather via Zoom.