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?
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 was raised in Pasco, Washington an agricultural community in the shadow of Hanford Nuclear Power Plant. The futility of this environmental contradiction gave Lynch an acute sense of location and deep appreciation for irony. In the five formative years after graduation Lynch worked as the prop master for a local community theatre, the effects of which are still being realized in his current body of work. His concerns for political conflict and environmental upheaval are filtered through notions of absurdity, hand fabrication and the dramatic devices of storytelling.
As a sculptor, designer and performance artist, Lynch has made collaboration and experimentation major components of his practice. Recent projects include More Than What My Hands Can Hold at Gallery 16, Doubledrink - a two person drinking fountain for Headlands Center for the Arts, and nest module design for Cassin’s Auklets on the Farallon Islands. At the University of Southern California Lynch studied with Ken Price, and later earned an MFA at Mills College with Ron Nagle. Mills fostered a rich interdisciplinary culture including work with contemporary composers and poets, lead by the warmth and support of artist Ann Chamberlain. Lynch is an Assistant Professor of Art at California College of the Arts.
Logistics
This session is scheduled for Mondays, March 9, 16, 23, & 30 from (Time TBD) PST (that’s Los Angeles time).
Registration is $320 and includes all four sessions.
Participants gather via Zoom.