Laura Peery

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.

Hebegan 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.