Matt Nolen is a studio artist living and working in New York City and Narrowsburg, New York. Trained as a painter and architect, Nolen’s work includes sculptural objects and architectural installations using clay and mixed media. His work has been exhibited internationally and is in numerous private and public collections, including: The Cooper-Hewitt Museum, NYC; The Museum of Arts and Design, NYC; The Newark Museum, New Jersey; The Houston Museum of Fine Art, Texas; The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The de Young Museum, San Francisco, California; and The Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York.
Nolen’s work has been written about and reviewed in many periodicals and books, including: The New York Times; American Ceramics; Ceramics: Art and Perception; Masters of Craft; Confrontational Clay; Postmodern Ceramics; Painted Clay; and Sexpots.
Nolen has been awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, a Mid-Atlantic Foundation (regional NEA) Fellowship, and international residencies in Italy, Israel, Canada, and China. His residency at the Kohler Co.’s Art/Industry Program resulted in a handmade public washroom that has been named "Best Restroom in America" by the Cintas Corp. and among "The 10 Best Bathrooms in the World" by the Travel Channel.
He has served as president of the board of trustees for the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Newcastle, Maine, and is currently serving as trustee of the Robert M. MacNamara Foundation and advisor to The Swimming Hole Foundation. Nolen is an adjunct professor of art at New York University, Hunter College, and the ceramics area coordinator at Pratt Institute.