Nathan Lynch was born and raised in Pasco, WA, an agricultural community 20 miles downriver from Hanford Nuclear Power Plant. The challenges 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 theater, the effects of which are still being realized in his current body of work. His concerns for political, environmental, and social issues are filtered though notions of absurdity, simple-craft fabrication, and the dramatic devices of storytelling.

As a sculptor and performance artist, Lynch has made collaboration and experimentation major components of his practice. Recent projects include "Doubledrink" a two-person drinking fountain commissioned by the Headlands Center for the Arts and seabird habitat design in collaboration with Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge for Año Nuevo Island and Farallon Islands. Lynch has had residencies and studios at the Exploratorium, Anderson Ranch Art Center, Headlands Center for the Arts and Tainan National University of the Arts. At the University of Southern California Nathan studied with Ken Price, and later earned an MFA with Ron Nagle at Mills College. Lynch is an Associate Professor and Chair for the Ceramics Program and Glass Program at California College of the Arts.