Carey Nathanson started working with clay during his high school years in his hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina. The bulk of his education in ceramics came in 2018 and 2019, studying wood firing as a studio assistant under John Dix in Kobe, Japan, and Nick Schwartz in Comptche, California. Since his time as an assistant, Carey has completed residencies at the American Museum of Ceramic Art, the Mendocino Art Center, STARworks, Red Lodge Clay Center, Cider Creek Collective, and Sawtooth School of Art. He is currently a long-term resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana.