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Grant Recipient

Nina Kawar

WNC Craft Futures Cohort

2025

Bio of the Artist

Organization Background

Nina Kawar is a sculptor whose creative practice explores the boundaries of porcelain through carving and delicate forms. Her elusive and often fragile works derive from an intrigue with the human condition, healing, and consciousness. Inspired by nature and its elements, each piece speaks to the ebb and flow in embodying her creative energy and life’s cycles. Kawar’s work gives rise to the shedding, movement, and moments of reflection required to cultivate change and healing. Many of her influences stem from psychology, biology, and spirituality.

Born and raised in a Palestinian-American home in Wisconsin, Nina’s sculptural work explores her multicultural lens, which parallels her curiosity with patterns, perspectives, and evolution. She started her artistic journey at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh in 3D Design in 2011, while finding her passion for porcelain at Clemson University and receiving a Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics in 2014.

Her move to Western North Carolina led her to establish a studio practice at Marshall High Studios in Marshall, NC, in 2016, which was recently destroyed in Hurricane Helene. As she moves through this change, she continues to create jewelry and explores music and painting while navigating the next steps on her artistic journey.

Location

Weaverville, NC

EDUCATION

SPECIALIZATION

Institution

Grant amount

$15,000

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Selected works

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