As a first generation Polish-American, Marta Nowak (1997) explores her dual emotional identities across both cultures. While an AIR 11 resident at the Textile Arts Center (2020), she developed her own illustrative knitting technique on a hand-operated knitting machine.

For Marta, painting with yarn mirrors learning to draw as a girl. Her work is celebrated in the fiber community, with works published in Fiber Art Now and Surface Design Journal (2024). During an invitational residency at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (2023), she began integrating her identity as both artist and designer- a process she continued during Penland’s Winter Residency program (2025).