Nina Ghanbarzadeh is a visual artist and entrepreneur taking a universal approach to written language in her art. She emigrated from Tehran, Iran, in 2001. Ghanbarzadeh earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting, drawing and graphic design from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in 2013 and completed a two-year Artist in Residency Program with Redline Milwaukee in 2015. In addition to participating in several group shows, Ghanbarzadeh won best in show at the Wisconsin Biennial in 2020. She has received the Mary L. Nohl Suitcase Export Fund, Student Silver ADDY and Fredric R. Layton Foundations Scholarship awards. Most recently, Ghanbarzadeh launched ARTKee Educational Toys LLC, which produces SOFTwords, kits of basic shapes that allow children to explore letter shapes as images as well as text. Ghanbarzadeh draws inspiration for her educational toy business and her art from cultural differences and the limitations of language. She finds beauty in the abstract marks that make up the symbols for language and explores the possibility of peace, happiness, and togetherness through the universal language of art.
