Nowak first had success as an artist during adolescence. He entered a coloring contest at a local video store and won an All Dogs Go To Heaven VHS. Later, upon graduating elementary school, he was honored with an invitation to exhibit his art in their halls until he graduated from high school. When he graduated from high school, he was awarded an Outstanding Artist Award from a school that he didn't even attend at the time.
Nowak received his BFA in 2006 from The College for Creative Studies (CCS), Detroit, MI. During his senior year, he acted as the director and sole curator of the U245 Student Gallery where he organized six successful exhibitions and 5 solo shows.
After graduating, Nowak relocated to Chicago, where he connected with a gallery that exhibited his art in such prestigious art fairs as Art Santa Fe, New Mexico, Art NOW in Miami, FL, and The Docks Art Fair in Lyon, France. They also published his paintings in prominent North and South American magazines like Modern Painters, NY Arts, Chicago Gallery News, Arte Al Dia, and Arte Al Limite to name a few.
Nowak began 2008 in a one month artist residency with the City of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and ended it at a three month residency located in rural Tualrosa, NM, a residency called Mano Y Mente. Shortly thereafter, Nowak became the director and sole curator of Art Effect Gallery in Detroit's Eastern Market where he curated six exhibitions and organized one in house artist residency/exhibition that took place within the actual gallery and changed constantly throughout the duration of the show.
Nowak left at the end of his year long contract with Art effect Gallery to take an apprenticeship position under stone sculptor Somers Randolph in Santa Fe, NM. After his apprenticeship, Nowak returned to Detroit for a three month artist residency with Red Bull House of Art followed by an exhibition at ARTPRIZE in Grand Rapids, MI, and subsequently receiving the BEST OF: Best Local Artist Award from Real Detroit Weekly.
Nowak later spent three months animating in Milan, Italy, then eventually began making life-cast ceramic faces, and is currently leading a group of students from Henry Ford Academy (Detroit, Michigan) in the creation of a 19'x9' multi-media painting/mural.
