Bio

Nailah Otunba (b. 1999, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is a visual artist based in Kansas City, Missouri. Otunba obtained their BFA with a concentration in ceramics from the University of North Texas College of Visual Arts and Design. Their work has been featured in solo and duo exhibitions at the Shed Show, Denton, TX (2026); the University of North Texas, Denton, TX (2024). They have been featured in group exhibitions at the Chateau Show, Dallas, TX (2026); the Eclectika, Irving, TX (2025); Art on Main, Dallas, TX, Panhandle Recording Studio, Denton, TX (2025); 316 Fry St. Apartments, Denton, TX (2025); Greater Denton Arts Council, Denton, TX (2025 and 2024), and the Plains Art Museum, Fargo, North Dakota, among others. Otunba led a stained glass workshop at the Shed Show in 2026 and has numerous works in their private collection.

Otunba is proficient in glass surface techniques such as sandblasting, acid etching, and dremeling. They can solder and typically use copper foil or lead came to construct three dimensional forms out of flat glass panes. In their home studio they create stained glass works, solar flare imagery, mosaics, beaded designs, and fiber based works that even include human and synthetic hair. While their academic background is in ceramics their limited access to studio space has led them to adapt to other creative forms of expression. Before moving into ceramics they studied drawing and painting which encouraged the development of their rendering and illustration skills.  

Artist Statement

Nailah Otunba is a multimedia artist working with a variety of materials and concepts. Their practice pendulates between materials hard and soft including but not limited to glass, ceramics, fibers, and found objects. Conceptually, Otunba develops work that is in alignment with their current situations and states of being. When in the studio they’re putting out what they’re receiving from the world around them whether that be the acknowledgement and celebration of queer love and intimacy, nostalgic memories of a home whole and divided, or the amplification of identity politics in specific spaces. 

Some of Otunba's interests circulate around internal and external conflicts, social issues, and complex identity structures. They manifest those subjects through the development of everyday objects that take on critical perspectives. For example, menstruation devices made of porcelain, wet floor signs made of glass, and bricks made of earthenware, among others. Otunba is drawn to construction materials, roadsigns, and pictograms for their visual wayfinding capabilities and the ways they communicate directions and instruction without uttering a word. 

Otunba discovered glass arts in a rotating topics class at the University of North Texas College of Visual Arts and Design, and they instantly fell in love. That love was greatly nurtured by glass artist Liz Markum who is an Assistant Professor of 3D Studies at Georgia Southern University. Markum’s work as a queer southern artist encouraged Otunba to work within the context of their identity as a Black Trans Lesbian confronting the increasingly hostile political environment of Texas. 

Otunba typically exhibits their work in DIY and artist-run spaces like the Shed Show in Denton, Texas. They’ve led a workshop at the Shed Show teaching half a dozen local community members how to create stained glass frames. Their goal is to teach more and use education to share craft traditions with other creatives. 

Their current practice heavily revolves around stained glass, which they use as a material and method of narration and storytelling. With a material so delicate, precarious, and breakable it allows for interesting conceptualizations and metaphorical connections.