Nowinski was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Rockaway Park. She studied at the New York Studio School of Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture, and received her MFA in painting from Yale University (1987). Her work has been exhibited at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Academy Museum, and the American University Museum. She has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Riverside Arts Center Freeark Gallery, Chicago, Illinois; John Davis Gallery, Hudson, New York; and the Washington Studio School Gallery, Washington, D.C. Nowinski鈥檚 work is represented by Thomas Erben Gallery, where she had her debut solo exhibition in 2021.