Nina de Creeft Ward

David Pagel of the Los Angeles Times, said that Ward's ceramic sculptures "are radical because they ask us to treat works of art as if they were pets: sensitive critters that repay our care and affection in ways that make us feel more connected to our best selves, not to mention other living things." Ward won the Individual Artists Award for Works in Clay in 2006, alongside Laura Langley, from the Santa Barbara Arts Fund.

Ward created a bronze sculpture of a farm dog in 1999 named Shep at the Patty Jischke Children's Garden in Reiman Gardens. She first drew several pictures of her dog to create Shep, followed by small clay models. Once Ward finished the small models, she made a full-size clay model that was then made into a bronze cast in Kalona, Iowa. In 2016, Ward was the juror at the 2016 Tri-Cities Online Ceramics Show which was by the Student Art Fund of the Santa Barbara Art Association. The Frick Collection's Archives Directory for the History of Collecting has "Esther Bear Gallery records, 1954-1977" that includes information about Ward. She is a trustee of the non-profit Happy Valley Foundation.

Ward's 1998 exhibition titled "Rhino/Blaauwbock Project" was made to show "how people have caused a scourge to the balance of nature" by using art that resembles corpses of extinct and endangered species. In response to the exhibition, Ward said, "I want to make a statement about anti-complacency. I think it's important to think about death. Something physical will put your mind on it whether you want to think about it or not. If you see something dead, you think about it." In 2012, Ward had an art exhibition in Los Olivos, California, at Young’s Gallery. She held an exhibition at the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts in 2015 that included sculptures, prints, and drawings. In 2020, Ward displayed 28 of her animal sculptures at South Willard gallery in Los Angeles, California. A 2020 exhibition titled "Santa Barbara Printmakers: Wild Places in Print" at the Wildling Museum’s Barbara Goodall Education Center included Ward's art. A 2022 exhibition titled "An Encomium: Women in Art" included her work at the University of Northern Iowa Gallery of Art. Her exhibitions have been shown in the Philippines, California, Maryland, Iowa, Chicago, and Kansas City.

Ward moved to Cedar Falls, Iowa, in 1975 to teach art at the University of Northern Iowa for nine years. She was an art teacher for children to adults. She taught in Claremont at Girls Collegiate School for two to three years. Ward built a sculpture for the University of Northern Iowa's library and museum. Ward's work consists of bronze, soft sculptures, etchings, woodcuts, and monoprints. A variety of her clay animals are sold across the United States. Ward said that she works "almost exclusively with animal themes" with a "fairly sandy raku clay recipe" that she made herself. .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}

Nina de Creeft Ward (born 1933) is an American artist who works with bronze, soft sculptures, etchings, woodcuts, and monoprints. She had multiple art exhibitions in the Philippines and the United States. Ward was the co-winner of the Individual Artists Award for Works in Clay in 2006 from the Santa Barbara Arts Fund. Most of Ward's hard has to do with animals, including a 1998 exhibition of art that resembled endangered and extinct species. She has taught students such as at the University of Northern Iowa. Her clay animal models are made with raku ware.

Ward was born in 1933 in New York City to Jose de Creeft and Alice de Creeft, who were both sculptors. Due to her mother keeping goats and other animals, Ward has enjoyed animals since she was a child. After her parents were divorced when Ward was three years old, her mother brought Ward and her brother to Santa Barbara, California. She spent her childhood in Santa Barbara and Ojai, California. Ward attended Happy Valley School, which is now known as Besant Hill School. When Ward was 12 years old, she bought a horse which made her interested in sketching draft horses at the Los Angeles County Fair while she attended Scripps College. Ward received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1956 from Scripps College, a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1964 from the Claremont Graduate School, and further studied at the Massachusetts College of Art. Ward was taught by Albert Stewart, Betty Davenport Ford, and Paul Soldner, with the last teaching her how to create raku ware. She later moved back to Santa Barbara in 2001 after living in Iowa for 26 years with her husband. They had five children.