“Where poets use words and musicians use notes, I use objects and images in my work to generate a music that us visual and tangible. These objects function as mediums in both senses of the word-not only as artistic materials, but also as intermediaries between the audience and their history, surroundings and memories, both individual and collective, Like rhythm of poetry or the vibrations of music, I would like my artwork to be accessible to anyone, regardless of race, class, or language. There is a universal history-including an ongoing cycle of displacement, migration and self-reinvention-that impacts everyone on this planet, regardless of time of place. The emphasis on issues of borders, territory, and identity in my work ultimately serves to direct attention toward the absurdity of our division. Beyond race or gender, age or wealth, it is crucial to preserve that which unites us: our shared struggle, our fragile environment, our common humanity.”
has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Adeline Kent Award from the San Francisco Art Institute, the Joan Mitchell Foundation and a fellowship from the California Arts Council. Her work has been exhibited internationally including recent shows in Berlin, Cairo, and Bath, England. Large scale installations have been mounted at Creative Time in New York, in SITE San Diego, the National Museum of Women in the Arts and the New Museum in New York. Public commissions and installations were executed for the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, the City of Oakland, the San Francisco Arts Commission and International Airport, and the San Jose Museum of Art.
Over the course of four decades, Mildred Howard has created rich and evocative work by taking common objects of daily life and infusing them with the spark of meaning to illuminate the underlying significance and historical weight of cultural form. In free-standing sculpture, in wall-mounted musings, in graphic explorations and in representations of shelter, Howard has developed a language to address racism, injustice, need and compassion.
As a Berkeley-based artist, activist, and teacher, Howard has long been admired for direct and forthright reflections on society. She has conducted programs and exhibitions internationally in locales ranging from England to Latin America, Egypt, and Morocco. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Adeline Kent Award from the San Francisco Art Institute, the Joan Mitchell Foundation and a fellowship from the California Arts Council. Her work has been exhibited internationally including recent shows in Berlin, Cairo, and Bath, England. Large scale installations have been mounted at Creative Time in New York, in SITE San Diego, the National Museum of Women in the Arts and the New Museum in New York. Public commissions and installations were executed for the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, the City of Oakland, the San Francisco Arts Commission and International Airport, and the San Jose Museum of Art
