Constance Mildred Howard,laterConstance Parker,(8 December 1910 – 2 July 2000) was an English textile artist and embroiderer who had a profound impact on the development and teaching of those subjects in Britain.[1]The Constance Howard Gallery, part ofGoldsmiths, University of London,is named in her honour.[2]
Constance Howard | |
|---|---|
 Constance Howard | |
| Born | 8 December 1910 Abington, Northamptonshire,England |
| Died | 2 July 2000(aged 89) |
| Nationality | English |
| Education |
|
| Known for | Textile arts and embroidery |
| Spouse(s) | Harold Wilson Parker, m.1945 – his death. |
Biography
editHoward was born inAbingtoninNorthamptonto Mildred Annie Abbott and Arthur Howard, a school teacher.[1]From the age of ten she began taking weekly classes at the Northampton School of Art and subsequently won a scholarship that allowed her to attend full-time when she turned 14.[1]From 1931, Howard was a student at theRoyal College of Artin London where she was taught by bothEric RaviliousandEdward Bawden.[1]After graduating in 1935, Howard taught at theCardiff School of Artwhere she established a course in dress design.[1]During World War II she taught at theKingston School of Artwhere she and her students embroidered maps for theRAF.[1]In December 1945 Howard married the sculptor Harold Wilson Parker and gave up teaching but began exhibiting with theArts and Crafts Exhibition Society.[1]
Howard returned to teaching in 1947 on a part-time basis with embroidery classes atGoldsmithsin south-east London.[3]In 1950, Howard designed a large textile hanging for the country pavilion of theFestival of Britainexhibition in London.[4]The Country Wifewas completed by Howard and her students, who includedMary Quant,and depicted the activities of theNational Federation of Women's Institutes.[5]In 1953, Goldsmith's established a separate department of embroidery and in 1958 Howard became its head of department.[1]In 1964, embroidery and textile design became a main subject area for the diploma in art and design at the college.[4]As well as traditional embroidery skills, Howard encouraged the use of new techniques, including several of her own invention, and the production of wholly abstract designs often with unconventional materials.[4]Howard also became an examiner and ran classes for theEmbroiderers' Guildand undertook lecture tours to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.[4]
Howard retired from Goldsmiths in 1975 but continued to exhibit, give guest lectures and wrote several books on the textile arts, notably her four-volume workTwentieth-Century Embroidery in Great Britainwhich was published between 1981 and 1986.[3]Howard was awarded theMBEin 1975 for services to Art Education[6]: 198 and in 1980, Goldsmiths opened the Constance Howard Gallery alongside a textile resource and research collection which contains Howard's own archive and lifetime collection of textiles.[2][3]
Works by Howard are held byNorthampton Museum and Art Gallery,theVictoria and Albert Museumand are in theBritish Councilcollection.[1][3][7]She designed ecclesiastical works forLincoln CathedralandMakerere Universityin Uganda and produced 200 kneelers for the College Chapel atEton College.[4]
Published works
edit- Design for Embroidery from Traditional English Sources,1956
- Inspiration for Embroidery,1966
- Embroidery and Colour,1976
- Textile Crafts,1977
- The Constance Howard Book of Stitches,1979
- Twentieth-Century Embroidery in Great Britain,4 volumes, 1981-1986.[3]
References
edit- ^abcdefghiHCG Matthew &Brian Harrison,ed. (2004).Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Vol 28 (Hooppell-Hutcheson).Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-861378-4.
- ^ab"Goldsmiths Textile Collection & Constance Howard Gallery".Goldsmiths, University of London.2019.Retrieved21 August2019.
- ^abcdeBen Pimlott(20 July 2000)."Constance Howard".The Guardian.Retrieved21 August2019.
- ^abcde"Constance Howard".The Telegraph.22 July 2000.Retrieved21 August2019.
- ^"Country Wife Mural".National Needlework Archive.2019.Retrieved21 August2019.
- ^Howard, Constance. (1983).Twentieth-century embroidery in Great Britain, 1940-1963.London: Batsford.ISBN0-7134-3944-0.OCLC11147234.
- ^"Constance Howard (1910-2000) Artworks".British Council.Retrieved21 August2019.