Constance Mildred Howard, later Constance 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. The Constance Howard Gallery, part of

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by ...

, is named in her honour.

Biography

Howard was born in Abington in

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

to Mildred Annie Abbott and Arthur Howard, a school teacher. 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. From 1931, Howard was a student at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

in London where she was taught by both

Eric Ravilious Eric William Ravilious (22 July 1903 – 2 September 1942) was a British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver. He grew up in Sussex, and is particularly known for his watercolours of the South Downs, Castle Hedingham and othe ...

and

Edward Bawden Edward Bawden, (10 March 1903 – 21 November 1989) was an English painter, illustrator and graphic artist, known for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture. Bawden taught at the Royal College of Art, where he had be ...

. After graduating in 1935, Howard taught at the Cardiff School of Art where she established a course in dress design. During World War II she taught at the

Kingston School of Art The Kingston School of Art (KSA) is an art school in Kingston upon Thames, part of Kingston University London. It was first established in 1899 as the Kingston School of Science and Art. In 1930 it was established as a separate school and has b ...

where she and her students embroidered maps for the RAF. In December 1945 Howard married the sculptor Harold Wilson Parker and gave up teaching but began exhibiting with the

Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive range of me ...

. Howard returned to teaching in 1947 on a part-time basis with embroidery classes at

Goldsmiths A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Modern goldsmiths mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, they have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and serviceable ...

in south-east London. In 1950, Howard designed a large textile hanging for the country pavilion of the

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Labour Party cabinet member Herbert Morrison was the prime mover; in 1947 he started with the ...

exhibition in London. ''The Country Wife'' was completed by Howard and her students, who included

Mary Quant Dame Barbara Mary Quant (11 February 1930 – 13 April 2023) was a British fashion designer and icon. She became an instrumental figure in the 1960s London-based Mod and youth fashion movements, and played a prominent role in London's Swingi ...

, and depicted the activities of the

National Federation of Women's Institutes National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

. In 1953, Goldsmith's established a separate department of embroidery and in 1958 Howard became its head of department. In 1964, embroidery and textile design became a main subject area for the diploma in art and design at the college. 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. Howard also became an examiner and ran classes for the Embroiderers' Guild and undertook lecture tours to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. 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 work ''Twentieth-Century Embroidery in Great Britain'' which was published between 1981 and 1986. Howard was awarded the MBE in 1975 for services to Art Education 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. Works by Howard are held by

Northampton Museum and Art Gallery Northampton Museum and Art Gallery is a public museum in Northampton, England. The museum is owned and run by West Northamptonshire Council and houses one of the largest collection of shoes in the world, with over 15,000 pairs,Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

and are in the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

collection. She designed ecclesiastical works for

Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, also called Lincoln Minster, and formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, is a Church of England cathedral in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lincoln and is the Mo ...

and

Makerere University Makerere University (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922, and the oldest currently active university in East Africa. It became an independent national university in ...

in Uganda and produced 200 kneelers for the College Chapel at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

Published works

* ''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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Constance 1910 births 2000 deaths 20th-century English artists 20th-century English women artists 20th-century British women textile artists 20th-century British textile artists Academics of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of the Royal College of Art Artists from Northampton British embroiderers Members of the Order of the British Empire