This Juneteenth, there are quite a few celebrations in Oakland, and the Oral History Center today celebrates artist Mildred Howard, whose retrospective Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory has just opened at the Oakland Museum of California. Howard has garnered a lot of attention recently, from articles about the Bancroft Library’s recent acquisition of Howard’s papers to an article in the Guardian about the OMCA exhibit.
In 2021, the Oral History Center teamed up with the Getty Research Institute to co-conduct an in-depth life history with Howard, Mildred Howard: Testimonies on Art, Blackness, and Community as part of the African American Art History Initiative. She describes in her own words her upbringing and family background, and the context and meaning behind many of her most significant exhibitions and pieces over the decades. I strongly recommend that those who plan to see the current exhibit at OMCA check out the seven hours-worth of transcripts with Mildred Howard, Bridget Cooks, Professor of African American Studies at UC Irvine, and Amanda Tewes, oral historian with the OHC at the time of the interviews.
Some of Howard’s best-known work appears in The Poetics of Memory, including: Crossings from 1997/2006, Blackbird in a Red Sky (aka Fall of the Blood House) from 2002, and 024426458 from 1993. She discussed these pieces and others at length in her oral history. Beyond these works, Howard explores a varied and impactful life, from childhood experiences to her training in textile arts and experience as a fashion designer, to her public art such as her bottle houses, to her many installations and multiple exhibitions, international travel and work in Egypt and Morocco, along with her reflections on the art world, collectors, galleries, museums, and the meanings of her life’s work.
Even if you are unable to see the exhibition, exploring Howard’s oral history will deepen your appreciation of her apotheosis in American art over the past half century. Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory runs at OMCA through October 18, 2026.