Biography

Ghislaine Howard is a painter of powerful and expressive means. Her works deal with the human condition, charting and interpreting our shared human experience.

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Ghislaine Howard was named as a Woman of The Year in 2008 for her contribution to art and society. A painter of powerful and expressive means, her works deal with the human condition charting and interpreting our shared human experience.

She is best known for her ground-breaking exhibition concerning pregnancy and birth, the first of its kind, at Manchester City Art Gallery, A Shared Experience the exhibition attracted much critical acclaim.

She has worked on commissioned projects with various diverse communities including theatres, prisons, the BBC, Women’s Refuges and cathedrals as well as with major organisations such as Amnesty International.

She has shown her large cycle of paintings The Stations of the Cross / The Captive Figure to great acclaim at the two Liverpool Cathedrals at Canterbury Cathedral and at Gloucester Cathedral as part of an ongoing tour of cathedral cities in UK. Her 25 foot high Visitation Altarpiece can be seen in Trinity Chapel at Liverpool Hope University

For Liverpool’s celebrations as Capital of Culture she produced a major new work The Empty Tomb which was unveiled by the Bishop of Liverpool on Easter Sunday 2008; The Empty Tomb was on view at Manchester Cathedral during Easter, 2010.

She is continuing to work on a series of paintings in response to news images taken from the Guardian newspaper – an exhibition of 365 of these paintings was shown at Imperial War Museum North from March to September 2009.

She has featured in various publications and television documentaries including Degas: An Old Man Mad about Art, 1996 and Degas and the Dance in 2004, which was awarded the prestigious international Peabody Award.

She is represented in many public and private collections including the Royal Collection.

At present Ghislaine is working with Salford University’s Podiatry department, Arts for Health and MMU on a new project centring on the act of walking.

Selected critical comments:

Concerning A Shared Experience, Manchester City Art Gallery

It is through Howard’s moving embodiment of empathy that she really makes her mark. Her work is so intimately tender in approach it could hardly have been painted by any male at any time anywhere.

Robert Clark, The Guardian

Concerning The Stations of the Cross /The Captive Figure

Howard is well on her way to becoming one of the great humanist artists of our time.

Zaria Shreef, The Big Issue

Ghislaine Howard’s images are compelling, powerful, and emphatic. They are unusual in that they communicate man’s inhumanity to man to the art lover and lay person alike. These are very important paintings that transcend the limitations of the gallery space to speak to us all.

Dr. Helen Bamber, Medical Foundation for the Victims of Torture

Click here to read more press clippings about Ghislaine Howard

Forthcoming exhibitions

  • Wendy Levy Contemporary Art Didsbury, Winter exhibition December 2010
  • Gateway Gallery Macclesfield, Winter Exhibition December
  • Ghislaine Howard Studio Gallery Glossop, Winter Exhibition Nov/Dec 2010
  • York Minster, The Stations of the Cross/The Captive Figure February- May 2011

Selected exhibitions since 2010

  • Birr Arts Festival Ireland, August 2010, The Circus Animals’ Desertion
  • Manchester Cathedral, The Stations of the Cross/ The Captive Figure February to May 2010
  • Ghislaine Howard Studio Gallery, Winter Exhibition 2009
  • Wendy Levy Fine Art ,Didsbury Winter Exhibition 2009
  • Exeter Cathedral, The Stations of the Cross / The Captive Figure 2009
  • Imperial War Museum North, Solo show March 2009
  • Slic Dessin Paris, with The Cynthia Corbett Gallery March 2009
  • Towards The Empty Tomb, Liverpool Cathedral, 2008/9
  • Whitworth Gallery Manchester, Part of an exhibition of portraits from the Whitworth’s permanent collection including works by Lucien Freud and Henry Moore, September 2007- January 2009
  • PG1, Firbob and Peacock, Knutsford 7, October 2008
  • The Stuff of Life, Saltaire Festival, September 2008
  • The Stations of the Cross / The Captive Figure, Bakewell Festival, August 2008
  • The   Stations of The Cross / The Captive Figure, Liverpool Cathedral, for Liverpool Capital of Culture, including a specially commissioned piece, The Empty Tomb, February – March 2008
  • Towards The Empty Tomb, Derby Cathedral, February March 2008
  • Changing Eight, Liverpool Hope University College, January 2007
  • Wendy Levy Contemporary Art Manchester, ‘One Family – Three  Painters’ with Michael and Cordelia Howard, June 2007
  • Continuing series of exhibitions from 2006 onwards at the Ghislaine Howard studio gallery, Glossop
  • Vesali Icones, Paintings included as the setting for Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’s Vesali Icones with the musical ensemble Psappha, Gulbenkian, Lisbon, January 2005; Queen Elizabeth Hall, May, 2005 and Buenos Aires, June 2005
  • The Stations of the Cross / The Captive Figure, Derby Cathedral and Art Gallery, March/April 2005
  • Encounters, Solo Show, Wendy J. Levy Contemporary Art, November 2004
  • A Shared Experience, two linked exhibitions at The Sheridan Russell Gallery, London and at The Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London. September – October 2004
  • artLondon with the Cynthia Corbett Gallery, 2004
  • Sex in the City, The Cynthia Corbett Gallery, The Glass House Gallery, London 2004
  • Out of Office, Manchester Technology Centre, April 2004
  • Presence, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London, February 2004
  • The Stations of the Cross / The Captive Figure, Gloucester Cathedral, March to April 2003
  • Selected Works from the BBC Residency, BBC, Manchester, June 2001- April 2004
  • artLondon with The Cynthia Corbett Gallery, June 2003
  • The Stations of the Cross / The Captive Figure, The Research and Education Centre, Wythenshawe Hospital Manchester, October 2002
  • The Unguarded Moment, The Cynthia Corbett Gallery, artLondon, May 2002
  • The Stations of the Cross / The Captive Figure, Liverpool Cathedral, March – April 2002
  • Intimacy, organised jointly by the Arts Council, the Mostyn Gallery and the Lowry, 11 January – 28 April 2002
  • Art on Paper, representing the Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London at the Royal College of Art, February 2002
  • Works by Ghislaine, Michael and Cordelia Howard, Duke’s Oak Gallery, October 2000
  • Boston International Art Fair, representing the Cynthia Corbett Gallery, November 2001
  • One person exhibition, Amnesty International Conference, Edinburgh, May 2001; The Stations of the Cross / The Captive Figure, March 2001 shown at Canterbury Cathedral and The Captive Figure, March 2001, The Cynthia Corbett Gallery at 54 The Gallery, London
  • Exhibition in Aid of the Medical Foundation Caring for Victims of Torture, Royal College of Art, London, October 2000
  • Times of Our Lives, Endings and Beginnings April through to October 2000, Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester
  • artLondon with the Cynthia Corbett Gallery, June 14th – June 18th 2000
  • The Stations of the Cross / The Captive Figure, solo exhibition shown at the two Liverpool Cathedrals from 8th April until 1st May, 2000.  Realised in conjunction with Liverpool Hope University College and supported by Amnesty International and North West Arts Board, throughout 2000-2001
  • Recent Work, solo exhibition, Horizon Modern Art, Brussels, November 1998
  • The Discerning Eye, London, invited artist (by critic/curator Richard Kendall), November 1998
  • The Informal Portrait, Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester, November – January, 1997-8
  • Paintings and Drawings of The Women of Troy, solo exhibition at the National Theatre, London, June 1995
  • Caught in The Act: Paintings produced as the official painter to Manchester’s year as ‘European City of Drama’, solo exhibition, British Council, Manchester, November
  • A Shared Experience, solo exhibition, Manchester City Art Gallery, resulting from a six month residency in Saint Mary’s Maternity Unit, Manchester, April‑May 1993

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS since 1993

  • Death’s Broken Dominion by Laura Gascoigne, The Tablet March 2008
  • Twelve Women Artists, by Judy Rose, Wendy Levy      Contemporary Art, 2006
  • Presence, edited by Meryl Doney, exhibition catalogue, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, 2004
  • Stations of the Cross / The Captive Figure, edited by Michael Howard of Manchester Metropolitan University with contributions by Dr. Joan Crossley, Leicester University and Dr. Shannon Ledbetter, Liverpool Hope University College
  • Exhibiting Gender, Sarah Hyde, Courtauld Institute of Art, section of book relates to my drawing owned by Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester University Press, September 1997
  • Steeple Chase Park, poetry by Frances Nagle, 1996
  • ‘Artist’s Diary,’ Art Review, March 1994
  • Two works reproduced in Portraiture and Drawing the Figure published by Dorling Kindersley, in association with the Royal Academy, 1994
  • Article on Risley exhibition in Big Issue, March 1994
  • ‘A Shared Experience,’ Catalogue for Manchester City Art Gallery and Wellcome Foundation, essay by David Peters‑Corbett, 1993/4

Reviews in various publications including: Anglican Theological Review, British Medical Journal, ACE Magazine, Gallery Magazine, The Guardian, Modern Painters, The Women’s Art Journal; included in features in Big Issue, Daily Telegraph, The Tablet, Living Edge

TELEVISION AND FILM

  • Who Do You Say I Am? BBC1, Easter 2007
  • Part of the team that produced Degas and the Dance; the production was awarded The Peabody Award in May 2004
  • Featured artist in Mischa Scorer’s Omnibus film for BBC 1, Degas, The Old Man Mad About Art, 1996
  • Featured artist in Granada Television’s In Celebration programme, The Nude, transmitted July 1994

RADIO

Featured in Women’s Hour, 1993 various contributions to local B.B.C. broadcasts; occasional contributor to G.M.R. current affairs and arts programme.

THEATRE

Vesali Icones, Paintings used as the setting for Peter Maxwell Davies’s Vesali Icones with the musical ensemble Psappha, at venues including the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester; Buenos Ares; the Gilbenkian, Lisbon; Queen Elizabeth Hall, London during 2004 – 2005

COLLECTIONS

Work in various collections including  The Royal Collection; Manchester City Art Gallery; Whitworth Art Gallery; Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield; Salford City Art Gallery; the BBC, Saint Mary’s Maternity Unit, Manchester; the Manchester Metropolitan University; Her Majesty’s Prison Service, British Medical Association, The Hall School Wimbledon, Liverpool Hope University College, etc.

Private collections: Great Britain, Eire, France, Belgium, Germany, USA, Australia and elsewhere.

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