OMCA Presents Landmark Retrospective Celebrating Beloved Bay Area Artist Mildred Howard

Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory
Exhibition on View | June 12–October 11, 2026 | PRESS KIT 
Press Preview + Opening Celebration | Thursday, June 11, 2026 | RSVP HERE

(Oakland, CA) May 12, 2026 — Opening June 12, 2026, the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) presents Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory, the first major museum survey of Bay Area artist Mildred Howard (b.1945). The exhibition spans five decades of Howard’s influential work, bringing together immersive installations, found-object sculptures, archival materials, and new commissions that explore memory, identity, and power in American life. 

Poetics of Memory coincides with a year of major recognition for Howard. In 2026, she received the California Arts Council’s 50th Anniversary Award, honoring artists whose work has shaped California’s cultural and civic life, and the Museum of the African Diaspora’s Artist Impact Award. In 2025, she was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship recognizing her transformative contributions to American cultural life.

Howard was born in San Francisco in 1945 and raised in the East Bay, where she went on to study Afro-Haitian dance, make and sell clothing, and experiment with collage and sculpture. Her multimedia art practice emerged from these experiences, later becoming associated with West Coast conceptual art, San Francisco funk, and a vibrant community of artists like Oliver Jackson, Betye Saar, and Raymond Saunders. Since the 1970s, she has used found materials and family stories to explore memory—both individual and collective.

At OMCA, visitors enter Poetics of Memory through a series of intimate galleries featuring Howard’s early mixed-media pieces and sculptures, along with a large video projection of a number of her public artworks. Together, they emphasize Howard’s interest in everyday objects as powerful carriers of individual and shared stories. Highlights include collages that remix images of the artist herself; found-object sculptures like The History of the United States with a few Parts Missing (2007) that address omissions in dominant narratives; and public works like Locks and Keys for Harry Bridges (2001) that transform urban space into a meditation on access and labor. 

This culminates in a richly detailed “studio” environment, where works in progress, archival exhibition flyers, historic photographs of Howard and her community, postcards from fellow artists, and other materials offer insight into her creative process and daily life. Audio recordings of Howard sharing personal stories bring the objects to life. The installation recalls her West Oakland studio, whose walls are densely layered with traces of a long, insistently creative life. 

The exhibition then opens into a high-ceilinged, dramatically lit space that brings together Howard’s signature immersive installations. On one end, Crossings (1997/2026)—a field of hundreds of ceramic eggs leading to an ornate mirror—suggests cycles of birth, motherhood, and transition, while drawing on the emotional echoes of the Middle Passage. On the other end, Blackbird in a Red Sky (a.k.a Fall of the Blood House) (2002)—a red glass shack bordered by a pond—also uses reflection and transparency to pull viewers into the work and consider themes of identity and home. 

These are accompanied by recent sculptures from the series Untold Histories / Hidden Truths for All (2025), where Howard shrouds monuments of contested historical figures (Peter Burnett, William Gwin, and Francis Scott Key) in bright red fabric, drawing attention to their histories of violence and harm. Finally, Howard’s newest video installation, Moving Stills (2026), repurposes never-before-seen family footage she took as a teenager on a train trip to the American South. Projected onto cascading layers of translucent fabric that stretch across an entire gallery wall, the piece immerses viewers in a layered meditation on memory, migration, and time.
“This exhibition offers a deeper and more expansive view of Mildred Howard’s practice than ever before,” says Carin Adams, OMCA Senior Curator of Art. “By bringing together major installations, archival materials, and never-before-seen pieces, we’re able to highlight both the breadth of her artistic vision and her full, creative life—and the vibrant memories—that have informed it.”

ABOUT THE PRESS PREVIEW AND OPENING CELEBRATION 
Thursday, June 11, 2026, 5-6 pm | RSVP HERE
Press are invited to join OMCA for an exclusive first look at Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory. The evening will feature opening remarks from Mildred Howard, Lori Fogarty, OMCA Executive Director and CEO, and Carin Adams, OMCA Senior Curator of Art, followed by an exhibition walkthrough. This is followed by an opening celebration featuring live music, light bites, and drinks. 

ABOUT THE PUBLICATION
A fully illustrated companion publication, edited by exhibition curator Carin Adams will accompany the exhibition, providing a comprehensive resource on Mildred Howard’s career and practice. Featuring essays by Makeda Best, Lori Fogarty, Lian Ladia, and Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins, as well as an original interview with the artist, the volume examines the full arc of Howard’s work, from early assemblages to major public commissions.

Contact:
Alexxa Gotthardt [email protected], 330-472-3775
Azayza Jimenez  [email protected], 510-318-8467

Major support for Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory is provided by The Oakland Museum Women’s Board and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. 

Additional support is provided by Ann McKeever Hatch, Polaris Fund, Rosemary Chang in memory of Ted Buttner, F. Noel Perry, and the Sanger Family Foundation.

ABOUT THE OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA
Founded in 1969 as a “museum of the people,” Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) tells the diverse stories of California’s art, history, and natural environment. Through inclusive exhibitions, public programs, and educational initiatives, OMCA creates space for meaningful dialogue and strives to build more equitable, empathetic, and connected communities. With more than 2 million objects, OMCA’s collection of art, history, and natural science is a resource for understanding California’s dynamic heritage—all within its 110,000 square feet of gallery space and seven-acre campus. A leading Bay Area cultural institution rooted in Oakland, OMCA is dedicated to fostering an environment where visitors from the region, state, and beyond feel valued and empowered to shape the future of California’s cultural landscape.

VISITOR INFORMATION
The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) is at 1000 Oak Street, at 10th Street, in Oakland. All-inclusive Museum admission is $25 general admission; $22 for seniors; and $18 for youth ages 12 to 17, as well as for students and educators with valid ID; and free for Members and children 12 and under. OMCA offers onsite underground parking and is conveniently located one block from the Lake Merritt BART station, on the corner of 10th Street and Oak Street. An accessibility ramp is located at the 1000 Oak Street main entrance to the Museum.