Education/Qualifications
BA (Hons) Creative Art, Open College of Art accredited by University for the Creative Arts (2016)
MA Engineering Science, University of Oxford (1987)
Diploma in Water & Environmental Management, De Montfort University (1994)
Chartered Engineer (1992)
Member, Institution of Civil Engineers (1992)
Member, Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (1994)
Career Summary
I am an interdisciplinary artist and project manager, based in Shrewsbury, working solo and in collaboration with other practitioners and community groups. I use walking and mapping to explore how people interact with places, informed by experience of over 30 years in engineering and environmental consulting. My practice includes painting, collage, photography, printmaking, books, and digital media.
As member of Meadow Arts’ network of creative practitioners, I am experienced in delivering arts engagement projects with schools, community groups and in public workshops. I am trained as an Arts Award adviser for Explore/Discover level, and have completed courses in Planning for Work in Formal Education (Arts Connect), Creative Facilitation for Young People (Artsworks), Managing Difficult Situations and Attachment Theory, Neuroscience and Parenting (Severn Arts).
Experienced with socially-engaged projects, I aim to be inclusive and a catalyst for change, comfortable working in multi-disciplinary teams, and communicating with a diverse range of audiences/participants. I hold key skills in curating exhibitions, reporting and mentoring.
Socially-engaged, Community and Learning projects
My experience covers a range of different audiences, participants and settings:
- engagement workshops for general public and community groups,
- organised and led art walks,
- schools projects as independent creative practitioner and on behalf of Meadow Arts,
- projects with Looked After Children and young people with disabilities
- public events alongside curated exhibitions,
- developed an educational programme and learning resources for a public funded heritage project,
- created a walking event for livestream online festival,
- artist talks and presenting papers at academic conferences.
Founding member of the Cinderloo1821 community organisation raising awareness of the Cinderloo Uprising in Dawley in 1821. With funding from Heritage Lottery, Historic England and other partners, I lead a programme of activities including projects with local schools in Telford and with community groups, this is funded as part of Historic England's Heritage Schools programme. I made a film "Bear Witness - The Lie of the Land" with Jill Impey revealing layers of history in the landscape and human responses.
Recent/Current
- Mosses and Marshes project (funded by Arts Council England, Regional Arts Fund New South Wales, and Australian Cultural Fund), collaborating with Australian artist, Kim Goldsmith, via Arts Territory Exchange, making links between Fenns, Bettisfield and Whixall Mosses (UK) and Macquarie Marshes (AUS). Partners include Shropshire Wildlife Trust and Natural England, and corresponding Australian organisations, 5 other artists, artist/curator Gudrun Filipska of Arts Territory Exchange, MediaActive Projects CIC and Wem Youth Club.
- Beauty and Utlility, Avon Meadows, Pershore. Commissioned by Meadow Arts working with the Flood Plain Meadows Partnership to make artwork and work with community groups
- Scour II project (ACE funded), May-Oct 2019 – I led two art walks and creative workshops exploring the history and landscape of the River Arrow valley in Redditch. Published a collaborative zine using artwork and writing made during the workshops.
- Creative practitioner for Meadow Arts delivering a four day project with students at Mary Webb School, Pontesbury involving walks and outdoor sculpture making, collaborative work using dye plants, printmaking, 3D assemblages and artist books
- working via Arts Territory Exchange with artist/academic, Gareth Jones, based in Japan and China, using walking and psychogeography to explore relations between virtual and real spaces in the UK and Far East
Gallery and project management
As a trustee of the Shropshire Visual Art Network (VAN) (2006-2018), I helped implement a number of arts projects. I was a key member of the VAN Gallery project to develop a contemporary art gallery and retail venue, from which VAN has been able to commission new work and workshops by artists.
I co-curated an exhibition with Peter Williams: Collage Now, featuring 11 artists working in collage and assemblage.
In 2015, I curated the “A Voyage of Enterprise” exhibition to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Market Hall, Shrewsbury on behalf of Shropshire Council. The exhibition featured art (including commissioned work), architecture, history and narratives of people associated with the market past and present.
Solo Exhibitions:
Jan-Feb 23 Inhabited, King’s School, Worcester
Sep 2022 Wetlands, Gateway Gallery, Shrewsbury
May-Jun 22 Mosses and Marshes, Outback Arts Gallery, Coonamble, NSW, collaborative exhibition with Kim V. Goldsmith
Apr-May 22 Mosses and Marshes, M16 Artspace, Canberra, AUS, collaborative exhibition with Kim V. Goldsmith
Oct 21 Mosses and Marshes, Qube Oswestry, collaborative exhibition with Kim V. Goldsmith
Jun 2017 Shrewsbury Open Studios
Apr/May 2017 In Parallel and Entwined, The Hive, Shrewsbury inc. walk event/workshop
Mar 2016 In Parallel, Participate Contemporary Artspace incl. artist talk
Feb 2014 Land in Hand, joint commission with Mairi Turner to document the development of Coton Hill allotments, published book and exhibition at Visual Art Network Market Hall Gallery, Shrewsbury
July 2011 Shrewsbury Open Studios, my studio
July 2010 Shrewsbury Open Studios, my studio
Jan 2010 Imperfectly Natural, Gallery3, Gateway Arts Centre, Shrewsbury
Feb 2007 C45P3R.com, No.35 Penson Chambers, Oswestry
Nov 2006 Phantom Cities, Bear Steps Gallery, Shrewsbury; joint exhibition with Colin Blundell
July 2006 This is Art Festival, Shrewsbury
Nov 2005 C45P3R.com, Frank café bar, Shrewsbury
July 2005 This is Art Festival, Shrewsbury
June 2005 Stone Works, Shrewsbury Music Hall Photographic Gallery
Group Exhibitions:
Jan-Feb 2023 A Charm of Goldfinches, Gateway Gallery, Shrewsbury, co-curated with Bryan Eccleshall
May-Sep 22 West Midlands Open, New Art Gallery Walsall
Mar-Apr 22 Beauty and Utility Showcase, Pershore Library; curated by Meadow Arts for the Flood Plain Meadows project at Avon Meadows with Open University and Wychavon DC
Feb 22 Akin, Unitarian Church, Shrewsbury; exhibition curated by Participate Contemporary Artspace CIC as part of the Darwin Festival
Dec-Feb 22 peat-surface-sky/Mosses and Marshes, Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury
Oct 21-Mar 22 Cinderloo Remembered, Coalbrookdale Gallery, Ironbridge Gorge Museums; co-curated and exhibited work from the Cinderloo 1821 project
Sep-Oct 21 peat-surface-sky; Wem Town Hall, an exhibition of artwork by Wem Youth Club, myself, Kim V. Goldsmith, Sue Challis and Kate Johnston
May 21-ongoing Un-Boxing, Arts Territory Exchange touring exhibition, organised Gudrun Filipska, Caroline Kelley, Lenka Clayton and Carly Butler starting in Cambridgeshire (England) with aTE founder, Gudrun Filipska. Other venues for Un-Boxing will include Anglesey (Wales), Suffolk (England), Versailles (France), Saint Croix de Mareuil (France), and Copenhagen (Denmark). The second stage of Un-Boxing will take a more experimental form, developing its own network of hosts around a series of anchor locations including The Maryland Institute College of Art, Pittsburgh (USA), Pensylvania (USA), Pender Island (Canada), and Vancouver Island (Canada).
Aug 20 Light! online exhibition hosted by Participate Contemporary Artspace CIC
May/Jun 2020 F50 curated by Kim Goldsmith, online festival by Art E-parties
Dec19-Mar20 A Stitch in Time, Fourth Today’s Documents (my collaborative work with artist Gareth Jones featured with other Arts Territory Exchange artists), Today Art Museum, Beijing
Oct-Nov 19 Scaffolds of Nature, Participate Contemporary Artspace, Shrewsbury
Oct-Nov 19 VAN at 20, Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury
Oct 2019 Encounters, VAN Gallery, Shrewsbury
Sept 2019 Put this in your window and think of me (my collaborative work with artist Kim Goldsmith featured with other Arts Territory Exchange artists, curated by Art Language Location), Cambridge Artworks Artspace
Oct18-Feb20 Selected VAN members exhibitions, University Centre Shrewsbury
Aug 2018 Lawn and Meadow, Participate Contemporary Artspace, Shrewsbury
Jun 2018 Brownfield Research Centre, AirSpace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Mar 2018 Encounters, VAN Street Gallery, Shrewsbury, collaborations with Paul Baines, Kate Innes and Ursula Troche
Nov 2017 Shropshire Open 2017, Gateway Gallery3, Shrewsbury
Aug 2017 Eden, Participate Contemporary Artspace, Shrewsbury, curated by Katy Hodson
June 2017 Collage Now, VAN Street Gallery, Shrewsbury (co-curated with Peter Williams)
Oct 2016 Qube Open, Oswestry
Sep 2016 Loitering with Intent, People’s History Museum, Manchester, featured a special edition of Stepz magazine “Between the Rollerama and the Junk Yard” including my article "A View on the Street".
Sep 2015 Voyage of Enterprise, curator, Market Hall, Shrewsbury
Sep 2015 “Quotidian” part of A Voyage of Enterprise exhibition celebrating 50 years of the Market Hall, Shrewsbury
Jun 2011 Visual Art Network Market Hall Gallery, Shrewsbury
Apr 2010 Worcester Open, Pitt Gallery
Dec 2008 Postcards - an exhibition of affordable art, Gallery 3, Gateway Arts Centre, Shrewsbury
Aug 2008 The Shropshire Open Exhibition, Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery
May 2008 The Telford & Wrekin Open, Oakengates Theatre
Feb 2008 Cloud Space and Art Walk, with Cloud Gallery Artists Collective, Shrewsbury Music Hall, part of Greenhouse Shropshire exhibition
Jan 2007 Abandoned Chairs, Group Exhibition, Norwich Arts Centre
Aug 2004 Dedicated to Art, Eighth Art Exhibition, Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire
Other Events/Publications
- Walking event “Act of Resistance” at the Fourth World Congress of Psychogeography (4WCOP) in Dewsbury, staged in association with Creative Scene (2019),
- Participated remotely in a festival at Skeidarahlaup in Iceland, co-ordinated with Arts Territory Exchange, by livestreaming a walk in Shrewsbury (2019),
- Article selected for publication in special edition of Stepz magazine “Between the Rollerama and the Junk Yard” (Summer 2016), to be featured in an exhibition “Loitering with Intent”at the People’s History Museum, Manchester.
- Trustee, Shropshire Visual Art Network (2006 – 2011)
- Trustee, Shrewsbury Food Hub (2016 - present)
- Work selected for publication in “Abandoned Chairs”, a book of photography collated by Norwich Arts Centre (2007)
Website/Blog
http://www.andrew-howe.com/
https://andhowenow.wordpress.com/
