Mildred Howard Highland Hospital Small-Scale Artwork Commission Program

Artist’s Proposal

The stairs to the building seem to rise to the sky. Behind the iron gates they seem to expand across the block in a semi-circle. With each step I would Examples of Past Artwork count, 1, 2, 3 .....reaching the top but not allowed to visit. It was a mystery behind those doors. Hand held, I would walk back down and cross 14th All artists were asked to refer to examples of their past Avenue. I always wanted to whistle like her, my mom. Soon, from behind the long window, in the large beige building I would see slightly obscured artwork that are similar to the new artwork they will create for Highland. Refer to the artist’s written proposal for a from the glass his hand waving to me. Something deep inside told me that he would be okay and the stairway to the room was a place of healing. description of how the new artwork will be related to the I was about three and the memory of my visit to Highland Hospital still lingers. images below. – Mildred My Work: The Magnolia Series The Magnolia Series began in 2008 while in Bellagio, Italy at the . It came out of my deep interest in how to use something as ordinary as a button in a way that would incorporate my interest in . The layering of materials, one element on top of another, moving pieces around, ripping and tearing is for me like life. My travels throughout the United States and the Americas, Europe and Africa confirms my belief that art has the ability to transform and is a universal language. It has multiple entry points and can help one to see the world from many different perspectives. Each element informing the other and through this medium we begin to understand and see are similarities and differences. Proposed Work Like a mark on a piece of paper, an object does not stand alone, it takes meaning from what is around it and likewise gives meaning to its surroundings. Alameda County is one of the most diverse areas in Northern California. According to the Alameda County Office of Education at least fifteen languages are spoken in the public schools. Highland Hospital is situated in a neighborhood that reflects many of the people who speak one or more of these languages, however it serves the entire county whether or not you have medical insurance or money. Integral to my life and work is a concentration of feelings and experiences that are common to everyone – hopes and desires, negotiating the blurred boundaries of private and revealed, the known and the unknown, the obscured and the transparent. For many a visit to the hospital can be very unsettling. Art can be calming and help to reduce that stress by promoting positive thinking. It enhances the environment for the patients, caretakers and staff. The question for me is how can I, as an artist, use this wonderful cultural blend as a stepping stone to address and embrace that this institution provides and for the nearly 12,000 people they serve. This community is very much part of the work that I do as an artist working from memory, place, history and family. I am proposing to do either a series of works that fit within the guidelines as described in the RFQ. These pieces can be shown as one work – a continuum of an idea or as individual pieces. Using historical images combined with contemporary references of the cultural landscape of this area, I will collage together mixed media works using material referenced i.e., paper, buttons, paint, printmaking, painting, etc. My first choice is to do two works at approximately 40” x 50”. The second choice is to create three smaller works that will be approximately 20” x 24” to 20” x 30”. Either option would be for a total project budget of $24,000. The work will be created in my studio in Berkeley and at Magnolia Editions in Oakland where I have worked for many years. I look forward to your response and I am pleased to be among the distinguished group of finalists for this project. Mildred Howard, Bellagio I, 2007, mixed media print with buttons, 39.5” x 30”

Commissions / Public Art Grants & Awards: Collections 2010 – 2014: General Hospital, 2011: City of Berkeley Proclamation, Mildred Alameda County Arts Commission; Brooklyn Acute Care Unit, the San Francisco Art Commission, Howard Day, March 29, 2011; Artist in Resident, Museum of Art, New York, NY; California State San Francisco, CA (Permanent); Mildred Howard Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA Bldg., San Francisco, CA Crocker; Museum of Art, Sacramento, CA Dade; County Library Art Howard/Prime, Artist with Walter Hood, Artist, 2011: Artist in Resident, Pilchuck Glass & Music Dept., Miami, FL; DeYoung Museum of Hunters Point Public Art Project, San Francisco School,Stanwood, WA Redevelopment Agency, San Francisco, CA, Art, San Francisco, CA; Elihu Harris State Bldg., (Permanent); Richmond Redevelopment Agency, 2007: Residency, Bellagio Study and Conference Oakland, CA; Escuela de Artes Plasticas, Managua, BART Parking Structure, Richmond, CA, (Permanent) Center, The Rockefeller Foundation, Bellagio, Italy; Nicaragua; Hampton University, Hampton, VA; Visiting Artists/Cultural Specialist, Morocco, Dept of Kaiser Permanente Corporation, Oakland, CA; 2011: Sacramento International Airport, State, United States of America Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA; Oakland Museum Sacramento, CA, (Permanent); Clear Story, of California, Oakland, CA; Palmer Museum of temporary Sites specific work , King Plaza, Palo 2007 – 2010: Creating a Lasting Legacy Project, Art, University Park, Penn; Sacramento International Alto, CA sponsored by the Palo Alto Cultural Center, Joan Mitchell Foundation, New York, NY Airport, Sacramento, CA; Sacramento Public Palo Alto, CA (Temporary) 2004: Visiting Artist/Cultural Specialist, Egypt, Library, Sacramento, CA; San Francisco Art Dept. of State, United States of America 2010: Sacramento Pocket Library, Sacramento Commission, San Francisco, CA; San Francisco Metropolitan Arts Commission, Sacramento, CA, 2005: Joan Mitchell Award International Airport, San Francisco; San Francisco (Permanent) 2003: Sculpture Fellowship, California Arts Council; Museum of Modern Art; , 2008: 125 Mason Street Family Housing Project in O’Brien Distinguished Visiting Professor, Scripps San Jose, CA; Rene & Veronica di Rosa Foundation, conjunction with the Glide Foundation, GEDC and College, Claremont, CA Napa, CA Three Guinea Fund, San Francisco, CA; WGB Ventures, San Francisco, CA, (Permanent); University of Colorado Museum of Art, Boulder 2002: Visiting Artist/Cultural Specialist, Egypt, The Next Key Project, Novato, CA, (Permanent) Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford, CT; Washington Dept. of State, United States of America State Arts Commission, Olympia, WA; and 2007: Project Artist in conjunction with DCE 2001: Visual Arts Award, Flintridge Foundation, Numerous Private Collections Planning & The City of Oakland, Artist working Pasadena, CA; Certificate of Congressional Signage & Lighting, Port of Oakland, Mildred Recognition, African American Museum & Congress Howard/Walter Hood & Hood Design, (Permanent) Woman, Barbara Lee 2004 – 2005: Black Bird in a Red Sky, Museum of 2000: Fellowship, Anonymous Was A Woman Glass, Tacoma, WA, (Temporary); Three Shades of Mildred Howard, Carto Cuerpo, 2007, mixed media Foundation Blue, Fillmore Street Bridge Project, San Francisco print with buttons, 39.5” x 30” Art Commission in conjunction with the San 1996: Residency, Bellagio Study and Conference Francisco Art Commission, San Francisco, CA, Center, The Rockefeller Foundation, Bellagio, (Permanent) Italy; Fellowship, Eureka Fellowship, Flieshhacker Foundation, San Francisco, CA 2000 – 2001: Locks & Keys for Harry Bridges, Yerba Buena Garden Central Block 1, Artist and 1994: Fellowship, Art Matters, New York, NY Architect Consortium for Millennium Partners,/WGB 1992/1993: Fellowship, Lila Wallace Readers Ventures, Inc. & the San Francisco Redevelopment Digest Traveling Fellowship, Oaxaca, MX; Agency, San Francisco, CA, (Permanent) Fellowship in Sculpture, National Endowment in the 2000: Salty Peanuts, San Francisco International Arts, Washington, DC Airport Expansion & the San Francisco Art Commission, (Permanent) 1998: Mettre Lamain, Elihu Harris State Building, Oakland, CA, (Permanent); Four Mixed-Media Works, California State Building, San Francisco, CA (Permanent) 1997: Stories from the Fillmore, Art in Transit, San Francisco Art Commission, San Francisco, CA 1991: Memory Garden Phase: II, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA (Temporary) 1990: Ten Mixed-media Works, Art in Public Places, Washington State Arts Commission, Olympia, WA

Mildred Howard, The Magnolia Project: IV, 2008, mixed media print with buttons, 39.5” x 30”

Proposal concept and artwork copyright Mildred Howard. Information herein may not be used or reproduced without permission from the artist and the Alameda County Arts Commission. For more information about the Highland Hospital Public Art Program, contact the Alameda County Arts Commission at (510) 208-9646 or [email protected].