The San José ICA is thrilled to be showcasing the life and work of Bay Area luminary artist Mildred Howard. Centered around the first-ever Bay Area presentation of Mildred Howard’s film “The Time and Space of Now” (2021) in the ICA’s Cardinale Project Room, the solo exhibition features three multi-media installation pieces exploring the triangulation between time, space, and the migration and movement of people. In addition, the ICA is pleased to present thirty works on paper being loaned generously by the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, expanding on the multi-media work featured in the exhibition. 

“The Time and Space of Now” was created following Howard’s discovery, amongst materials left by her mother, of 8 mm. film that had been stowed in a purse for decades. It is composed of archival footage Howard took as a 14-year-old girl in Texas, interspersed with material shot on the beach in Alameda, and augmented by a fictional, unscripted, metaphysical dialogue between the artists Dewey Crumpler and Oliver Lee Jackson. The work illuminates storytelling, borders, migration, and the interconnected nature of time and space.

Altogether, the various elements interspersed in the front galleries of the ICA, with the film at the end of the experience, creates a unique and unforgettable durational visit for all our guests, providing space for solace and consolation, as well as the desired sense of wonder.

Mildred Howard’s exhibition The Time and Space of Now at the ICA San José has been made possible thanks to lead sponsorship from the Lipman Family Foundation, along with important support from Wanda Kownacki. Portions of the exhibition were originally commissioned by the New Mexico Museum of Art, 2021, along with the loan of works with thanks to the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. Programs and exhibitions at the ICA are made possible thanks to generous support from the City of San José’s Office of Cultural Affairs; along with significant support from Applied Materials, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; along with additional support from SVCreates. In-kind support has been provided by Kelly Moore Paints and the Wild Oyster Project and Ploughshares Nursery.

About Mildred Howard:

A key figure in the Bay Area art scene, African American artist Mildred Howard is known for her large-scale sculptural installations, public artworks, and assemblage sculptures. In addition to many public art commissions, her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. It is included in major museum collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Oakland Museum of California, and the San José Museum of Art. She has worked in the community in numerous ways, including managing the art and communities program at San Francisco’s  Exploratorium and as Executive Director of the Edible Schoolyard at Martin Luther King Middle School in Berkeley, California. Howard is represented by Anglim/Trimble (San Francisco), Parrasch Heijnen (Los Angeles), and Turner Carroll (Santa Fe) Galleries.