Rachael Howard
- Senior Lecturer in Textile Design
- Email: r.howard2@bathspa.ac.uk
- Telephone: +44 (0)1225 876194
- School: Bath School of Design
- Campus: Sion Hill
- Office: SH.T3.03
- Website:
Personal statement
Rachael is a highly respected and successful practicing textile artist and designer who graduated from the Royal College of Art, as one of its first MA Embroidery students. She has worked as a consultant designer and illustrator for many companies including Paul Smith, Habitat, Liberty and magazines such as Selvedge and has developed her own collections of fashion and interior accessories. Rachael has contributed to Higher Education courses in the UK and abroad including Manchester Metropolitan, Goldsmiths and Central St Martins.
Research and external activities
Rachael regularly exhibits her work nationally and internationally. Her first solo show with the Ruthin Craft Centre was "phenomenally successful" and toured nationally for 2 years attracting 32,500 visitors at its final destination the Geffrye Museum, London. Her graphic, lively sketches of everyday life typify her powers of observation and knack for catching the moment. She has pioneered a lively mix of embroidery and screen-printing techniques, using image, text and object to tell often autobiographical stories of the everyday.
Rachael’s many public art commissions include a broad range from cushions for benches in Newbury Library, to a wall-hanging for the Museum of Science and Industry in Berlin and most recently the Liverpool Hospital youth cancer care centre.
Prizes and awards
- Jerwood Prize for Applied Arts - shortlisted 1997
- Artworks Award for Art in Education - 2003 and 2004, whilst artist in residence at Lauriston Primary School, Hackney, London.
"One of our foremost narrative textile artists"
- Embroidery magazine
Professional memberships
- 62 Group of Textile Artists, Committee member
- Oxton Artists, Guest.
Academic qualifications
- MA Embroidery, Royal College of Art
- BA Hons (1st Class) Textiles Design specialising in Embroidery, Loughborough College of Art and Design.
Teaching specialism
- Printed and embroidered textiles.
Research and academic outputs
Radical thread: 1962-2012
book
Howard, R and Millar, L (2011) Radical thread: 1962-2012. Direct Design Books, Kent. ISBN 9780957124202
Sketch it, stitch it / Draw it, print it
conference_item
Howard, R (2015) Sketch it, stitch it / Draw it, print it. In: Making Tomorrow: a 3-day Festival of Textiles, 7 - 9 March 2014, Cork, Ireland.
Artist's talk on Red Work
conference_item
Howard, R (2014) Artist's talk on Red Work. In: Red Work, Rachael Howard, 27 November 2014, Waterside Arts Centre, Manchester, UK.
Artist talk
conference_item
Howard, R (2014) Artist talk. In: Bluecoat Display Centre Artist Talks, 23 September 2014, Athenaeum Club, Liverpool, UK.
PSS workshop
conference_item
Howard, R (2014) PSS workshop. In: Making an Impact, 28 March 2014, PSS, Liverpool, UK.
Red Work & Wit of the Stitch (2014, 2016) [REF2021 collection]
artefact
Howard, R (2021) Red Work & Wit of the Stitch (2014, 2016) [REF2021 collection].
62 Group NOW [group exhibition]
exhibition
Howard, R (2015) 62 Group NOW [group exhibition]. Upfront Gallery, Cumbria, UK, 14 March - 3 May 2015.
Red work [solo exhibition]
exhibition
Howard, R (2015) Red work [solo exhibition]. Williamson Art Gallery, Wirral UK, 14 February - 29 March 2015.
Craft goes pop [group exhibition]
exhibition
Howard, R (2015) Craft goes pop [group exhibition]. Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool UK, 23 January - 7 March 2015.
Red work [solo exhibition]
exhibition
Howard, R (2014) Red work [solo exhibition]. Waterside Arts Centre, Sale, Manchester, 11 October 2014 - 31 January 2015.
Ebb and flow 62 [group exhibition]
exhibition
Howard, R (2014) Ebb and flow 62 [group exhibition]. In: Ebb and Flow, Heritage Centre, Grimsby, UK, 9 September - 2 November 2014.
Found friends [solo exhibition]
exhibition
Howard, R (2014) Found friends [solo exhibition]. CIT Crawford College of Art, Cork, Ireland, 7 - 14 April 2014.
Music makers [group exhibition]
exhibition
Howard, R (2014) Music makers [group exhibition]. Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool, UK, 20 March - 3 May 2014.
British textile art exhibition 62@50
exhibition
Howard, R (2013) British textile art exhibition 62@50. Koyo Gallery, Showa Women’s University, Tokyo, 10 December 2013 - 25 January 2014.
Lost and found: an exhibition of new textiles [solo exhibition]
exhibition
Howard, R (2012) Lost and found: an exhibition of new textiles [solo exhibition]. National Trust Quarry Bank Mill, Cheshire, 1 April - 24 June 2012.
Rachael Howard: textiles
exhibition
Howard, R (2010) Rachael Howard: textiles. Weekend Gallery, Hastings, 22 May 2010 - 27 June 2010.