Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory | June 12 - October 18, 2026

Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory is the first major museum exhibition to celebrate the work of beloved Bay Area artist Mildred Howard. Spanning Howard’s five-decade practice, Poetics of Memory brings together her renowned collages, found-object sculptures, and immersive installations that explore memory, identity, and the African American experience. New and never-before-seen pieces punctuate the exhibition, while archival materials from Howard’s Oakland studio illuminate the cultural currents and lived experiences that shape her practice.

Born in San Francisco in 1945, Howard has been a lifelong resident of the East Bay. In the 1970s, she began making art influenced by textiles, African Diasporic dance, and fellow artists like Betye Saar, Raymond Saunders, and David Ireland. Howard’s studio became a space for experimentation, where her work has referenced both personal history and collective, generational experiences—from World War I and rapper Tupac Shakur to her family’s own roots in the Great Migration. Similarly, Howard’s monumental public artworks—found across the Bay Area—have highlighted often overlooked histories, from the Black shipworkers of Hunters Point to the musicians who defined San Francisco jazz.

Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory invites visitors into Howard’s vibrant, poetic world—to reflect on how personal memory and collective history intertwine, and to connect their own lived experiences to the broader stories that define us

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Founded in 1969 as the “museum of the people,” the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) tells the diverse stories of California’s art, history, and natural environment. 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. During SF Art Week 2026, visitors can explore OMCA’s expansive permanent Galleries of California Art, History, and Natural Science, while also visiting two special exhibitions: Good Fire: Tending Native Lands and Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain.

Good Fire: Tending Native Lands explores how Native communities in Northern California have used controlled fire—also called “good fire” or “cultural burning”—to care for the land and sustain traditions for millennia. Organized in collaboration with Native Northern California fire practitioners, artists, ecologists, and cultural leaders, this immersive exhibition reframes fire as not solely a destructive force, but as an essential tool for supporting healthy ecosystems and vibrant communities. Explore fire-dependent plants, regalia, basketry, videos of cultural burns, and artworks that help us understand how “good fire” benefits all life—humans, animals, and plants alike.

Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain navigates the braided histories of displacement, resistance, and resilience within Black American communities in the East Bay. Drawing inspiration from the legacies of West Oakland and Russell City, the exhibition pulls from both OMCA’s permanent collection and loans from local repositories to trace the rise of these communities and their subsequent displacement. Three site-specific installations—by artist Adrian Burrell, architect June Grant, and the Archive of Urban Futures and Moms 4 Housing—respond to these histories and reflect the ongoing struggle and success in reclaiming self-determined Black spaces.

Images:

Mildred Howard, Untitled, 1979, Xerox collage. Courtesy of Parrasch Heijnen, Los Angeles

Mildred Howard, Black Has Always Been a Color, 2024, Glass bottles, wood, glue, high heels. Photo by Chris Grunder. Courtesy of Anglim/Trimble, San Francisco