Howard Silverman

Initially, it was about drawing, a fascination with line - as both container and content, as a rhythmic weaving of space, trailing a history of impulses and observations. Three-dimensional configurations, on canvas and paper, led to actual three-dimensional structures. In the beginning I made "chains" or "pathways" from corrugated paper. Sometimes painted, and sometimes in dialogue with paintings on canvas, these "chains" created short fragmented rhythms or episodes, or, conversely, longer trails, ranging through several passages, movements or chapters: often encompassing entire rooms. At other times they filled a dense vibrating patch, like an arena of swarming insects. For a while they were primarily floor-based structures, some which flooded across space like water or sprang like a coil. In other pieces the components were bulkier: pitched into a pile like discarded notepaper or boulders tumbling onto a shore or liberated from a quarry. Sometimes they were strewn amongst fragments, which appeared to have been shaped by machines or weather. Hopefully, they had a bulk and weight, which contrasted with what we assume to be the qualities of paper. Their surfaces mapped with seams, some peeling away like petals from a bud: incubating pods hinting at their core. For The Lowry, in Salford, I created an installation, which combined a river of corrugation with some of these bulkier structures: buoyed by, buried or rooted within its currents. Though realised as installations, sculpture, landscape, digital images, journeys, etc., essentially these pieces are 'drawings': components are reused spontaneously, each new space a blank sheet of paper. Corrugated paper intrigues me, because of the contrast between its flexibility and resistance, fragility and strength (both actual and illusory). I like the simplicity and the directness of the technology needed to manipulate it. I also value the texture, colour and tonality I find. Moving on, I started to build light-based structures: initially, single threads pulsing from within fibrous cocoons, mostly steel wool. One of these cocoons, not internally lit, evolved as the 'bob' for a 'plumb line', floating within an atrium above the Thames and Charring Cross Station. The traditional bob is shaped like a cone, its tip pointing towards some immutable truth - the point of contact verifying the 'true' vertical axis. The 'bob' I have constructed is not so specific, there are more possibilities, its surface is a 'drawing' of steel wool, its tip is coarse and less precise, there is certain flexibility to its boundaries, the journey is not straight down the line but a detour around an asteroid or comet on its way to make contact. It contrasts with the polished precision and intent of the materials around it and at the same time its 'edge' sets them in dialogue. Suspended at the end of its cable it will not land but is not frozen: time, light, vantage point and the imperceptible? shifts within and of the building should see to that. The following series started as a 'drawing' in steel wool mapped with clothes pegs. I originally used pegs to hold various materials while gluing them in place and became fascinated by the journey they trailed, like flags or map pins - an itinerary of the form. Shaped like upside down question marks, mirroring the hook from which they are suspended ('hooks' being what questions are), each evolved a new terrain of references, cultural and personal - usually dressed with humour, and, of course, hopefully, always 'begging the question'. Images and text for more current and evolving projects can be supplied, including: “Prometheus” “The Devil You Know” “Armoured Piñata” TEACHING PHILOSOPHY My basic concern is to encourage risk taking in a supportive environment: often group projects, with particular emphasis on the exchange of ideas. I have designed, taught, and assessed, a broad range of modules, concerned with developing processes for self-evaluation: structures for monitoring and exploration. In my capacity as Personal Tutor I have supervised students in the final year of their degree. I have worked with people of all ages and abilities: children at nursery, 'Mature Students' on BA programmes, Postgraduates, both children and adults with complex needs and learning disabilities, and students with little or no English. I enjoy the communication and exchange of ideas. There is much satisfaction in helping people develop confidence, find direction, and gain independence. Teaching feeds me; it keeps my mind active and helps me to develop my own studio-based work. BORN: New York City RESIDENT: United Kingdom EDUCATED: USA New York City: High School of Music and Art New York City: Art Students League Buffalo: New York State University College Ohio: Cleveland Institute of Art California: San Francisco Art Institute (Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree) 1969 Bristol: City of Bristol College, FAETC, 2003 FOUNDING MEMBER: Artspace Bristol Ltd, Artists Studios (Now Spike Island) 1974 Bristol Printmakers Workshop 1974 ELECTED FELLOW: Printmakers Council of Great Britain 1980 RECIPIENT: South West Arts Awards 1979, 1983 Grant, Bristol City Council 1984, 1989 Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant 2005 SPONSORSHIP: Provincial Insurance PLC 1984 Macaus Advertising (Bristol) Ltd. 1984 National Westminster Bank PLC 1989 McArthur Group Ltd. 1989 The City of Bordeaux, France 1989 The Bristol-Bordeaux Association 1989 GE Lighting 2001 FIRST PRIZE: Avon and Somerset Open, Festival Gallery, Bath 1984 (Jurors - William Scott, Derek Southall, Jeremy Fry and Valerie Lloyd) FIRST PRIZE: Brewhouse Open, Taunton 1985 HIGHLY COMMENDED: Brewhouse Open, Taunton 1987 APPOINTED: Teaching Fellow in Painting, Exeter College of Art and Design, Academic Year 1984 - 1985 RESIDENCIES: South West Arts, Artists in Schools 1985 Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton, Devon 2000 Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, Venice 2002 The Lowry, Salford 2006 The Holland Paper Biennial, CODA Museum Apeldoorn, the Netherlands 2008 ORGANISED: Artspace Building Fund Exhibition and Art Auctions, Gimpel Fils and Bonhams, London, Nov.1991 & Feb.1992 (Contributors - Richard Long, Sir Anthony Caro, Howard Hodgkin, Dame Elizabeth Frink, etc.) PUBLISHED: AN Magazine, Review of 'Analogue' Exhibition, June 1999 Museums Association Yearbooks, UK 2004. Solo representation on the front covers of both directories. FILM: “Drive In Movie”, 90 Second DV for UK Architecture Week 2005 http://www.dshed.net/90secondchallenge Click on 'Watch' Type in 'Silverman' Click on 'Find' Showing at 'After Urban' University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and touring 2007 TELEVISED; Subject of short television documentary, HTV UK, May 2004 Interview, Channel 'M' Manchester 23 May 2006 'Destination Art' Episode 2, BBC World 2006 RADIO; Interview, 'Front Row' BBC Radio 4, 24 May 2006 CURATOR: 'Artists First', Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Devon 2004 'Pulped', Thelma Hulbert Galley, Devon 2004 CD & DVD PRESENTATION: DCR Studios the Hague, the Netherlands 2006 GUEST SPEAKER AND AWARDS PRESENTER: Soundwell College, Bristol, Art and Design Exhibition, 1999 PART-TIME LECTURER: Somerset College of Arts & Technology (Fine Art) 1985 - 1988 Exeter College of Art & Design (Painting) 1989 UWE Faculty of Art, Media and Design, Bristol 1997 - 2000 VISITING LECTURES MODULES TAUGHT EDUCATION PROJECTS: College of St. Paul & St. Mary, Cheltenham 1985 Exeter College of Art & Design 1985 Brewhouse Art Centre, Taunton 1985 Gloucestershire College of Arts & Technology, Cheltenham 1986 Exeter College of Art & Design 1986 South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education, Cardiff 1988 Bath College of Higher Education 1989 Exeter College of Art & Design 1989 University of the West of England, Bristol 1992 Cardiff Institute of Higher Education 1994 Artists First, Bristol 1994 U.W.E, Bristol 1996 Weston College, Weston-Super-Mare 1996 U.W.E, Bristol 1997 Tutor, Self-Directed Studies, P-Time B.A., U.W.E. 1998-2000 Weston College, Weston-Super-Mare 1998 P.G.C.E., Faculty of Education, U.W.E. 1998 The Meriton, Education and Support for Young Parents, Bristol LEA 1998 Henbury Manor Special School, Bristol LEA 1998 PGCE, Bath Spa University College 1998 Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol 1998 Somerset College of Arts and Technology 1998 Soundwell College, Bristol, International Summer School, Japanese Students, 1999 Grimsbury Park Special School, Bristol LEA 2000 Soundwell College, GNVQ A& D, Bristol 2000 Foundation Art and Design, UWE, Bristol 2000, 2001, 2002 Bristol City Council, School Holiday Scheme, 2000 100 Languages of Children International Exhibition, Bristol 2000 The Meriton, Education and Support for Young Parents, Bristol LEA 2000 Briarwood Special School, Bristol LEA 2000 Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, Venice 2001 Prema Art Centre, Gloucester 2002 Bristol City Museum and Florence Brown Special School 2002 The Meriton, Education and Support for Young Parents, Bristol LEA 2002 Bromely Heath Junior School, South Gloucestershire LEA 2002 Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, Venice2002 In Service Staff Training, The Meriton, Education and Support for Young Parents, Bristol LEA 2003 OCN, South Gloucestershire & LSC Sept 2003 - July 2005 The Meriton, Education and Support for Young Parents, Bristol LEA 2005 The Meriton, Education and Support for Young Parents, Bristol LEA 2006 The Lowry, Workshops, Salford 2006 The Meriton, Education and Support for Young Parents, Bristol LEA 2008 The Meriton, Education and Support for Young Parents, Bristol LEA 2009 OPEN COMPETITIONS: Humberside Printmaking (touring) 1980, 1982 Second National Exhibition of Modern British Prints, Fylde Arts Association 1981 UK International Drawing Biennale, Cleveland (touring) 1981, 1983 Peekskill Area Arts Council Summer Show, NY, USA 1981 Bristol Open, Kings Street Gallery 1983 (Juror - Michael McNay, Critic for "The Guardian") British International Print Biennale, Bradford 1984 Avon & Somerset Open, Festival Gallery, Bath 1984 Brewhouse Open, Taunton 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987 Somerstown Gallery International Print Open, N.Y., USA 1986 (Jurors - Antonio Frasconi, Kathy Caraccio, Seong Moy) John Moores, Painting Biennale, Liverpool 1987 South West Open, Plymouth 1990, 1992 (touring) Watercolour C21, RWS, Bankside Gallery, London 1999 Featuring: Andy Goldsworthy, Anish Kapoor, Richard Long (Juror - Catherine Lampert, Director, Whitechapel Gallery) Cheltenham International Open Drawing Exhibition, (touring to Berlin) 1999/2000 (Jurors - Angela Flowers, Alexander Moffat, Brendan Neiland) Taunton Drawing Open 1999 "Eyepoppers", Gloucester 2001 RWA, First National Open Painting Exhibition, Bristol 2001 RWA, National Open Sculpture Triennial, Bristol 2007 The Holland Paper Biennial, CODA Museum Apeldoorn, the Netherlands 2008 “The Open West” International, University of Gloucestershire & City Museum, Cheltenham 2011 SOLO EXHIBITIONS: University of Bath 1982 University of Arkansas, USA 1984 181 Centre Gallery (Gallery of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham) 1984 Park Gallery, College of St Paul & St Mary, Cheltenham 1985 St David's Hall, Cardiff 1985 Bronx Museum of the Arts, N.Y.C. 1985 Brewhouse Art Centre, Taunton 1985 The Woodlands, Blackheath (Gallery of the London Borough of Greenwich) 1986 Artsite, Bath International Festival Gallery 1987 Chapter, Cardiff 1988 Galerie Ek'ymose, Bordeaux, France 1989 Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton, Devon 2000 Kingsgate Workshops Trust and Gallery, London 2001 Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, Venice 2002 Royal Society of British Sculptors, London 2003 The Lowry, Salford 2006 Price Waterhouse Coopers, Atrium installation, Solo, London, 2007 TWO PERSON EXHIBITION: With Seamus Staunton, School of Art and Design, UWIC, Cardiff 2005 COLLABORATION: 'Armoured Piñata', a Double Vision project, with Bernard Irwin, The Exchange, Penzance, September 2009 - January 2010 SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS: Arts Centre, Bristol 1979 Newlyn Orion Gallery, Penzance 1980 Spacex Gallery, Exeter, 1980 British & American Printmakers (Auspices of the University of Arkansas) touring USA & Canada 1982 University of Bristol 1982 Newcastle-upon-Tyne Polytechnic Art Gallery - 5th Anniversary Exhibition (by invitation) 1982 Air Gallery, London 1983 Michael Parkin Gallery, London 1983 Festival Gallery, Bath 1984 "Portraits", Spacex Gallery, Exeter Festival (touring) 1984 (Drawn predominantly from Arts Council GB & Victoria & Albert Museum Collections) New University of Ulster, Coleraine 1984 "Printmakers & Prints", Cirencester Workshop Gallery 1985 (representing etching) Fellowship Show, Spacex Gallery, Exeter 1985 "A Room of His/Her Own", Somerstown Gallery, N.Y., USA 1987 Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol 1989 University of Toulouse, France, "Four Painters", 1990 Impact Gallery, Albi, France, 1990 Gallery A.C.A.P., Barcelona, Spain, 1991 Ernst & Young, Bristol, 1991 Artspace Gallery, Bristol (three artists) 1992 Old Library Gallery, Cardiff, 1993 (Curator - Richard Cox, S.E.W.A.A.) "Art For Sale", Whitely's, London 1993 (Organised by the Guardian Newspaper) Michael Wright Fine Art, Bristol 1998, 1999 London Contemporary Art Fair 1999 (Represented by Anthony Hepworth Fine Art) The 20th Century British Art Fair, Royal College of Art, London 1999 (Represented by Michael Wright Fine Art) Alan Kluckow Fine Art, Sunningdale Berkshire 2000 Ernst and Young, Bristol 2001 "Table", Bristol 2001 “Pulped”, Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton, Devon 2004 “AN” Group Exhibition, Kaze Gallery, Tokyo 2005 VINEspace Gallery, Vyner Street, Bethnal Green, London 2006 Borderland, Collyer Bristow Gallery, London 2009 Mapping the Island, Ten Days on the Island Biennial (touring), Tasmania Australia 2009, 2010, 2011 “FAZEBUK im Weltraum”, Munich November 2011 WORK IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS: New York State University College Buffalo London Borough of Hounslow London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham Kingshill School, Cirencester New York City Central Public Library WORK IN PRIVATE COLLECTIONS: USA Switzerland Britain Canada France Including- Provincial Insurance plc Lewis Biggs - Director, Tate Gallery, Liverpool Anthony Benjamin - Artist, London Hilary Woolley - Director, City of Bristol Museums and Art Gallery Una McCarthy - Community Arts Officer, City of Bristol Richard Cox - Visual Arts Officer, South East Wales Arts Association Vivienne Summerill - Architect, Bath Stephen Webster - Director, Festival Gallery, Bath Nancy Stein - Art Consultant, New York City Niall Philips - Architect, Bristol Slug and Lettuce, Bath COMMISSION: City of Bristol College, School of Business, 2000 Pizza Express Wimbledon 2008 WORK LET TO: Gambit Finance, Bristol, Via Higher Art, 2000,2001