Bill Howell (graphic designer) facts for kids
William "Bill" Lowell Howell (born September 12, 1942 – died July 25, 1975) was a talented artist who worked as a graphic designer, painter, illustrator, set designer, and photographer. He was an important early member of the Weusi Artist Collective, a group of artists who helped start the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s. Bill Howell was also the art director for The New Lafayette Theatre in New York and its magazine, Black Theater. In 1967, he helped create the Pamoja Studio Gallery in New York.
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Early Life and Learning
Bill Howell was born on September 12, 1942, in Jefferson City, Tennessee. When he was in high school, his family moved to Wilmington, Delaware. He studied at the Philadelphia College of Art (which is now called the University of the Arts) from 1960 to 1962.
Art Career
In 1961, Bill Howell got his first job in graphics at Lyons Advertising Studio in Wilmington. He was a commercial artist, which means he created art for businesses. He also worked as an art director at the J.M. Fields Co. Inc. department store.
Around 1965 or 1966, Howell moved to New York. He and fellow artists Ademola Olugebefola and Abdullah Aziz started a group called Arts Seven. They later moved to Harlem and joined another group called Twentieth Century Creators. This group organized the first Harlem Outdoor Art Festival.
Weusi Artist Collective
In 1965, several artists formed the Weusi group. "Weusi" means "black" in Swahili. This group believed in creating "Black art for Black people" and supported the idea of Black power. They wanted to focus on their own Black culture and African heritage. At that time, very few museums showed art by Black artists. Bill Howell was one of the first members of Weusi.
The Weusi artists often made black and white prints that were easy to share and sell. Howell showed his art in Weusi's community shows and at their own gallery, the Weusi Nyumba Ya Sanaa Art Gallery. In 1970, he was part of their "Resurrection" exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem. This was the group's first show at a major museum.
Pamoja Studio Gallery
In 1967, Howell started the Pamoja Studio Gallery with Bob Davis and Ollie Johnson. The gallery was in Greenwich Village in New York. Jet magazine even mentioned them as "soul" owners! Ademola Olugebefola, one of the Weusi founders, said Pamoja was like Weusi's "downtown branch." Weusi had opened its own gallery in Harlem that same year.
Howell designed the poster for Pamoja, which showed the face of a Black woman with a large afro hairstyle.
Graphic Design Work
Bill Howell's work as a painter and graphic designer was very connected. As the art director for The New Lafayette Theatre, he designed programs, posters, and even the stage sets. His drawings were also featured in Black Theater magazine. He created posters and catalogs for many of the art shows he was in.
He also worked at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. There, he directed "Mind's Eye," a children's art program that traveled around with a mobile unit and exhibition.
Ademola Olugebefola, one of the Weusi founders, called Howell a "brilliant graphic designer." He said Howell helped create "some of the most phenomenal posters." Howell designed posters for many plays, including To Raise the Dead and to Foretell the Future and Goin’ a Buffalo.
In the 1960s, there were only a few Black graphic designers in the country. PRINT magazine wrote an article about this, and Howell was quoted a lot. He said he got his first graphics job with help from the NAACP. This was an apprentice job, which means he learned about advertising design and got to see how the industry worked. The article also mentioned that Howell and other Black designers started to focus on their ethnic heritage in their art.
Solo and Group Art Shows
Bill Howell was a painter, illustrator, set designer, and photographer. He showed his art in many places in New York and other cities on the East Coast. In 1968, while living in New York, he went back to Wilmington to hold an art show to raise money for young people. He returned in 1973 for a solo show at the Gallery at Centerville.
In October 1969, he was part of the "New Black Artists" exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. A month later, the show moved to Columbia University, and Howell designed the poster for that show. In 1970, Howell was part of a big exhibit of Black artists called "Afro-American Artists New York and Boston" at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Howell was also one of the artists featured in a 1970 exhibit of graphics and films by Black men and women at the Studio Museum in Harlem in New York. The people who organized the show wanted to highlight the creativity of African Americans in advertising and publishing.
In 1971, he was one of 60 artists from across the country in an exhibit sponsored by Illinois Bell in Chicago. This exhibit traveled to seven cities in Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa.
Also in 1971, he was one of the "prominent" artists whose works were shown at the National Center of Afro-American Artists in Boston. This exhibit was called "TCB," which means "taking care of business." A reviewer for the Boston Globe said Howell's art, along with that of seven other Black artists, was "raging." It showed "how it feels to be black in the US today." The reviewer noted that the artists were around 30 years old and their art showed social protest.
In March 1975, he participated in the "Spirits of Forgotten Ancestors" exhibit at the Walnut Street Theatre. This show featured five modern artists who were inspired by Africa. Howell contributed four paintings from his "Nuba" series, which were inspired by Africa's Nuba people. The Philadelphia Museum of Art sponsored this exhibit. Howell designed the poster and program for the show.
Howell also showed his photography skills in a 1972 show called "The Expanded Photograph." He designed the catalog and poster for this exhibit, which was sponsored by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Civic Center Museum. He also created posters for the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Inner-City Cultural Arts Festival in 1974.
He was one of five artists in an exhibit called "Five Phases" at the Delaware Art Museum in 1972. This show highlighted artists from Philadelphia. It had previously been shown at the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Ile-Ife Museum of Afro-American Life and Culture in Philadelphia.
Because Weusi wanted to bring art to the community, Howell also participated in showings and sales at private homes. This included a garden party in 1975 and another event in a private home in Brooklyn's Bedford Stuyvesant in 1972. A newspaper article from 1970 mentioned that he had received an award a year earlier at the Brooklyn Museum’s Fence Art Show. In this unique show, artwork was displayed on a fence around the parking lot!
Howell designed the program for a Weusi exhibit at the Opportunities Industrialization Center offices in New York in 1971.
Collections
Some of Bill Howell’s personal papers, catalogs, photographs, and other materials are kept in the collection at Emory University’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library in Atlanta. His art is also found in many private collections.
Exhibitions
- Countee Cullen Branch of the New York Public Library, 1967
- Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1969
- Columbia University, 1969
- Visual Arts Gallery, New York, 1970
- School of Visual Arts, 1970
- The Gallery at Centerville, Wilmington DE, 1973
- Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1970
- Rhode Island School of Design, 1970
- Nyumba Ya Sanaa Gallery, 1971-1972, 1974
- Opportunities Industrialization Centers, NY, 1971
- Studio Museum in Harlem, 1971
- Illinois Bell, Chicago, 1971
- Ile-Ife Museum of Afro-American Life and Culture, 1972
- Delaware Art Museum, 1972
- Philadelphia Civic Center Museum, 1972
- Cinque Gallery, NY, 1974, 1976
- Walnut Street Theatre, 1975
- Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1975
Death
Bill Howell passed away from diabetes in 1975 in New York. He was 32 years old. He was divorced and had two children. In December of that year, he received an award after his death from Benin Enterprises during their Fourth Annual International Awards Presentation.
