Constance Howard (1) (1910–2000)

Constance Howard was born in Abington, Northamptonshire, England to the family of a penniless schoolteacher. From the age of 10, she began taking weekly evening classes at the Northampton School of Art and won a scholarship that allowed her to attend full-time when she turned 14. In 1931, she enrolled at the Royal College of Art in London, from which she graduated in 1935. She began teaching at the Cardiff School of Art, where she established a course in dress design. During World War II, she taught at the Kingston School of Art, where she and her students embroidered maps for the Royal Air Force (RAF). In 1945, Constance married sculptor Harold Wilson Parker and gave up teaching, but began exhibiting with the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. She returned to teaching part-time in 1947 as a tutor of embroidery classes at Goldsmith's, University of London. In 1951, she designed a large textile hanging called The Country Wife for the Festival of Britain exhibition. Among those who worked on the project was the young Mary Quant. In 1953, Goldsmith's established a separate
Department of Embroidery and Constance was named its head five years later. By 1964, embroidery and textile design had become a main subject area for the diploma in art and design at the college. As well as traditional embroidery skills, Constance encouraged the use of new techniques and unconventional materials, including some of her own design. Besides teaching, she went on lecture tours to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA. After her retirement in 1975, she continued to exhibit and give guest lectures, and wrote several books on the textile arts, notably her monumental Twentieth-Century Embroidery in Great Britain which was published in four volumes (1981- 1986). She was awarded the MBE in 1975.