Howard Gardener with 'Everything Not Forbidden is Compulsory;

Howard Gardener is a locally based artist who uses technical pens to create elaborate monochrome ink drawings. These are then coloured with acrylic washes, a technique that sprang from an interest in hand-tinted photographs. He also works in ceramics, stained glass and other three-dimensional forms.

He has previously exhibited in London, Liverpool, Newcastle and Manchester. Howard’s last solo exhibition at Castle Park was in 2015 and in 2017 he was the overall winner of the Frodsham Open Exhibition with his sculpture Asthma. 

“Rather than pursue the more traditional forms of landscape, portraiture and still life, I have always preferred the more uncertain ground of my imagination: things that have never occurred and never will. That said, most of my drawings do have their roots in portraiture. To me, nothing is quite so interesting as people and their motives – my own included – which make things happen.

In 2016, I published Small Lives, a book of forty portraits with ‘talking head’ texts, based on the observation of real or imagined people over a period of about two years. I could often complete one of these portraits in a day, allowing me to fit them in among my larger drawings, which can often take me up to a couple of months to finish.”

As well as some of these large and more recent drawings, this latest show will include illustrations from two books: More Small Lives (a follow-up to the original Small Lives) and Witch’s Hat, a novel.

latest show will include illustrations from two books: More Small Lives (a follow-up to the original Small Lives) and Witch’s Hat, a novel.

 Meet the artist open evening Friday 12 January 2024 7-9 pm  everyone welcome