Brianna Howard (b. 2000) is a painter whose work explores surface as a site of tension, mediation, and instability. Her recent work incorporates materials like window mesh to fragment gesture and introduce resistance into the act of mark-making, allowing the surface to behave more like a ground than a window.
Rooted in a conceptual approach to abstraction, Howard’s practice draws from ideas of formlessness, refusal, and translation. Her paintings often emerge slowly, layering time and material into terrains that invite attunement rather than quick resolution.
Howard’s artwork has been shown in exhibitions in the U.S., including Abigail Ogilvy Gallery and Gallery 263 in Boston. She has attended residences at the Anderson Ranch Center, New York Academy of Art, and New York Studio School. She holds a BFA in Painting and Printmaking from Boston University (2022) and is currently based in Philadelphia.
Click below to download my CV
EDUCATION
2018-2022 BFA in Painting and Printmaking, Boston University
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 Moving Ground, Gallery 5, Boston University, Boston,Massachusetts.
BFA Thesis Satellite Show – Painting, Commonwealth Gallery, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
2020 Memoir, Arts Initiative at Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Post-Baccalaureate Exhibition, Kniznick Gallery, Waltham, Massachusetts.
Members Prize Show, Kathryn Schultz Gallery, Cambridge Art Association, Boston, Massachusetts.
Level Up, Canal Gallery, Cambridge Art Association, Boston, Massachusetts.
2023
Recent Alumni Exhibition, Gallery 808, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Fresh Faces, Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
Post-Baccalaureate Pop-Up, Kniznick Gallery, Waltham, Massachusetts.
2022
Connecting Lines (BFA Thesis Show), Stone Gallery, Boston University,Boston, Massachusetts.
Student Exhibition, Sloane House (President’s Residence, Boston University), Boston, Massachusetts.
Bazaar, Boston University Build Lab, Boston, Massachusetts.
2021
Materiality and Play, Gallery 5, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Student Exhibition, Sloane House (President’s Residence, Boston University), Boston, Massachusetts.
Elements, Milcon Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts.
Silber Way Exhibition, Office of the President, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Hallway Gallery, Boston University Print Department, Boston, Massachusetts.
2020
Touchy Feely, Gallery 263, Boston, Massachusetts.
Virtual Showcase, Florida Museum of Natural History,Santa Fe, Florida. Santa Fe, Florida.
Student Showcase, Gallery 5, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Student Exhibition, Sloane House (President’s Residence, Boston University), Boston, Massachusetts.
2019
Showcase, I.M.P.A.C.T. Film and Art Festival, Boston,Massachusetts.
Distortions, Gallery 5, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
Silber Way Exhibition, Office of the President, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Accepted Student Showcase, Boston University School of Visual Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.
Exhibition, Undergraduate Architecture Association at Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Open House, Boston University Marine Science Open House, Boston, Massachusetts.
2018
Art Exhibition, Northeast Florida Scholastic Art Exhibition, Jacksonville, FL
GRANTS, AWARDS, AND RESIDENCIES
2022
The Boston Printmakers, The Boston Printmakers Anniversary Book Award, Boston, Massachusetts.
2021
Anderson Ranch Center, Scholarship Recipient for Summer Workshop, Snowmass Village, Colorado.
New York Academy of Art, Summer Undergraduate Residency, New York, New York.
2020
Grand Central Atelier, Scholarship Recipient for Summer Programs, New York, New York.
Anderson Ranch Center, Scholarship Recipient for Summer Programs, Snowmass Village, Colorado.
2019
New York Studio School, Scholarship Recipient for Summer Marathons, New York, New York.
2018
Boston University, Merit Scholarship Recipient for School of Visual Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.
Northeast Florida Scholastic Art Association, Gold Key Recipient, Jacksonville, Florida.
REVIEWS
2024
Mister Magazine, Mister Magazine
2020
Collision Literary Magazine, University of Pittsburgh
2019
Aisthesis, University of Minnesota Duluth
Artist Spotlight, ArtStartArt
COLLECTIONS
Boston University Print Department
COMMUNITY PROJECTS
2022
Group portfolio as part of Art of the Multiple course at Boston University.
2019
Kopanang print exchange as part of Introduction to Printmaking course at Boston University.