In 2024, Mildred Howard launched Collaborating With the Muses Part One, an ambitious, multi‑venue project that highlighted the breadth of her multidisciplinary practice and the many creative forces that shape it. Spanning three Bay Area spaces—Anglim/Trimble, 500 Capp Street, and pt.2 Gallery—the exhibitions explored the interplay between visual art, music, memory, and community, all central themes in Howard’s work for more than five decades.

At Anglim/Trimble, Howard presented The Time and Space of Now: Moving Stills, a series of large‑scale photographic prints created with Magnolia Editions. The images were drawn from 8mm films she shot as a teenager during a trip to visit relatives in the American South, rediscovered years later in her late mother’s handbag. Printed on fragments of wallpaper and accompanied by a toy train circling place names tied to her family’s history, the installation traced a journey through memory, migration, and belonging.

At 500 Capp Street, Howard screened her 2021 film The Time and Space of Now alongside elements of the large‑scale installation that accompanied its premiere. Shown within the former home of conceptual artist David Ireland—Howard’s graduate advisor—the work entered into a quiet dialogue with the house’s existing interventions, blurring the boundaries between artwork, environment, and influence.

The project continued at pt.2 Gallery with a new installation inspired by Bill Evans’s composition Peace Piece, one of Howard’s longtime musical touchstones. The exhibition featured live performances by renowned Bay Area jazz musicians and included Howard’s own sculptural works alongside pieces by artists who have shaped her creative community. Together, the works emphasized the role of music, mentorship, and artistic exchange as essential sources of inspiration.

Across all three venues, A Conversation with the Muse illuminated the many voices—personal, historical, and communal—that inform Howard’s practice, offering a multifaceted portrait of an artist in continual dialogue with the world around her.