Shirley Howe studied art at Sarah Lawrence College and Silvermine Art School.  She has shown at the Mixed media Gallery in Block Island, the Rowayton Art Center, the Paris-New York-Kent Gallery, and the Bachelier Cardonsky Gallery in Kent, CT.  Her paintings are in private collections in 11 states from New England to California. (continued below image)

Over the Bluffs, oil on board, 19 1/2" x 21 1/2" $700.00

Although Shirley has concentrated on her own painting only since retirement in 2000, she has been involved with aspects of the creative process for most of her adult life.  She served as a docent at the Aldrich Museum in Ridgefield, CT, and helped develop a high school art appreciation program for use throughout Fairfield County.  A guest lecturer at the Institute for Visual Artists at Silvermine Art School, she also volunteered as an art appreciation teacher in the Wilton,CT elementary schools.
While raising 5 children, she went back to school to get her Master’s Degree in Art Therapy, following which she had a 20 year career at a family service agency working with children and their families.  Through her work there, she gained a new appreciation for the healing power of the creative process by helping clients use art as an aid to overcoming trauma and emotional turmoil.

“For me, painting is more about process than product – the exploration of form and color, new ways of seeing and self-expression.  I love the out of doors, so am naturally drawn to landscape painting; some of my happiest hours have been spent bicycling around Block Island, walking the Greenway, or just watching the ever changing patterns of light.  My paintings are less concerned with literal interpretation of place, but an attempt to capture the many moods of sea and sky, and their visual impact on the human spirit.  I think painting is an act of joy, a way of celebrating the beauty and drama of nature.  If any of my paintings strike a similar chord in another person, I feel rewarded and grateful.”