Howard Church

Church was born in 1904 in Nebraska. He received his BFA from Art Institute of Chicago, then received his Masters and PhD from Ohio State University - His 1939 dissertation was on "Portrait Painting in a University Curriculum."

Church directed and taught in the Morgan Park School of Art in Chicago 1934-36, instructed painting and drawing at Vanderpool Art Gallery in Chicago 1936-38, then directed the Mulvane Art Museum and headed the Washburn University Department of Art from 1940-1945.

He joined the staff at Michigan State College (now Michigan State University) in 1945 as chair of the Art Department and remained in that role until 1960, retiring from the university in 1971. While at Michigan State University, he was the coordinator for the planning of the new Kresge Art Center which opened in 1959. His works remain in the permanent collections of the Detroit Institute of the Arts, The Broad Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Nebraska.