Standing on the Verge: an exhibition of the work of Howard Priestley

This exhibition of visual art will be located in the CultureDale Hub throughout July, and open for viewing on the following days and times:

• Tuesday 4th August 10am-4pm
• Wednesday 5th August 12pm-3pm
• Friday 7th August 10am-4pm
• Tuesday 11th August 10am-4pm
• Wednesday 12th August 12pm-4pm
• Tuesday 18th August 10am-4pm
• Wednesday 19th August 12pm-4pm
• Thursday 20th August 10am-4pm

Howard Priestley – an introduction

When I was 5 years old I was scared of the dark and had to sleep with a light on.

I attended St Augustine’s Primary School and by the time I was 8 I had started to collect Horror magazines on the way to school and wanted to sleep in a coffin.

Other kids were reading The Eagle and building model aeroplanes, I was reading ‘Creepy’ magazine which got me hooked on short stories with a twist at the end. “He’ll grow out of it” was said, at the age of 70 I’m still growing out of it.

From St Augustine’s I went to, what was then called the Halifax Technical High School, later the Highlands Grammar and now North Halifax and from the age of 14 I started to immerse myself in African-American history, fuelled by the music I was beginning to love.

In 1974 started my Foundation Art course at Percival Whitley College and in December of that year I had my first comic work published in the fanzine, ‘Comics Unlimited’. The following year I created the prototype of ‘Shock Therapy’ as a single, hand-drawn comic.

Having left Halifax in 1976 I studied for a Fine Art Degree in Stourbridge and by 1978 I found my own style, influenced partly by the comics. When I was completing my Degree, I wrote my thesis on Soul music masters Holland Dozier Holland which wasn’t greeted favorably.  

In 1979 I was about to return home to Halifax to co-produce the town’s first comic. ’Shock Therapy’ lasted for 3issues but in 1985 Harrier Comics in Worcester agreed to publish 6 issues of all new material. I gave first comic work to artists such as Andy Lanning, who would later work on Batman and my old Foundation Art colleague Stephen Baskerville who would also work for DC and Marvel Comics. ‘Shock Therapy’ was later credited in the book, ‘Nasty Tales – A History Of The British Underground Comic Scene’.

I then created the comic strip ‘Dog Tales’ for The New Funk Times in 1989 which led to CD art for Bootsy Collins, Mutiny, Mallia Franklin, George Clinton and Ruth Copeland as well as writing sleeve notes for several CD compilations. I helped to develop community radio in Calderdale, Phoenix FM and hosts the Soul City Show. As a writer I have contributed to magazines such as Blues &Soul, Soul Express and MOJO magazine as well as writing a regular column on Funk for the fanzine Soul Up North.

New Haven Published my first book, ‘Love Factory’ and in January, 2023 I suffered from hypothermia and a brain hemorrhage after a fall that left me unconscious.

During my recovery my second book “Art & Soul” was published and “Love Factory: won a 2022 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research. Towards the end of the year, I also received a Community Foundation For Calderdale Lifetime Achievement Award for all the local work I had been involved in.

My next venture was a graphic novel called “Soul Man” and most recently a children’s book, ‘RAY’ has been published in 2026.