Most days, Matthew Howard is the welcoming face visitors encounter at the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas (ASC), but he has a dark side that's on display at the Donald W. Reynolds Community Services Center.
The displays are restricted to Pine Bluff Art League (PBAL) members and will fill the Reynolds Center's hallways for an indeterminate period of time.
Four pieces by Howard, ASC's visitor relations coordinator, have garnered the attention of other PBAL members and visitors.
Freelance writer Richard Ledbetter described Howard's pieces as "haunting, ethereal and provocative," while visitor Terri Roberts said she felt like she "stepped from the real world into a fantasy novel."
"Matthew's work comes from depths of originality and imagination that most artists never even tap into," said Crystal Jennings, PBAL digital media specialist. "It's as if the brains of J.R.R. Tolkien and Stephen King were mixed together and thrown onto paper in the form of incredible artwork."
Howard grew up in Conway and expressed an interest in art starting around the fourth grade.
"There was a book in (the) Margaret Van Elementary School library that started me down the path of copying simple shapes," Howard said.
His passion continued, even growing while at Carl Stuart Middle School, but all the while he was creating fictitious characters fed by games like "Total Annihilation: Kingdoms."
He even got excited about inviting other people's fictitious characters as his imaginary friends, Howard said.
Books like "Harry Potter And the Sorcerer's Stone" and "Eragon," part of the "Inheritance Cycle" series were equally influential.
"Eragon sat on my shelf for a good while before I picked it up," he said. "When I did though, I got lost in another world."
Howard's job at ASC affords him the opportunity to discuss art with visitors, and his college art critique classes elevate the observations he provides.
But the small staff's job lines frequently blur at ASC, and Howard is often asked to hang or take down art pieces and work directly with artists.
"Moving to Pine Bluff for the position also afforded me a proper motivator to stay on my art," he said.
The Art League is also a motivation for him.
WORLDS COLLIDE
While taking a creative writing class at Conway High School, "my art slowly meshed with my writing," Howard said.
The digital age fused with his own art, and he found a forum that used text as its vehicle for his work.
"For several years, I used my characters in this creative outlet and feel that it strengthened my writing the most," Howard said.
He continued writing and doing art while at the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton and later at the University of Central Arkansas at Conway.
It was tough, and the professors were demanding.
"They rightly gave a harsh critique, told me to better my art, and so I proved to them and myself that I could produce the caliber of art that they were seeking from me," Howard said.
He forged on and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art degree with a minor in programming.
HBO's "Game of Thrones" helped Howard realize how to manipulate multilayered plots and reach a conclusion.
While attending UCA, he started a book.
"I slowly began writing my first novel, creating characters and making new worlds. ... Each of them got too complex and too unique for me to focus on," Howard said.
Howard's story was in its infancy at that point, but by sheer will and discipline, he said, "I connected the plots to form a unified whole."
Although his art is notable, he continues to write, working on a book that fits into the fantasy/science fiction genre.