Central College welcomes the works of Howard Paine to the Mills Gallery on display now through Friday, Feb. 24. Paine’s exhibit is titled “Into the Fading,” with pieces demonstrating woodcut, lithograph and digital prints.
A reception for the artist will be at 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, in Mills Gallery, Lubbers Center on Central’s campus. The gallery is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Thematically, Paine’s work is concerned with ideas of death, memory and transformation over time and has been shared with both national and international audiences. He explains how each print in this exhibition is ongoing. They do not have a beginning or an end but, instead, tell a story of the events he has experienced in his life.
The digital prints and some of the lithographs are inspired by a trip Paine took to Beihai, China, in May 2019. Other lithographs are inspired by his experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. His reduction woodcuts consider ideas of mortality, memory and the physical body that is left at the end of life.
Paine’s prints are influenced by his life events and the deeper meaning behind life itself. Recently, he has been spending his time creating these prints to share with us.
He shares of the process, “I tend to work in series and work on several projects simultaneously. I examine and investigate ideas repeatedly across many works and years. Some series cross pollinate and lead in new directions.”
Paine is an associate professor at University of Nebraska Omaha and head of the printmaking area where he has been creating and teaching since 2016. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in art and American studies from Grinnell College and a Master of Fine Arts degree in printmaking from Washington University School of Art, St. Louis, Missouri. Paine has been integrating digital imaging and traditional printmaking processes for 25 years.