John Miller Howard (1908-1980), an acclaimed artist and educator, established the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff's art department and settled in Arkansas for the last four decades of his life. Those Howard mentored have gone on to have enormous impacts in the arts community throughout the state, spreading his passion and vision of the arts as an inclusive community.

Throughout his career, John Howard boldly experimented with a variety of materials, methods, subjects, and styles, leaving behind a large and unique body of work. An Arkansas Master features a selection of Howard's paintings from UAPB's John Howard Legacy Collection and the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas' permanent collection.