William (Bill) Howden

Military Service

Branch: Navy
Dates: From to

As a youth growing up in Albuquerque, I became fascinated with Mimbres inside-the-pot art found at ruins in southwest New Mexico. My father showed me one of those pots. “Impossible,” I thought. How could anyone paint such a perfect picture inside a pot a thousand years ago? And the design…not a bird and yet a bird, abstracted from life into spirit. Seventy-five years later a flock of Mimbres bowls returned to me like angels holding mirrors. “We are you. You are we.” So now I’m teaching myself how to paint them. No. They are teaching me, even though I can only adapt their images―curved onto flat, black on white into colors, details changed or restored, size multiplied, their wisdom to my ignorance…yet still powerful, worthy of respect and awe. And worthy of wider access beyond private collectors’ mantles, museum basements, and photos by archaeologists.

So my paintings/recuerdos are adaptations. They are an “Olè,” a whispered “Thank you,” and a handshake, artist to artist. The Mimbres speak to me today. Although I cannot understand their original intentions, I dare not ignore their skill, their celebration of life, and their awareness of the sacred mystery of it all.

I’m a Navy veteran. Served between Korea and Vietnam aboard ship in the Pacific Fleet. Deep Sea Diving Officer by training.