An organized and systematic approach to a creative workflow is the underline basis for acquiring design success. As a nontraditional student, I have had the opportunity to gain valuable experience belonging to organizations that have developed and acquired proven systematic business models. These models were necessary for the overall success in establishing efficient training systems, maintaining quality control, product and service production, employee and customer satisfaction. The United States Armed Forces is where I first gained invaluable experience within a systematic organization. I knew there were experiences that could be gained outside of the small southern town where I was raised. This led me to join the United States Army which also provided me with the needed financial support via the military's college fund program and allowed me to pursue my educational aspirations. I have acquired a resilient mental stamina from the military's systematic step-by-step approach to problem solving. I attribute my successes I have achieved in my career and in graduate school because of this approach. This systematic approach also enabled me to successfully manage a small business for ten years. The attention to detail, discipline, alertness, etc. are other main components acquired from the military and career experiences that has allowed me to demonstrate fortitude in my collegiate studies. My master studies in 3D Design with emphasis in Product Design has required substantial research in the uses of computer modeling software, prototyping technologies and design principles. I have continued incorporating the systematic approaches into my research to achieve an efficient workflow for developing products by properly utilizing the technologies and methods necessary to achieve design success.

Cultivating the Perceived explores feelings of unrest in an Iowan landscape through automatic writing and variations on landscape painting.

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My thesis is a description of forms that appear in my paintings and drawings.

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My work is an investigation of the discursive practices effecting queer subjectivity. With a focus on the historical, cultural and psychological I am re-imagining what it means to relate in the world as a gay subject. Research and material experimentation inform the creation of metaphorical objects, images, spaces and performed actions that engage the whole of a viewer in order to disrupt, deconstruct and recreate ideas of queerness and question hegemonic hetero-normativity. The pedagogical traditions of ancient Greece, the history of gay liberation movements, AIDS and the radical resistance of ACT UP, as well as contemporary socio/political queer issues, Freudian and Lacanian psychological traditions, queer theory and political activism all have a place in my practice.

The work I've created seeks to crystallize moments of uncertainty, misgivings and insecurities I frequently experience.

The need to separate living quarters, increase privacy and compartmentalize one's surroundings is a major characteristic of human nature. Walls and permanent architectural structures serve this purpose well, but lack flexibility. Office cubicles offer some flexibility thanks to their relative ease of assembly and grid-like layout, but they rarely address aesthetics. My research explores the flexibility of a unique surface that serves as a free-standing wall or partition. Relying on the purest of geometric shapes -circles, arcs and right angle polygons- I've composed a series of panels cut from a flat sheet of raw material that, when assembled, have a spring-like flexibility that can be extended, flattened, stacked and curved to create an upright surface that is vertically rigid. This research utilizes advanced design tools ranging from 3D computer modeling software to rapid prototyped miniature models to laser CNC machine fabrication. Along with the high technology used to create and test these units, a vast library of sustainable materials was referenced and appended in order to assure the cleanest and most sustainable avenues of production. And to further increase the sustainability of this design concept, I was able to configure the panel shapes to nest perfectly together reducing nearly all wasted cutting material.

Art making is silly. This is why it should not be taken so seriously. When topics are addressed with too much seriousness they become stagnant and rigid. This thesis addresses topics I find crucial to the process of making Art. I use popular culture references because of their communicable potential. Nothing is argued in the duration of this work. On the contrary, thoughts are shared in hopes to inspire the reader to question what type of journey and practice they involve themselves.

As people living in 2017, what, if anything, have we come to know about art as a whole? What can we say about the artistic impulse? What is art for, and what does it stand to show us about ourselves today? In this paper, I try to address these questions, from the standpoint of both an artist and a human being. Examining art as ancient as the prehistoric cave paintings, as well as art of the present day, I discuss certain ontological traits that art-making has both lost and maintained over the years. Through Heidegger’s philosophy of Being, Tillich’s theology of New Being, and Stephen King’s depictions of the uncanny, I explore the idea that all creative acts ultimately point us back to our own mortality and finitude.