BIOGRAPHY: Mark Feuring … My grandfather worked for the Wabash Railroad in the Famous Barr building in downtown St. Louis after WWII through the 1960s. He would come into work dressed in a top hat and tie, only to spend an hour eating breakfast and reading the newspapers downtown. He would greet his boss, go to his locker, put on a brown jumpsuit, and head to the shop to repair office furniture and build frames for railroad office employees. He said, "On the 13th floor, they would open the windows and let the sawdust fly.
My grandfather's father was a house builder, and both worked for the highway department in the late 1920s for 10 cents an hour through a 10-hour day. My grandpa worked in a bullet factory in North St. Louis during WWII. My family heritage and culture have always driven an excellent working moral value of "make something every day, take time to put something together." Schemes of working education toward the building block agenda happen in every community. Self-recognition toward the arts and crafts builds with critiques and paradigms as a designer and should occur with project definitions.
I attend The "Passenger Club" meetings with R.R. retirees monthly at an Italian restaurant on The Hill in St. Louis, Missouri. The train and railroad history stories of engines and employees' agendas help attribute motivation. After college, while I was starting to pursue art and design vocations, my grandfather lived for six years and was my best mentor and teacher. My grandfather's boss liked him so much. He would say, "Cliff, when you build me that piece of furniture and picture frame for my house, build yourself one." When his boss moved to Virginia to run a railroad, he set my grandpa and his wife up in a domed car to ride through the mountains for a visit. He would have him to his new home on that trip to hang his pictures and set up the furniture transitions.
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My mom and dad worked for the Terminal Railroad in St. Louis Union Station. My mom did secretarial work and could look out her window and see the Gateway Arch built around 1963. My dad's first job at 17 was to run a printing press for the railroad. He later worked on the 3rd floor of Union Station at a drafting table plotting railroad lines "with elegant handwriting" for 17 years. He monitored the cotton-linen templates of the Eads Bridge, which spans the Mississippi River. Each stone has a scaled drawing in case of a need for replacement.
Later my dad was introduced to Auto Cad as a draftsman and replaced by computer tech. He soon joined the Railroad Security team and got more exercise. He knows every switch and rail and yard from drafting the railroad maps of the surrounding St. Louis area. He was in the Army Reserves between 1956 and 1963. When the Terminal Railroad moved out of Union Station, the décor fell apart. A favorite movie called "Escape from New York" was made in downtown St. Louis within the decrepitated Union Station building.
While in college, St. Louis was designing a Metro-Link rail system, and a team called my dad as a project mentor. As a result, my dad gave me a lot of advice about the structure and supported building design elements. For example, after a shopping mall filled the place, new plans for the old Union Station building were interior aquariums.
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Throughout school, I enjoyed art-making and would enter art fairs in grade school. In addition, I enjoyed working with colored construction paper. I took art and architecture classes very seriously during my last two years in high school. During my senior year in high school, I finished art class credits, a drafting course with mechanics and housing, and a graphic design class where we used emulsion plates and printing presses.
The first college I attended was the University of Missouri at Columbia, where I studied necessary art and design courses, including figure drawing and photography. My professional interests and accompanying methods include environmental and housing design. I learned perspective drawing darkroom techniques with film and made interior design boards and foam core housing studies in 3D. My first catch of virtual reality was my Sony Walkman. The foam earphones made the audience's sounds seem so real.
After living in the dorms for a semester at M.U., I joined the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity with some high school friends. I was the pledge of the semester and made many friends. It was a great social experience, yet my devotion to the Design Arts made me ponder a better school program. I made up my degree, which is possible by combining Photography, Architectural Rendering, and Design. We placed first in homecoming floats and house decks with the Chi Omega Sorority.
In my fourth semester at Mizzou, I decided to go another 200 miles to the University of Kansas. My application to Syracuse University in New York, a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design program, was also accepted. My interest in fine arts and illustrative painting led me to K.U. It was a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design. (M.U. 1989-1991 completed 46 hours, including 21 credit hours of introductory art/design courses)
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After two years at Mizzou, I transferred to the University of Kansas. At The University of Kansas, I motivated my studies to Industrial Design. The courses included color theory, marker rendering, modeling, materials, and industrial design. Learning lessons on human factors, anthropometrics, and ergonomics for the interface between the human user and the product item were correlated. Studio symposiums with critiques each year, in which I developed student projects. I spent much time building balsa wood and foam core models covered with drywall and automotive compounds. Many art forms finished the models with paints and assembled mock-up product prototypes and furniture woodworking projects to achieve the degree.
I learned to use the computer as a tool for communication. I used the card catalog at the K.U. Library for research, shop power woodworking tools for 3D visual communication, and typewriters to communicate paper assignments. I did not own a computer or e-mail address during my undergraduate studies.
Going to the Chemistry Library at K.U. to get research materials on anthropometrics' human dimensions was always fun to visit. I would always consider this film titled "The Day After." A movie filmed in 1983 on the K.U. Campus and actor John Lithgow broadcast on a C.B. radio from this library to locate survivors after the Cold War led to Global Thermal Nuclear War. Atomic bombs dropped everywhere, yet the film covers precisely one in Kansas City. The University of Kansas set up a hospital for survivors in the movie. The movie aired on A.B.C. and was broadcast on American Television to communicate the atrocity of Atomic Weapons. The film had no commercials, and the scenery and human depictions were spooky and terrifying.
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At K.U., I also focused on the marketing principles for all forms of product development. I took merchandising classes, marketing courses, and a few independent study assignments on human interaction with visual language. (K.U. 1991-1995 114 credit hours, including 47 art/design studio courses - B.F.A. Industrial Design – 154 credit hour degree)
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Through college, I worked as a lifeguard, maintenance, and part-time construction in the swimming pool industry. I would clean and balance pool chemistry for homeowners in Lawrence, KS, and work with the construction crew in the afternoon. When I went home to St. Louis, I enjoyed my job as a lifeguard at public pools in the suburbs. Union Station, St. Louis, has a hotel and pool, and I worked there a bit during evening and weekend hours, only to reminisce about my mother and father meeting at the train station.
I also worked as a custodian at the University of Kansas, cleaning the Burge Commons and picking up the training table where the football and basketball team ate dinner. It was great for the cooks who let me eat dinner, everything but the desserts. The braided pizza crust at Pyramid Pizza in Lawrence, Kansas, is traditionally covered in honey. During rush parties, I worked as a pizza artist and dishwasher in local restaurants. I also sold in-home water purifiers in Kansas, establishing my residency and getting in-state tuition for college. During my first year of college, I had a part-time job helping publish deadlines as a paste-up artist for a yellow page advertiser called the AD-Sheet in Columbia, Missouri. After college graduation and transitioning to full-time work, it was appealing to be prepared for the job yet exciting how fast the business community's demands get appropriated.
From the "Talking Heads" to my understanding of British punk and New Wave music in the 1980s, the pre-alternative sound has always influenced my art attitude. My first CD purchased was from Information Society, followed by The Clash. My first concert was The B52s. When I walked around the college to the concert hall, I witnessed a strong creative side that I still cherish today in music discovered. Sonic Youth, Bob Mould with "Black Sheets of Rain," and The Screaming Trees were a few bands I saw live at The Blue Note in Columbia, Missouri. I even caught The Pixies playing live twice. Watching 120 Minutes on MTV play, The Replacements videos, and seeing The Cure dance in composed imagery was awe-inspiring as an art school student.
When I went to Lawrence, Kansas, a local band, Paw, was incredible. Nirvana and Pearl Jam were brought to campus by Kansas U. student affairs money and played outside the football field. I found Pale Divine and The Urge entertaining bands from St Louis as they traveled the Midwest college rock venues. The Bottleneck in Lawrence was a bar with membership and weird drinking age restrictions. Even today, I tuned in to music before 1995 and can't figure out why. The last concert I saw was Urge Overkill in college, just after Midnight Oil.
After graduating college with Bill Clinton as president, I noticed my ego's job opportunities weren't tremendous, yet they weren't dismal. So, I went to work with the attitude that I would continue my artwork and keep a vocation-oriented job. As a Nation, we balanced our budget. Time for entertainment became a VCR movie rental from Blockbuster, and life after college, a strict business hour routine. I continued my hobby of Abstract painting.
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After spending six years in college, I learned about design from various professions. I began color plotting negatives for a St. Louis, Missouri, printing division. We worked with cereal and product boxes. It was my first experience working with an Apple computer and scanning equipment. We would print out four-color negatives from giant film machines. Each negative had the separation plot print of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. Four opposites, each printed and emulsified for client spec hard copy prints. (1995)
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After the union print shop downsized, I moved to Phoenix, Arizona, to work for a Southwestern furniture manufacturer called StoneCreek Furniture. My brother went to school at the University of Arizona, and I went camping in the North. I went to Phoenix to see about a job I found by reading the local newspaper I was reading while camping. I got an apartment down the street from the shop with a bedroll, clock radio, and a backpacking coffee pot. I learned various native methods in building furniture unique to the Southwest and many tips and tricks for sanding and finishing furniture in the studio. My main task was to sand 40 chairs in an 8-hour shift. I worked in the spray booth, delivered furniture to homes with a crew, and learned patience and determination. It was a real "dirty job," When I burnt a hole in my coffee pot and realized I needed a T.V. for any reference, it was time to move. While in the Western U.S.A. in Phoenix and San Diego, I interviewed with companies for a design firm or consulting agency position but was never accepted. (1996)
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As time passed, I worked odd jobs doing maintenance and repair work, including painting house interiors in St. Louis, Missouri. (1997) I would take short trips to Chicago and the eastern Ohio valley cities of Cincinnati, Columbus, and North Carolina to find more credible work with higher pay. Still, the transition of finding the proper position at a specialized ad agency took a lot of work to maneuver with paperwork, mailing letters, and making phone calls. Getting an office handshake, showing the work portfolio, and even considering the second interview was expensive.
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I went to work for a friend who was starting a business constructing wire and cable harnesses for soda machines and computers. I worked with him until he sold his company to a massive conglomerate. Working production with automated equipment to prepare pinned wires was my job task. We would stick a wire in a small machine that would strip the wire. Our little crew would then sit with bundles of cables around our neck and pin and crimp 50 wires at a time, assembling harnesses for soda machines. (1998)
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I was also a Machine Operator in a cardboard factory during a summer job in 1999. I was to aid in the shipping boxes' design process and worked with the crews running the production lines. I learned to operate a die-cutting press that takes the diagram for the punched outbox from an AutoCAD drawing template, a glue machine to seal the boxes, and a color printing press to place text and logos on tables. On the factory floor, crews would come in to catch and feed, and carting machines would bring stacks of cardboard seven feet high to get through the presses. I would stand and take down the seven-foot-high stack into the feeder and move around to complete bundling tasks with the crew.
The computer revolution turned a notch, and I decided to return to school. In a short time, I learned the graphic programs of Quark and Illustrator at the University of St. Louis, Missouri. However, I soon decided to return to school full-time and enrolled in anatomy and physiology, AutoCAD, and 3D computer animation courses. In addition, I studied photo-realistic animation programs such as 3D Studio Max and AutoCAD drafting classes at St. Louis Community College Center for Advanced Imaging. I also was accepted at Parks College of Engineering at St. Louis University, where I took a Pro-Engineer Course. (2000) (completed 28 hours including 25 hours of art/design computer studio courses --- Total college studies 189 credit hours, including 93 art/design studio credit hours - 14 semesters 13.5 credit hours a semester for seven years as a professional student!)
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In 2001, my employment commenced at a community newspaper as a composing artist in St. Louis, Missouri. My job was to compose advertising layouts for local businesses, manage a Website, and paginate the pages at press time. I logged into a website-building template and uploaded .jpg imagery ads. We used Quark Express software and spent many hours organizing 3.5-inch data disks that housed client ads alphabetically. We used wax machines and paste-up boards with copy machines to prepare the news page boards for photo and print steps at a print production facility. We worked on Macintosh computers, electrically sending all data in two years. Call Newspapers are in the mailbox, mailed newspaper, and distributed as the third-largest in Missouri. Pre-press design and utilization of layout software was the tool challenge for skilled labor. Production time was two pages of 11x17 adverting composition per 8-hour shift. With a team of 2 employees, we would compose the newspaper's directives with around eleven employees. (2001-2004)
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The composing artist job was all my intellectual directives for career growth, including learning and understanding merchandising sales and small businesses. This job was my fourth husband and wife running a small business. The general manager and editor were from Ohio the newspaper worked together at other papers in St. Louis and started Call Newspapers. In Lawrence, Kansas, the pool company had a sample in-ground pool in the backyard and an extension on the owner's home where the family's wife would organize clients and answer phone calls for the outside crews working around town. The cardboard factory was a baby-boomer business where the husband and wife had their own office next to the manufacturing area, where the cardboard gluing, press, and cutting machines sat. The wiring business was a husband and wife team my mother knew growing up, and we had five employees working at a rental space in a manufacturing building.
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The new orientation to computer multimedia led me to assist with a local videographer service. Working on wedding video events and documenting and editing timeline videos with Adobe Video Editing Software added exciting career growth and skill development opportunity. Working with digital cameras and eating excellent meals at elegant ceremonies added orientation to visual presentation. Production time was 20 hours editing a wedding event and 20 hours editing the reception party. The tactics mainly were two camera edits with sometimes a 3rd still camera. This fifth small business employment venture made me understand client importance and respect. Again, this husband and wife team would build client work and create video output goals and production plans. (2004-2005)
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At weddings, there are sincere moments of togetherness. Watching wedding videos throughout the seasons is lovely at each particular time. Songs and music are timeless to the ceremony and are crucial moments in a wedding video. High-dollar weddings are unbelievable. One of the most exciting weddings I worked on video was a lady from Hawaii who had a pineapple string dress that married a man from India at an old 1904 World's Fair Pavilion. Although wedding editing and video compositions are time-consuming, I have kept up with software processes by taking video editing courses in 2016.
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I am a person who takes the approach of an Industrial Designer; new designs for products constantly develop, and problems solved on existing goods give better to the marketplace. Therefore, a project criterion of becoming an Industrial Designer involves working with package design and consumer durable goods outside-in toward the point-of-purchase to understand that a "better mousetrap" is built inside-out.
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National Plastics and Stock Clam manufacturing in St. Louis, Missouri, had given me a great base of building block references to assist with the graphics pre-press package design. I composed the Stock Clam logo now found on their website and letterheads. I have drafted nearly 100 different drafting templates for their product line on the Stock Clam website. The clamshells have simple square and circular cavities that easily snap shut and enable a clamshell card to use graphically designed and inserted into the package. (2005-2016)
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Various package freelance jobs have introduced me to firsthand the needs of clientele. For example, from 2005 until 2008, I worked on a newsletter in the fall and spring for Alpha Packaging called "Alpha-Bits." Alpha Packaging opened new offices in Salt Lake City and New York and remained in St. Louis, Missouri. The company produced containers and bottles for household products, beauty products, and vitamins. My freelance task was composing employee writings, pictures, and image layouts for a small 500-print newsletter to stimulate employee communication. I would order the pages in Adobe In-Design and get and retrieve print setups.
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Graphic design ventures from companies investing in clamshell cards introduced me to printing divisions' regional sales reps, who kept me working with Adobe software. I composed many graphic design clamshell card specs for Great Britain and New England companies. My proudest package design was for Airtex Foam, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company produced foam for the sewing industry but took a new chance and offered a durable good in their company name with the Airtex brand logo. The company was manufacturing and selling a Stuffing Rod for teddy bear animals. I designed this package, printed it in India, and landed it on the shelf at JoAnn Fabrics retail stores. It was colorful with rainbow hues and stylistically composed of type, logos, and photographs. (2006-2007)​
Computer Drafting Software and advertising services on the internet have introduced me to clients investing in new product design. I always liked making hand-built product models and worked with Rhino/ Flamingo 3D computer drafting software. I updated my portfolio and 3D modeling skills during this period.
For example, a Broader View from Atlanta, Georgia, liked my cartooning ability with computer software. I showed them some cartoon samples, and they linked with computer visual interface web meetings, and we talked by word of mouth over the phone. For their engineering department, I created computer renderings and output 3D robust model prints of Sippy-Cup characters through the World Wide Web. I used ovals, spheres, and conical shapes' stretching and bending tools to create the caricature of animal forms. Production started in China, yet some store shelf space had to open up. The animal character cups form in a pacifier material with a washable insert for better use. The Zoo Crew Sippy Cups consisting of a pig, rhino, and panda, was a product venture they hoped to expand from their well-recognized puzzle maps.
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A business in Atlanta, Georgia, La Vida Inc., wanted to move artistic directives toward producing a hat cap stretcher device. The product foundation is on the platform associated with the demand for shaping a 5950 ball cap. The hip-hop industry promotes the style-driven shapes of a perfectly fitted and aligned hat. The various colors and patterns of hip-hop artists wear the driving form for the style and elegance of a molded plastic device suitable for fashion-conscious consumers. Considering such a device's proponents and how the audience would use, integrate, and grow with the product was fantastic. The owner and founder of La Vida Inc. organized the labeling of every part and oriented every component and system's numbering.
In 1989, I discovered Hip Hop and Rap appealing art forms. My friend and I would ride to school with his two 20-inch sub-woofer boxes. The stereo kept him busy, the seams caulked and covered in a carpet in the vehicle's back seat. Digital Underground, Tone Loc, Ice T, N.W.A, and Salt and Peppa kept us "bumpin'" on school. I liked the song "Supersonic," It was fun to go to a teen dance club down the street and practice our moves to Bobby Brown and MC Hammer. I was a big Aerosmith fan, and "Walk this Way" with Run D.M.C.; song and sonnet led me to the Beastie Boys' music. In St. Louis, Nelly's music is fantastic. I listen to nearly every day to Hip-Hop on digital channel networks. However, the best rap album is the 8 Mile compilation.
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Using Rhino 3d Software, I took three sketches of a mechanical device and built the parts and pieces of a hat/cap stretcher into computer-generated elements. The owner and founder of La Vida came from Atlanta to St. Louis and sat next to my desk for around the first five days of the design. We worked on the contour and repetition of mirroring rectangles, obtuse rhombus, and piping patterns to craft the product device's form as individual parts. Later, I prepared the internal mechanisms' shape with engineering guidelines, including the dryer unit, water, and steam parts and pieces in 3d computer software. I also made computer concepts of the gearing mechanisms, building the prototype inside out. We talked during the design process about how kids working at the mall could show Fitted Pro demonstrations. With the technology of modern 3d printers, individual assemblies can be output constructed with a minimal assembly workforce. (2007-2008) The hat-shaping device has evolved to be known as "Cap God" and seemingly takes orders for the professional hat steamer through online directives.
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A business in Minneapolis, Minnesota, wanted 3d floor plans for a business proposal. I composed interior renderings of floor plans with computer drafting software, studying interactive space for a retail food chain. I produced space studies for business proposals of architectural 2D designs. We set up a unique logo with a previous employer's colleague with its style and plan. (2008)
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On another architecture-related project, I drafted material templates for Porta-Fab in St. Louis, Missouri. The company produces many building materials for the construction industry, including foam, aluminum web, wood, and various compounds—the articles are made to be durable and functional with an aesthetic look to the product. The renderings can be on their website. I made nearly 100 samples of visual renderings with computer software and the computer artwork of the materials they produced. They are images of wood, colored plyboard, and foam composites with metal building blocks used in interior and exterior construction. (2007-2008)
​During the economic recession in 2008, it took a lot of work to get money to change hands. There were many phone calls and conversations on paying and when to pay when I would invoice business. Owing people's money and finding out that projects were determinately "put on hold and canceled" led me to find alternatives and backup plans for the business to the business list. Art is a luxury item in economic terms.
It was celebrated in St. Louis in 2008 to see Director Jason Reitman coming to St. Louis to make a movie called "Up in the Air." I saw George Clooney act in a scene. I was in the background of a too-dark scene, but watching the movie was a great antidote. In late summer, a scene filmed at a school down the street had snow on campus. I live in the district where actor John Goodman grew up.
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As the information age opened new opportunities, academia and instruction were the most promising career environments. However, I have always considered teaching art and design. I wanted to paint on canvas more often and learn about fine art. So, in 2009, I decided to sign up for Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri.
I chose to seek a graduate degree at Webster University, promoting a top-notch art school and an excellent education department. I took courses on educational and adolescent psychology for teachers in the classroom. The human and computer context from the design community drove my association with the education topic. I was excited to sign up for watercolor and sculpture classes. I wrote many lesson plans in graduate school, which inspired my thought processes, and strengthened my writing and journaling abilities. I also learned about oil painting and experimented with my abstract design style on canvas.
Over time in school, I enjoyed communicating the instructional process required of teachers. In my fifth semester of working on my Master's degree, I completed my student teaching seminars for the art classroom from school experiences in Kindergarten through the twelve grades. School teaching work completed over eight weeks, full-time in a grade school art class and eight weeks full-time in a high school art class.
The public school, elementary education experience, was eye-opening and a challenge to learn names, and I had to work top-down with the factor of guidance. I wrote my Teacher Work Sample during my first eight weeks in the elementary classroom. I learned how to grade elementary students, correct behavior, model orientation to student awareness, and monitor and teach simple yet basic art lessons.
I chose to work my high school portion in an alternative school, assisting students with emotional and behavioral issues. The art implication for those students was admonishing. We stretched canvases, stapled and painted and set up a still-life, composed artwork, and had shows and exhibits for parents and support networks.
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In 2012, I graduated with my Master in Arts Teaching degree from Webster University School of Education. I passed the Praxis Art Content Knowledge Test for certification, including art history, art-making, and classroom teaching skills. In 2012, I received a passing score on the Praxis Technology Education test. The topic covers knowledge of construction, energy in production, manufacturing, graphic arts, and computer design trades. (Webster University - 54 credit hours in graduate school 2010-2012)
Since 2009, I have been a caregiver for disabled seniors to pay for my graduate degree. As a result, I find myself getting groceries, cooking meals for elders, transporting seniors to the doctor, cleaning bed sheets, doing laundry, filling pills, bathing, doing yard work, and many other "odd jobs of caregiving." I even assist in moving immobile disabled persons and dementia and Alzheimer's patients helping them focus on scheduling.
I was a visiting substitute teacher in all classrooms for six years at two public school districts. Yet, I continue to oil paint abstract canvases for upcoming shows and continue senior caregiving. I liked working in Math classrooms, Physical Education, English, History, and all courses where students work toward the next grade level. I enjoyed working in middle and high school, where I attended a district close to my home.
My favorite elementary moments were singing American folk songs as a music teacher sub and reading TIME KIDS to 5th graders. I also wore a suit and tie and helped instruct Sunday School at my church from 2012 to 2016. We made a lot of art projects as setups by retired schoolteachers. My current work as a substitute visiting teacher is in middle and high school academic environments. I know teachers appreciate a day off from the profession. (2012-2019)
A high school campus is an ever-evolving place of preparation concerning dialect and understanding the topic list. After high school, students experience research and methodology of invested interests for vocational directives. A middle school is an educational place of transition where basic knowledge and insight are toward long-term learning. I cover teacher directives and continue course routines and processes with my simple job from topic to topic. I always consider my educational background and rationalize the bigger picture of what school is and what "State Standards" and "Grade Level Expectations" work for student awareness from campus to campus.
My abstract painting has been juried, and I set up my tent and panels to sell one-of-a-kind artwork. Since 2014, being juried and showing and selling oil paintings at art fairs has opened my canvas designs to thousands of people, and I enjoy the work. I have set up my booth at festivals in St. Louis, such as Laumeier Park on Mother's Day and Webster Groves, Missouri. I have paintings for sale on my art website, and I work in my home studio. For five years through 2019, my canvases have been presented and sold at predominant art shows in St. Louis, MO.
In 2018, I sent digital computer renderings to the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art. My "NeoFuturism" concept art is a new paradigm and restitution for grandeur. Also, making art with 3D modeling software for the decorative interior is very intriguing and has my mind working on using computers for new avenues of visual presentation.
Working, knowing, and developing with associates makes it not uncommon for an artist to have "another than profession." I have met artisans with incredible skills and talent who have night jobs. I want to orient my education skills and practices to teach an online course I facilitate with art, design, and user/ consumer interaction.​ Also, I am working under directives to own and rent a property that can finance my love for creating, building, and directing art and design.
My grandfather talked quite often, referring to his father's lifestyle from the 1880s as the first of our family born in the U.S.A. and living until 1972. Then, he said, "a lot of time, my dad would right in the door, eat very little, and head straight to bed." But, after the 911 terror strikes, my grandpa said it would be a different day and age, and I would have to work more at it.
My grandpa grew up and graduated from the eighth grade during the World Wars and Great Depression. He contributed during societal setbacks and received good jobs in the following ticker-tape parade. He said that finally getting to the 1980s was a wonderful experience, and he wished his wife was around.
My elders would tell me I am not the class of person to gamble. Don't quit so early. We still have a lot to do today. The 12-14-16 hours on your feet shouldn't bother you.
I have spent a lot of time caring for neighbors and family. I also clean up personal items and fix-up rental properties to balance my business, such as painting and woodwork, and then stop to wash dirty socks and garments and even give haircuts. I have gotten strong and commented to my cousin over the years; I have built apples in the muscles of my arms, lifting older people around.
For years, I kept my parents out of nursing homes surrounding the Covid-19 global pandemic. However, my hard work, determination, and ability to consistently work and organize will show in time to pursue my dreams to work on fine art and design agenda in my lifelong backup plan independently in my studio.
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After updating my portfolio and lesson plans, I accept new graphic or industrial design projects. To patent a trademark, I worked on product and package designs for friends and acquaintances. I am working on new computer 3D design concepts and developing a concept portfolio by shaping product forms in the round. I plan to save money on a 3D scanner.
As I look around for great products and inventions, I have found the Dawn dishwashing pump container innovative new and fun package design. It has replaced my salsa bowl, which I fill with dish soap and dip in my dishwashing brush. But, of course, my favorite blender is the NutriBullet.
In 2024, the subtractive sculpture of product design modeling will bring me new clientele to build prototyping for the product shelf. I plan to teach specific semesters on the design topic with accompanying writing as organized. I am here to conclude and rationalize product and package goods in the global merchandising venue and marketing. I am here to take your call. I will paint abstract art in my home studio, write about design, and pick up online 2-D and 3-D freelance jobs.​
My affiliations have included the Eagle Scout Association of the Boy Scouts of America, Sierra Club, Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity, Kansas Water Polo Club, Students in Missouri for the National Education Association, and Beep-Ball Baseball for blind people.