Thomas is an artist, designer, and educator who is passionate about developing experiences that cultivate community and creativity through collaborative experiences. This can be seen in the FAM nights at La Sierra, where students, alumni and friends come together to cook, share a meal and celebrate their creative work. He firmly believes that hiking and playing outside is a way to nurture one’s spirituality, which in turn regenerates our creative soul. Outside of the classroom, Thomas enjoys learning with his students how to garden, design murals, and various renovation projects. 

Thomas is starting his 5th year as chair of the Art+Design Department at La Sierra University. Prior to his academic career, Thomas worked in the technology and entertainment fields of design, pioneering some of the early Flash animation work at Atomfilms.com during the dot com boom of the late nineties. His clients at the time included Microsoft, Warner Brothers, A&M Records, Swatch International and KPMG. Thomas maintains an active design practice (t13media.com) providing design consultation for non-profit institutions, small businesses and entertainment clients through out the greater Los Angeles area. 

This active engagement in the business world of design ensures that his courses are based on real world design practices. Thomas teaches Web Development, Photography and Motion Graphics and Figure Drawing. He earned a BFA in Illustration from Art Center College of Design, and an MFA in Graphic Design from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Thomas has a number of interactive games (https://gogardengame.com) under development that are inspired by the parallels he sees daily between gardening and the processes found in graphic design.