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David Joel Thomas
I am the Program Director of Creative Arts and an Associate Professor at Bellevue University (Bellevue, Nebraska). I hold a Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Master of Arts in Philosophy from DePaul University. My training in art, architecture, design, and philosophy reflects my commitment to synthesizing critical research, creative production, and practical outcomes. I organize my multidisciplinary practice around analog and digital paradoxes, and around anecdotal ecosystems that underpin indigeneity, transnational migration, and diaspora. Through the lens of my Near Eastern heritage as an Assyrian American and international upbringing in Pakistan, Turkey, and Afghanistan, my work explores that precise moment when it becomes possible to transform chaotic conditions into creative process and renewal. Reflecting seemingly divergent pathways are three interrelated, critical-creative works in progress: The Perfect Hours, a series of short, free-spirited liturgical fictions; Back Wars, an improvisatory design exploration of Ancient Mesopotamian architectural typologies; and Grief Work Variations, a visual/literary/musical collaboration and meditation on diasporic storytelling and place-making.
Art + Science Incubator | Co-founder | Bellevue University
The Art and Science of Connections | TEDxOmaha 2024
Improvisation: The Art of Walking Backwards into the Future | TEDx Salon Talk KANEKO April 24, 2025 6pm