still desired to be an artist. He went back to Illinois and enrolled in the Art Institute of Chicago. He also took a couple summer workshops at the University of Minnesota in Duluth under the mentorship of Max Weber and Millard Sheets. However, the money from the G.I. Bill soon ran out and Marxhausen began hitchhiking around the country painting and selling watercolors to make ends meet. Concordia Marxhausen sold a few paintings to the Ford Times, a monthly publication of the Ford Motor Company. A music teacher at Concordia Teachers College (now Concordia University) in Seward, Nebraska, noticed his name and paintings while reading Ford Times at a barber shop. He showed it to the president of the college, who had mentioned he was looking for a Lutheran artist. In 1951, the college sent a letter to Marxhausen inviting him to not only become an art instructor for Concordia, but also start the art department. Fully accustomed to the life of a professional artist, Reinhold didn't take it seriously. He threw the offer away in the trash. A second letter later arrived when they never received a reply. Given the second chance, he noticed that they also needed him to fill the position of a biology teacher as well. He decided that it was a sign from God for him to take the job and began a 40-year teaching career for the college. In 1953, Marxhausen married Concordia student Dorris Steinbrueck. They had two sons, Karl and Paul. In 1962, Marxhausen took a year-long sabbatical to complete his MFA at Mills College in Oakland, California. It was there that he began a life of experimentation with sound sculptures. While creating a metal interpretation of the solar system, he welded wires to the back of a door knob and decided to strum his fingers across the wires. He put it next to his ear and noticed that they made a beautiful sound. Swede Goehner's Farm and Hughes Brothers Art Events Throughout his time at Concordia, Marxhausen started teaching art appreciation to the communities in and around Seward. On a sunny day in May 1970, his first large publicized event was at an abandoned farmstead south of Seward called Swede Goehner's farm. It was there that the art department faculty, along with their students, set about making art based on the location. Sculptures were made out of the debris found on