 In 1923, he was a resident painter member of The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation at Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York.He traveled throughout Europe to study art in 1930 and then returned to the University of Iowa, where he, along with African American sculptor/printmaker Elizabeth Catlett, was one of the first in the nation to receive a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1940.While he was working toward this degree he participated in several WPA projects, which included a statue honoring Chief Blackhawk in 1934 at Crescent Park, Blackhawk Lake, Lakeside, Iowa; a memorial to Lewis and Clark, in 1936, in Council Bluffs, Iowa; and sculptured walls in the Iowa Union Building of the University of Iowa in 1940, honoring the sons and daughters of Iowa who served their country in military service.