Exposing Beauty

My approach to fabric formwork in sculpture is unique: I make an educated guess and sew a network of connecting nodes on both sides of the fabric to keep the form from ballooning apart. I then suspend the fabric formwork and needed reinforcements upside down and fill with wet plaster, watching as the Earth’s gravitational forces dance with the tensions created in the sewing process. My sculptures come alive as they find their center while moving through the curing process. Finally, I invert the piece and remove the formwork. The result is a balanced sculpture that rises effortlessly to the sky.

A Creative Intuitive

My creative process involves thinking with my hands, feeling with my heart, and imagining with my soul. As a creative intuitive, I thrive on bridging varying elements of complex issues. I use visual mind mapping, a non-linear, nonverbal way of thinking that I refined during an independent study at The University of Texas at Austin. This process can be applied universally and works well with kids, teens, and adults. Within each session, I guide participants and help them uncover their own unified solutions.

Find the Funding and It Will Be Built

New construction is most challenging for any university, for it requires a bird’s-eye view to coordinate all the moving parts and execute within the limited time frame of the semester schedule.

My time at The University of Texas at Austin as an architectural graduate student, and later as a project manager for the university’s Architecture and Engineering Services, made me the perfect candidate for these studies.

Helping departments across campus, I presented design studies that got the funding. Our success was in the collaboration between professors, end users, department heads, and generous donors.

As a highly intuitive, Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), I come with an artistic ability that makes the arts and architecture easy for me. My ability to feel space and determine the subtleties of my environment enable me to manipulate form and materials in unique ways.

After years of traditional architectural and watercolor rendering, I turned to abstract painting to further explore the physical spaces I feel. Enjoy these samples from hundreds of works, ranging in size from postcard to oversize.

If you are interested in my work, please use my Contact Page to arrange a visit to my studio.

Made with Meaning
Coover Caramels is more than exceptional caramel. It reminds people that Life Really Can Be Sweeter®.

For more than six years we’ve built our brand around one simple belief:

Every illustration tells a real story.
Every product has a purpose.
Every package is designed to create one more smile.

Our Story
My daughter was in fourth grade. One rainy morning an older boy stood alone at the bus stop without an umbrella. Without saying a word, she quietly walked over and shared hers.

This simple act of kindness became the heart of Coover Caramels. Kindness isn't found in grand gestures. It's found in ordinary people choosing to act—and making someone feel seen.

This moment became the blueprint for everything we built.

Every Detail Matters
We believe every interaction with our brand should leave someone smiling.

That's why we created:

• The Official Owner's Manual—turning every cup and mini pack into an experience, not just a treat.

• Purposeful Packaging—made for sharing, gifting, and creating lasting memories.

• Signature Caramel Cups—lined to keep our caramels fresh and sized to fit vehicle cup holders, becoming part of memorable road trips. Customers reuse them in kitchens, workshops, offices, and even as phone amplifiers because great packaging deserves a second life.

• Handwritten Thank-You Letters—because real relationships deserve genuine appreciation.

• Custom Lid Graphics—celebrating companies, weddings, birthdays, graduations, holidays, and special events with artwork that turns every cup into a keepsake.

• Illustrations Inspired by Real Moments—sharing stories of kindness, family, and community through artwork people proudly wear, share, and remember.

We didn't just build a caramel company.
We built a brand that gives people one more reason to smile.

Recognition
Featured LIVE on CBS, Coover Caramels has been shared everywhere from corporate boardrooms to family reunions, weddings, nursing homes, holiday gatherings, and countless everyday celebrations.

Handmade. Always Texas. Shared in over 40 states.
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Preparing for Takeoff
Preparing Coover Caramels to Fly.

We've refined the recipe.
Obsessed over every detail.
Built a loyal following.

Most importantly, we learned what people truly love.

For years we've been flying a Cessna—taking us to incredible places, introducing us to remarkable people, and proving our philosophy resonates with customers.

Now it's time to build the jet.

Not to become a different company, but to bring the same handcrafted caramel, meaningful branding, and unforgettable customer experience to people across America.

Today we're working alongside one of the industry's most experienced caramel manufacturing specialists to develop a scalable production platform that preserves the handcrafted taste, slow-cooked flavor, and uncompromising quality that define Coover Caramels.

Together we're creating a manufacturing blueprint that can be implemented as the company grows—allowing us to scale without sacrificing what made Coover Caramels special in the first place.

We're not looking for someone to change Coover Caramels.

We're looking for a strategic partner who believes exceptional brands are built on exceptional products, authentic relationships, and a purpose worth sharing.

Because if you're eating Coover Caramels...
you're probably smiling.

If you're smiling...
you're ready to do something nice.

If you do something nice...

Life Really Can Be Sweeter®

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If our story resonates with you, we'd love to hear yours. Let’s start the conversation.

Start the Conversation →

A Glimpse of My Childhood Hawaii

Bahá’í Houses of Worship celebrate both physical and spiritual qualities. When asked to design this Bahá’í place of worship in Hawaii, I tapped into my childhood memories of Mokulēia, on the North Shore of Oahu. I recalled the ocean, of course, plus sugar cane fields, mountaintops with passing clouds, and my favorite childhood prayer*.

The resulting design incorporates the physical experience of cleansing and the spiritual experience of being illuminated. Visitors who gather at this Bahá’í House of Worship can connect with Hawaii in a moving way, just as I did as a child.

*O God, guide me, protect me, illumine the lamp of my heart, and make me a brilliant star. Thou art the Mighty and the Powerful. 
—‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Illuminating Nature

I constructed each of these lanterns by splitting, shaping, and wrapping a single stock of fresh bamboo to create a unique design that uses the wood’s own natural strength and beauty. To form the joints, I examined and tested the material’s natural bending strength and splitting tolerances.

The lanterns’ inner ribs are made of processed bamboo strips that were soaked and bent into shape, then heated to extract the natural sugars latent in bamboo. When cooled, the sugar hardened, and the material retained its new shape. The resulting bamboo lanterns are both true to the material and easily manufactured with this natural jointing process.

A Gift We Can Give

From being a director for spiritual education and teaching in public schools in China, to helping develop a school in Tanzania and serving clients at The SAFE Alliance—I’ve had amazing opportunities to be of service to humanity.

These unique experiences guide my consulting work within the corporate world. Patience and empathy are universal truths that foster equality and boost group dynamics.

Celebrating Ryan Coover: National Volunteer Week 2022

Peeping Periscopes

For this billboard, I employed essential design elements to create something eye-catching with full-spectrum contrast and movement. This winning piece was displayed on various billboards throughout the city of Austin for two years.

Austin Art Boards Billboard Winner, Peeping Periscopes, watercolor and ink painting. Presented by Reagan National Advertising of Austin, Inc.

A Space for Visual Discoveries

Within this collection of instructional videos, I share techniques developed throughout my formal studies in architecture and years of trial and error in my artistic journey.

I believe that knowledge is a source of inspiration and unity, and it should be accessible to all. Today, I support you in discovering your own creative identity.

YouTube Channel Here!

When Paths Cross

In 2003, I started my own architectural firm, Workpod9: Collective Imagination. My first client requested a model of a design his friend drew up. I completed it within five days, and they were impressed. Then they asked if I could do interior renderings. Two weeks later, I had those completed. Impressed again, they asked if I could do construction documents. Six months later, those too were completed.

As I was doing my part to see this project through, I had the pleasure of working with their amazing team. Knowing that time is truly short and that our paths may never cross again, I made every action brilliant!

RIP, T. Boone Pickens, and thank you for all your philanthropy.

A final message from T. Boone Pickens shared before his passing on September 11, 2019

Mojo モジョ

“Mojo is the moment when we do something that’s purposeful, powerful, and positive and the rest of the world recognizes it.”
—Marshall Goldsmith

But how do we find our mojo? How do we navigate this material word with our noble souls? I find the path of truthfulness and trustworthiness the easiest.

“Truthfulness, is the foundation of all human virtues. Without truthfulness progress and success, in all the worlds of God, are impossible for any soul. When this holy attribute is established in man, all the divine qualities will also be acquired.”
—‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Design Team | Elana Jackson, Ryan Coover

Inventors Love to Invent

I met Chris Brown at the local bike shop, and we soon became friends. Having a common love for bikes and being creatives made it easy.

Together, we went on an entrepreneurial adventure to test, refine, and patent his invention, and then we brought the KneeFlyer to market.

KneeFlyer KICKSTARTER Project

The Ultimate Challenge

When you want to learn more about yourself, you have to get uncomfortable. As a watercolorist, I have found no better place to be challenged than the great outdoors.

Texas summers make you paint fast! Watch me paint “Champs Under Trees” in the most extreme heat, sun, and breeze while my kids play soccer.

And if this excites you, Come Paint With Us!
Join Plein Air Austin today.

A Shared Love

When cycling gets ahold of us, there is little we can do but smile. The rewards—both physical and mental—are what keep us rolling.

The joy of learning to ride a bike has stayed with me my whole life, and I continue to advocate for the cycling community. Years of racing, friendships, and testing new products have given me a special window into this fun industry.