One of Michael Stanley's interactive pieces of artwork
 / Michael Stanley Design
OTTUMWA, IOWA -- We all remember the devastation Hurricane Katrina left behind and it how it affected New Orleans just seven years ago.
For one Katrina survivor, Michael Stanley, he turned his “anger into art.”
Stanley evacuated New Orleans just eight hours before Hurricane Katrina hit and returned three months later to find everything he left behind gone.
Stanley was at an all time low until he was accepted into ISU’s grad school. A few years later, he now teaches various design classes at the university.
His artwork now revolves around integrating humans into art work.
“It's an experience that helped shape me but doesn't define me but it is something I go back to when I’m designing. It's about that base feeling of doing something bigger than myself. How can I integrate other people to encourage that sense of connection with the work as well as with the other people as they're interacting with it,” said Stanley.
Stanley currently resides in Grinnell, Iowa.
Click here for the link to Stanley’s website.