Thomas Huston

Thomas John Huston was born in Shelby, Ohio. He studied Astronomy and Engineering at The Ohio State University from 1962 to 1964. He earned a BA in Religion and Philosophy at Taylor University in 1971 and later pursued graduate study in Computer Science at Ball State University from 1973 to 1975. 

He began producing computer art in the early 1970s, submitting pen plotter drawings including Reflections in 1971 to the Seventh Annual Computer Art Contest, and Sky Lab WVB and Flores en Fortranes in 1972 to the Eighth Annual Computer Art Contest, both organized by Computers and Automation, the first journal devoted to computer art. These pieces, written in FORTRAN and executed on early plotters, reflected the experimental spirit of the contests, which brought together artists, programmers, and scientists at a formative moment in the history of digital imagery. Huston’s works appeared alongside those of Frieder Nake, Manfred Mohr, and Vera Molnár, underscoring the diversity of approaches represented in the events. Publication in Computers and Automation gave his works international circulation at a time when only a handful of outlets existed for computer art. Later in life, Huston maintained long-standing ties to technology and programming, reflected in professional work in systems analysis and consulting.