David Ebbinghouse has traveled widely, especially in India and has collected ancient beads and conducted research on them.  He has published bead research and given lectures to various bead societies around the country. All this he considers to be a subset of his artistic practice, rather than a separate activity, as he seeks to integrate all of his experiences into his work.  This intention to create an art that is instrumental in living a life in modern times is the same impulse behind all of the world’s mythology throughout all time and history.  In this way Ebbinghouse seeks to create an art that transcends the boundaries of how we normally think about art.