Thauberger credits the influence of the well-known sculptor David Gilhooly whose non-exclusionary approach to creating art inspired Thauberger to begin working with clay at home in 1969. The following term Gilhooly invited him to work in his university studio. For the next year and a half Thauberger continued to create sculpture with a funk style and content derived from Gilhooly and others before going on to graduate school in Sacramento and later at the University of Montana in Missoula.