When 25-year-old Collin Parson rolls his "crash cart" out from what he calls "the dirty shop," he's got a job to do.

Stacked onto his wheeled, double-decker cart are all the necessary tools he needs to build, fix or enhance displays around the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities.

As the exhibition designer, Parson is the man behind the art shows in a center that also houses a professional theater, children's theater, concerts, art exhibitions, a history museum and numerous classes and activities.

With a degree in lighting and set design from CU and a theater and fine arts background, Parson's been putting his experience to work for three years at the center.

Every exhibit is never the same and neither is a typical day on the job for Parson. Some days he's out in the field making studio visits at artists' homes. Other days, he can be found in the woodshop, aka the dirty shop, or setting up the next show.

According to Parson, the biggest part of his job is problem solving and making everything visually accessible. For example, when hanging a framed piece of artwork, it must be placed at the very center of the wall at 56 inches.

Parson also has to make each piece able to be moved quickly and carefully in order to accommodate a particular event.

"We had an artist engineer a base for his sculpture so that a palette jack could move the piece when needed," Parson says.

In addition to making exhibits portable, Parson makes them durable for high-traffic locations. For example, a current exhibit contains hundreds of photos - with only the right edge of each photo attached to the wall.

"The artist first put the photos up with straight pins, but to make it so they couldn't be easily knocked off, I took 3,000 tacks and 1,500 binder clips and put them all back up. It took a while," he laughs.

Although Parson says he's sometimes stuck in his office doing paperwork and archiving, perhaps he means it literally. His desk is planted in the corner of what could pass as a well-stocked storage closet that he shares with three other people.

He makes the most of cubicle by decorating it with layers of photos, an oversized "sweet" sticker and a personalized name plaque that reads "Collin 'Cougar' Parson," revealing that his co-workers know his humorous side quite well.

When Parson walks through the building, he speaks with everyone he passes, whether it's a fellow co-worker, janitor or visiting child.

"Collin! You've got your nice shirt on today," laughs Sophia, as she heads to her next maintenance project.

Parson jokes that he's not "painting and rolling around in concrete today."

While waiting for the elevator, he asks a young boy, "Whatcha doin'?"

The boy responds, "Spelling."

Parson says, "Nice! I bet you spell much better than I can. Well, have fun!"

Stepping on the elevator with a cheek-to-cheek smile, he says, "I feel very at home here."