Prior to working at Northwestern, Patrick was an animator for the Peabody award winning and Emmy nominated Nickelodeon program Blues Clues. He has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and his work has won numerous awards both domestically and internationally, including awards at The Black Maria Film Festival, The Humboldt International Film Festival, Semana de Cine Experimental de Madrid, South by Southwest Film Festival, The Ann Arbor Film Festival, and Festival de Cinema Independent de Barcelona. His own independent animated films include Stark Film, Ablution and Retrocognition. He received his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts.