We are pleased to have a wonderful group of artist to work with in designing our pieces.  Each artist has been chosen for their unique style.  Some over bolder presentations, others, subtler.  As with much of life and ecology, variety offers stability in allowing each end user to pick just the right piece that appeals to them.

Pathfinder Artist Partners

Mike Ingle

From a young age I knew I possessed a talent and passion for illustrating and drawing. After I studied illustration at the Kendall School of Design in my early years, I have enjoyed a long career illustrating books, calendars, greeting cards, posters, and a number of other media for many years.

In my drawings and paintings, I strive for a certain amount of realism without sacrificing the crisp, clean beauty of ink drawings or the brilliance and fluidity of watercolor.

The work I do for the Pathfinders product line from Touchstone Distributing Inc. has been a unique and challenging, but fun commission. With every animal I have illustrated for the pendants, I have worked for as much detail as possible in order to evoke an emotional con- nection with the viewer. I hope everyone enjoys wearing them or buying them for someone else as much as I have enjoyed creating them.

Marie Rust

Wildlife artist and photographer Marie Rust is a Southeast Michigan native whose love of nature began as a child.  Hours spent on the shores of Whitmore Lake taught Marie how to be still and observe the natural world.  Over the years she developed a deep connection to natural rhythms and to the lives that share our world.  A self-taught artist, she has taken her observational skill and applied it to her artwork, creating carefully wrought portraits of wildlife.

Now living on five acres outside of Pinckney, Michigan, Marie is a partner in Bear Track Studios, LLC, a business she started with two other nature artists with whom she also lives.  She is a member of the Stewardship Network, Michigan Audubon and the Nature Conservancy,  and does volunteer work with the DNR through their Stewardship Program.

“Using colored pencils, ink pens, watercolor pencils, graphite and other drawing media, and working almost exclusively from my own photography and field experience, I create finely detailed and intimate portraits of wildlife.  Through composition and cropping my work is meant to reconnect viewer and subject, a primal connection I feel has been lost over time.  I believe it is important to present these amazing creatures as individuals in order to remind us that we are all sentient beings deserving of life.”

Celtic Art Artists

In 2010 we partnered with artist and calligrapher Kathryn Darnell of East Lansing, Michigan. Kate is an illustrator & calligrapher with a passion for Irish manuscripts and Celtic ornament. Her work has been used for everything from jewelry and wedding invitations to company logos and tattoos. She has traveled in the west of Ireland and works from her studio in East Lansing, Michigan. You can see her work here: http://www.kldarnell.com/