About The Artist

Michael Rusher
Paleo Miniaturist

Michael Rusher is one of the only Paleoartists in the world who is totally dedicated to the reconstruction of 3-dimensional dinosaur and dinosaur habitats in miniature. Michael's extraordinarily realistic artwork has appeared in several periodicals throughout the last few years. These include, but are not limited to, the covers of, "Prehistoric Times" magazine issues #24 and #41. Michael is currently a featured artist on the Dinosaur Society's artist list, Dinosauria on-line, Dinosaur Art and Modeling as well as being featured on other Internet sites. Michael's miniature dioramas will take you yet another step further into the intriguing world dinosaurs.

Michael was born in 1950 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Dinosaurs always fascinated Michael. An early age, he was inspired by at Willis O'Brien's classic movie, "King Kong”. While still a young boy, he began to study dinosaurs and their habitats, all the while, reading as much as possible about these marvelous creatures. It was then that he discovered that his dream was to become a paleontologist.

Raised on a farm and working with his father as a part-time cabinetmaker, Michael came to the realization that he loved working with his hands. By the age of 10, he was an avid model builder and miniaturist. Michael won his first model building contest when he was only 13 years old. By the time he was 16, he had several modeling awards to his credit and the local newspaper had devoted an article to him as well as his work. Michael excelled at art, and began studying architecture and landscape design while still in high school. It wasn't long before Michael had designed and built his first architectural and landscape diorama. An architecture and landscape design magazine promptly purchased that first diorama. Over the next few years, Michael built miniatures for his own enjoyment while selling several of his creations along the way.

In 1968, after graduating high school, Michael had aspirations of fulfilling his childhood dream by attending college to study paleontology. However, it wasn't meant to be. The local college did not offer paleontology in the curriculum. Since he was still working the farm with his father, Michael had a need to stay close to home. So, he enrolled in a local college to study architecture and landscape design coupled with a minor in art.

Soon after graduation, Michael moved to California, which is where he currently resides with his beautiful wife and two adult daughters. Because of his strong background in architecture and landscape design, Michael decided to open his own landscaping business, which he currently owns and operates. After establishing his business, Michael decided to dedicate his spare time to the art of miniatures. Michael’s dedication soon developed into a part-time business from which he has sold several of his unique creations to private collectors.

As Michael’s talent grew, he took the art of miniatures to a plateau, which has never before been seen. In 1991, he decided to combine all of his talents. His landscaping ability, over 30 years of modeling experience and his love of dinosaurs were the perfect combination for what was about to emerge. After thousands of hours of research, coupled with trial and error construction, Michael finally knew he had acquired the ability to recreate some of the most realistic dioramas in miniature ever seen.

Continually working on new and innovative ideas for his unique dioramas, Michael has truly
created a place for himself as a Paleoartist. He is currently in the process of writing a book
on how to create museum quality miniature dioramas. Please check back often for more details regarding the release of Michaels’ book.