Mick McArt has a last name that would seem to lead inevitably to a career as a cartoonist, author and graphic designer. But his path to the top of the Mackinac Center’s graphics department was anything but direct.

“I went to college to study archaeology because I was fascinated with biblical history,” Mick says. “But it was more difficult than I thought, and my grades were suffering, so to boost them, I took some art classes.”

Mick entered the field of graphic design right out of college. For 25 years, he designed all marketing and communications materials for Duro-Last, a Saginaw County roofing manufacturer with half a billion dollars in annual sales.

Mick is a true Renaissance man. Before entering college, he worked as a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant and then on the floor of an auto manufacturing plant. During high school, Mick and some friends started an underground music magazine that got big enough to interview bands on their tour buses. Today, he designs games and dabbles in photography.

Oh, and he also works as a puppeteer.

“A friend and I wrote and performed a puppet show that we filmed and sold at festivals,” Mick says. “It was pretty wild. Let’s just say part of it involved gunpowder and puppets blowing up.” They briefly entered negotiations to sell the show to MTV.

Mick grew up in Tawas, Michigan, the son of parents who moved from Detroit. While he assembled pneumatic parts for cars after high  school, Mick was inspired by colleagues to go to college. He went to Central Michigan University to study archeology and art.

After college, Mick started the graphics and design department at Duro-Last, working on billboards, newsletters, magazine ads, business cards, brochures, booklets and logos for contractors. He came to the Mackinac Center to do work that he values personally.

“I wanted to do something with my skill that wasn’t just advertising a product,” Mick said. “I love the cause and the idea that my work is advancing freedom. I use art to communicate our timeless policy ideas to people in a new way.”

When Mick isn’t at work, you can often find him at art festivals and book signings across Michigan and the Midwest. He started out writing Christian children’s books before moving into the comedy-fantasy realm. His eighth book in “The Unremembered Realms™” series recently came to market.

“I love making people laugh, and the comedy- fantasy style of book is what I grew up with,” Mick says. “I wanted to take a similar style and just do it in a more wholesome way.”

Mick and his wife Erica have two sons (Micah and Jonah) and a daughter (Emerald). The family enjoys fantasy reading and board games.