Artist Michael Strauss

Fine Art, traditional artists, creating in a wide range of materials and mediums. Michael Strauss grew up and spent most of his life in Southern California.

Now semi-retired, he spends most of his time in his studio, utilizing his various talents and skill sets and creating many different works of art. He loves painting, drawing, and sculpture, as well as the art of photography and writing short stories and then illustrating the scenes. As an artist, he said, “Creating works of beauty, positive impressions, is what I love to do. Being able to contribute like this to the world, makes my life meaningful. Hopefully, I will be leaving an influential example long after I am gone.” Following high school graduation, he joined the US Marine Corps. After completing his military tour honorably, he attended several colleges where he studied fine art. He worked in the toy industry for most of his adult life. He had the opportunity to create a multitude of toys for many world-renowned toy brands, as a toy Master Model Builder, Staff Designer, and engineer.

His toy career started in 1983 when a small independent research and development team offered him an exciting position. Tasked with creating new innovative toys for many larger well-established toy companies, he found this career path challenging and he enjoyed creating toys for children. Later, he applied for a position at a local toy company in the Santa Barbara area and quickly moved up to managing the model shop and achieving Master Model Maker status.

In 1997, Mattel Inc. approached him, offering a master-level position in their design center. It was a dream job, working with one of the most prestigious toy companies. Michael worked over thirty-four years in the industry, creating, thinking up, and building new and wonderful toy concepts for children. He said, “There’s nothing more rewarding than talking with parents about toys and then learning that their child’s favorite toy was one that I had designed and/or created.”