I learned early to look closer
I grew up along the Clark Fork River in western Montana, where the natural world was simply part of everyday life. My siblings and I turned over rocks, caught minnows, watched great horned owls nest above our home, and listened to coyotes from the horse pasture.
I come from five generations of Montanans and a family of artists and naturalists who encouraged curiosity. I spent long days on horseback with my Nana, stargazing with my dad, and painting at the table with my Oma. I was taught to pay attention, ask questions, and believe in something bigger than myself.
The more I learned about the place around me, the bigger it became. A bird was no longer just a bird—it had a name, a migration, a habitat, and a place within a much larger story. One question always seemed to lead to another.
I think that a sense of belonging to a place begins with noticing it. Learning its rhythms, recognizing what lives there, and becoming familiar with the small things you might otherwise pass by. The closer I looked, the more familiar the world around me became—and the more it felt like home.
That idea has stayed with me: the closer we look, the more we belong. And the more we belong, the more we care. It became the foundation for my work as a natural science illustrator, and eventually, for FINCH.
FINCH is a bridge.
From field notes to fine art.
For a while, I thought I might become a biologist. I knew I wanted a life connected to the natural world; I just didn’t yet know what shape that would take.
I found my way into mountain sports, spending my days in some extraordinary places. But working in the outdoor industry taught me something I didn’t expect: it’s easy to care about the summit. It’s harder to care about the lichen at your feet. One commands our attention; the other asks us to pay attention. But both belong to the same landscape.
This brought me back to the curiosity I’d grown up with. I didn’t just want to move through these places; I wanted to know them. I wanted to learn the names of what I was passing, understand how it all fit together, and notice the things that were easy to overlook. Illustration became a way to return to that practice—to slow down, look closer, and keep asking questions.
What began as drawing the flora and fauna around me eventually led me to study natural science illustration at California State University, Monterey Bay, where I learned how illustration could bring art and science together to make the natural world more understandable.
Today, FINCH brings those pieces together. I collaborate with researchers, conservation organizations, and educators to translate science into thoughtful, accurate illustration, while creating fine art and goods that invite that same curiosity into everyday life. Whether a piece begins with a research paper, a conversation with a scientist, or an observation in the field, the purpose is the same: to help us notice what’s already there.
What we believe at FINCH
Attention is the first step toward stewardship.
We can't protect what we don't notice. Every illustration is an invitation to slow down, look closer, and discover something worth caring for.
Science and art belong together.
Scientific accuracy and visual impact are most powerful when they work together. The strongest natural science illustrations not only inform — they invite engagement, making ecological knowledge more accessible and memorable.
The details matter.
In nature, the details are often where the story begins. A marking, a movement, a habitat, or a relationship can reveal something essential about how a species lives. FINCH exists to help make those stories visible.
Crafted to last.
The objects we live with shape our daily lives. FINCH creates goods inspired by the natural world — pieces designed to be used, loved, and passed from one generation to the next.
Rooted in place.
This work begins in Montana — in its rivers, alpine terrain, and wide open skies. That sense of place shapes everything, from the subjects we choose to the partners we collaborate with.
What Makes FINCH Different
Art in support of science.
The art behind FINCH wasn’t created simply to be beautiful. It comes from natural science illustration—the practice of turning scientific knowledge into art that helps us understand the natural world. It can bring years of research into a single image, reveal details a photograph might miss, show relationships that are difficult to see, and make complex science feel approachable.
That purpose changes the artwork itself. Every detail has been considered. A posture can communicate behavior. A plant can place an animal within its habitat. A tiny anatomical feature can tell you exactly which species you’re looking at. Even if you never know the science behind your piece, that depth is still there. It gives the art specificity, story, and a reason for looking the way it does.
The FINCH shop expands this work beyond scientific and educational spaces and into everyday life. An illustration that began with a question, a research project, or a collaboration can become the print on your wall or the shirt you reach for again and again.
And when you choose FINCH, the cycle continues. Your purchase helps fund the time, research, and collaboration behind new natural science illustration. That work helps scientists, educators, and organizations communicate what they know—and eventually, some of it finds its way back into the shop, ready to begin another conversation.
