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Obi Kaufmann

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Obi Kaufmann
Kaufmann in 2010
Kaufmann in 2010
Born1973 (age 50–51)
Hollywood, California, U.S.[1]
Occupation
  • Illustrator
  • writer
  • conservationist
  • tattoo artist
EducationUniversity of California, Santa Barbara (BA)
Website
coyoteandthunder.com

Obi Kaufmann (born 1973) is an American naturalist, writer, and illustrator. He is the author of The California Field Atlas, a guide to the state's ecology and geography. The book features hundreds of his watercolor paintings of maps, wildlife, and other aspects of nature.

Early life and education

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Kaufmann was born in Hollywood, California in 1973.[2][3] His father, William J. Kaufmann III, was an astrophysicist who served as director of the Griffith Observatory from 1970 to 1974, and also a writer of several books about physics.[4] His mother is a clinical psychologist.[5]

In 1978, his family moved from Southern California to Danville, California, a town in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area.[6] While living there, Kaufmann spent an extensive amount of time exploring Mount Diablo State Park.[7]

Kaufmann studied at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He entered as a biology major but switched to visual arts after finding inspiration in wildlife painting and the rock art of the Chumash people.[5] While at UCSB, he took art classes under the painter Ciel Bergman.[8]

Career

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After college, Kaufmann lived in the Pacific Northwest before moving to Oakland, California in the early 2000s, where he has resided since.[9] Shortly after his return to the Bay Area, he switched from oil painting to watercolor.[6] He has contributed wildlife artwork to a variety of publications.[5] He was an arts writer for the East Bay Express, an alt weekly serving the East Bay.[10] Beginning in 2009, the brand Juniper Ridge employed Kaufmann as its "chief storyteller"; he eventually quit after he "got sick of selling shit."[6] He later collaborated with the Swedish denim brand Indigofera on a line of natural-fabric clothing.[11] He has worked as a tattoo artist for several years, dating back to his time living in the Pacific Northwest.[6] While he was preparing The California Field Atlas, he only took breaks to go on hikes or to work at a tattoo parlor in Oakland.[12]

Kaufmann is a conservationist and has given talks across California on ecology and preservation of nature.[13]

The California Field Atlas and other books

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In 2017, the Berkeley nonprofit Heyday Books published Kaufmann's first book, The California Field Atlas. The book was a surprise commercial success: it sold out of its first two printings, generating pent-up demand, and became a regional bestseller.[14] It was a recipient of numerous California book awards.[15]

His next book, The State of Water: Understanding California's Most Precious Resource, was released in June 2019.[16] It will be followed by The California Lands trilogy, consisting of The Forests of California (Fall 2019), The Coasts of California (Spring 2020), and The Deserts of California (Fall 2020).[17]

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ Crockett 2017.
  2. ^ Sunset Magazine 2019.
  3. ^ Kaufmann, Obi (April 25, 2019). "The Evolving Language of Conservation". Coyote and Thunder. I was born in 1973, the same year as the passing of the Endangered Species Act...
  4. ^ Khokha 2018; Fraknoi 1995.
  5. ^ a b c Clark 2018.
  6. ^ a b c d Smith 2017.
  7. ^ Spotswood 2017; Markoulakis 2017.
  8. ^ Kaufmann 2017.
  9. ^ Clark 2018; Smith 2017.
  10. ^ Kaufmann 2012.
  11. ^ Smith 2017; Markoulakis 2017.
  12. ^ Spotswood 2017.
  13. ^ Sonoma Index-Tribune staff writer 2018.
  14. ^ Spotswood 2018; Clark 2018; Markoulakis 2017; Saffo 2018.
  15. ^ Sonoma Index-Tribune staff writer 2018; Gilmore 2018; Rogers 2018; Hanlon 2018; Bieschke 2018.
  16. ^ Tahoe Weekly staff writer 2019.
  17. ^ Kaufmann 2018; Spotswood 2018, 14:02–15:41.

Sources

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