Obi Kaufmann

Illustrator
writer
conservationist
tattoo artist

EducationUniversity of California, Santa Barbara (BA)Websitecoyoteandthunder.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

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

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

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

Citations

^ Crockett 2017.
^ Sunset Magazine 2019.
^ 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...
^ Khokha 2018; Fraknoi 1995.
^ ^a ^b ^c Clark 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Smith 2017.
^ Spotswood 2017; Markoulakis 2017.
^ Kaufmann 2017.
^ Clark 2018; Smith 2017.
^ Kaufmann 2012.
^ Smith 2017; Markoulakis 2017.
^ Spotswood 2017.
^ Sonoma Index-Tribune staff writer 2018.
^ Spotswood 2018; Clark 2018; Markoulakis 2017; Saffo 2018.
^ Sonoma Index-Tribune staff writer 2018; Gilmore 2018; Rogers 2018; Hanlon 2018; Bieschke 2018.
^ Tahoe Weekly staff writer 2019.
^ Kaufmann 2018; Spotswood 2018, 14:02–15:41.

Sources

Bieschke, Marke (April 2, 2018). "Read something new! California Book Award finalists announced". 48hills. Archived from the original on October 20, 2018. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
Clark, Leilani (February 28, 2018). "Naturalist Obi Kaufmann, author of 'The California Field Atlas,' comes to Sebastopol Copperfield's". The Press Democrat. Sonoma Media Investments, LLC. Archived from the original on February 14, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
Crockett, Daniel (2017). "Drawing Inspiration from Nature". Wildside: The Enchanted Life of Hunters and Gatherers. Gestalten Books. ISBN 978-3-89955-672-8 – via coyoteandthunder.com.
Fraknoi, Andrew (December 1995). "Obituary: William J. Kaufmann III, 1943–1994". Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society. 27 (4). American Astronomical Society: 1477–1478. Bibcode:1995BAAS...27.1477F. doi:10.3847/BAASOBIT1995003 (inactive January 31, 2024). Archived from the original on November 22, 2017. Retrieved May 22, 2019.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link)
Gilmore, Sue (June 5, 2018). "California Book Awards will be handed out June 11 — here's who won". The Mercury News. Digital First Media. Archived from the original on February 14, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
Hanlon, Patrice (December 6, 2018). "Readers share their favorite books about nature". The Mercury News. Digital First Media. Archived from the original on December 7, 2018. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
Kaufmann, Obi (March 7, 2012). "Introducing the Express' New Arts Writer, Obi Kaufmann". East Bay Express. Archived from the original on August 29, 2018. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
Kaufmann, Obi (November 6, 2017). "Behind the Making of the California Field Atlas". coyoteandthunder.com. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
Kaufmann, Obi (July 5, 2018). California's Natural World; Conservation & Restoration (Speech). Hosted by the California Native Plant Society – Yerba Buena Chapter. San Francisco County Fair Building. Archived from the original on February 15, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2019 – via coyoteandthunder.com.
Khokha, Sasha (March 2, 2018). "An Atlas That Paints Wild California with a Watercolor Brush". The California Report. KQED-FM. Archived from the original on June 14, 2018. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
Markoulakis, Sophia (November 13, 2017). "Naturalist Obi Kaufmann maps the road less traveled". San Francisco Chronicle. Hearst Communications. Archived from the original on February 14, 2019. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
Rogers, Don (May 24, 2018). "Nevada City author Josh Weil wins state book award". The Union. Swift Communications. Archived from the original on February 14, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
Saffo, Paul (May 17, 2018). "Blazing a New Trail". The Journal of Alta California. William Randolph Hearst III. Archived from the original on February 14, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
Smith, Jeremy (October 26, 2017). "From Middle Earth to Oakland: Obi Kaufmann and the 'California Field Atlas'". Juxtapoz. Archived from the original on November 19, 2017. Retrieved October 13, 2018.
Sonoma Index-Tribune staff writer (January 29, 2018). "Obi Kaufmann brings his 'California Field Atlas' to Sonoma". Sonoma Index-Tribune. Sonoma Media Investments, LLC. Archived from the original on February 13, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
Spotswood, Beth (December 15, 2017). "An Atlas without Roads". The Journal of Alta California. William Randolph Hearst III. Archived from the original on February 14, 2019. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
Spotswood, Beth (August 29, 2018). "Episode 5: Obi Kaufmann". The Journal of Alta California (Podcast). William Randolph Hearst III. Archived from the original on February 14, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
Sunset Magazine (May 13, 2019). "Meet the Modern-Day Wilderness Warrior with the Soul of an Artist". Sunset Magazine.
Tahoe Weekly staff writer (May 29, 2019). "'State of Water' book launch". Tahoe Weekly. Archived from the original on June 2, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2019.