BIOGRAPHY

    Born and raised in Los Angeles, Anna Kaufman is at the end of a long line of artists: her maternal and paternal grandfathers, her parents, all painters and writers by trade. They each saw artistry as a gift in this world, and encouraged her to investigate its many forms. 

She spent much time in her mother's art studio, chock full of diverse materials to explore — and as an only child, a shy child, Kaufman was quick to find magic and solace in drawing and painting. Artmaking offered Kaufman a new way of seeing, studying, feeling — a type of language. Lost for hours creating narratives through line and shape, she discovered a new space to explore and translate thoughts and emotions.

        In 2022, Kaufman graduated from Vassar College in upstate New York with a degree in environmental studies, and concentrations in Earth Science and Visual arts. There, she had the privilege of taking independent studies in scientific illustration, studying general ornithological structures one semester, delving into the flora and fauna of her current home in Northwest Oregon during another. These courses, along with more traditional painting and Earth science studies, allowed Kaufman to explore art as science, and science as art, two areas she has come to believe are necessarily intertwined, breathing life into one another. Kaufman’s passion for environmentalism has deeply influenced much of her artwork, and inspired her to explore the intersectionality between activism, the arts, and sciences. 

Since graduating in December of 2022, Kaufman has been chosen as a resident at Astoria Visual Arts (AVA), during which she had her first solo show about clearcutting and logging in Clatsop County. She has had work displayed locally at Peter Pan Market and Deli and in Dancing Goats Coffee in Olympia. Some of Kaufman’s artwork has been displayed in the Gallery Made In Astoria. 

In early 2024, she had a joint show with artist Amelia Santiago, also chosen for the AVA AIR program in 2023. This show displayed large archival prints of an ongoing project — a graphic poem — titled “I Want To Tell You About My Body.”  

In August 2024, Kaufman had a show with fellow artist Denise Monaghan at Made in Astoria. The show, “Kith & Kin,” explored the intricate relationships we have with the myriad forms of life on our planet. Kaufman’s work included both drawings and an audio component that wove together soundscapes and an interview with activist Max Wilbert. She focused on the reckless exploitation and commodification of the natural world through a reflection on her time spent in Thacker Pass, Nevada — a mature sagebrush steppe ecosystem that is currently being converted into the largest lithium mine in North America.