Obi Kaufmann

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In the field atlases of Obi Kaufmann, science and art blend to illuminate the multifaceted array of California’s natural world, forming a uniquely elemental narrative based on the shaping forces of earth, air, fire, and water, connecting systems like no other series of books has done before. For poet, painter and naturalist Obi Kaufmann, California is a magic network of living systems that connect in a grand quilt of both ecology and beauty, holding enough science, mythology and language for a hundred field atlases to come.

 

An avid conservationist, Obi Kaufmann regularly travels around the state, presenting his work and vision to such groups as the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildland center, Pacific Forest Trust, the Mojave Desert Land Trust, the Mechanics Institute of San Francisco, the Anza Borrego Foundation, the Mono Lake Committee, the University of California at Berkeley Botanical Garden, the University of California at Davis Plant Sciences Department, the University of California Santa Barbara Department of Water Sciences, the Peninsula Open Space Trust, the California Native Plant Society, the Wilderness Society and the Audubon Society. Obi is on the board of Directors of the California Wilderness Coalition and is winner of the 2019 Mark Dubois river protection award as presented by Friends of the River. Notable recent illustration projects include a 2022 residency with the National Wildlife Federation as the illustrator for the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in the Santa Monic Mountains National Recreation Area and was the 2020 artist for the nationally-toured Wild and Scenic Film Festival. In 2021, Obi worked as the illustrator of for the book “Climate Stewardship, a certification program” by Dr. Adina Merenlender (UCPress, Berkeley, 2021), and wine labels for ALMA FRIA from West Sonoma County. Obi’s essays and paintings have been published in Dark Mountain literary Journal, Zyzzyva literary journal, Bay Nature Magazine, Western Art & Architecture, Sunset Magazine, Juxtapoz Magazine, and On the Range magazine. Obi regularly posts his work on instagram as @coyotethunder.

 

Books, published:

  1. The California Field Atlas (2017, HEYDAY, Berkeley, CA) — number one regional best-seller, San Francisco Chronicle, non-fiction; winner of the gold medal for significant contribution to publishing by the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco
  2. The State of Water; Understanding California’s most precious resource (2019, HEYDAY, Berkeley, CA) — top-ten regional best-seller, San Francisco Chronicle, non-fiction
  3. The Forests of California, a California Field Atlas; Vol 01 — California Lands Trilogy (2020, HEYDAY, Berkeley, CA) — top-ten regional best-seller, San Francisco Chronicle, non-fiction; nominated for non-fiction book of the year, California Book Awards
  4. The Coasts of California, A California Field Atlas; Vol 02 — California Lands Trilogy — top-ten regional best-seller, San Francisco Chronicle, non-fiction (2022, HEYDAY)

 

Books, pending:

  1. The Deserts of California, A California Field Atlas; Vol 03 — California Lands Trilogy (2023, HEYDAY)
  2. The State of Fire; Where, how and why California burns (2024, HEYDAY)

Obi Kaufmann