Tamara Lea Kaufman - February 1

Artist Statement

Tamara Lea Kaufman’s personal artwork ranges from serious to quirky, dark, adult-themed humor.

She creates multimedia assemblage, collage, and dioramas made from HO-scale railroad hobby miniatures, preserved insects, paint, embroidery, found objects, and typically discarded materials such as candy wrappers and the overlooked debris of everyday life.

Her work explores topics of consumption, waste, desire, relationships, psychology, politics, societal pressures and the levity of humor needed to survive it all.

It gives her joy to repurpose materials into something new, useful, or entertaining.

Tamara earned her Bachelor’s degree in Art and Design from Iowa State University, combining interior design, psychology, and advertising.

She’s intrigued by the psychology of human behavior, and how the design of spaces—composition, color, and visual cues—shape mood, behavior, and desire.

For over 20 years, she has worked in commercial photography as a food and prop stylist, often collaborating as a co–art director alongside photographers and creative teams.

Her career is in visual persuasion—seducing a customer with photography toward a feeling, a behavior, or an action: buying a product, cooking a recipe, etc.

She also worked as a cheese buyer, professional baker, recipe tester, and caterer.

Her career is primarily freelance, with two years spent at the Milwaukee Reader’s Digest ~ Riemann Publications photography studio, cooking and producing photos that accurately presented recipes for print.

She is currently working on her second cookbook with a local chef.