Reptile Palace Orchestra

Art in the cafe...

Tamara Lea Kaufman


"pretty ~ ugly"


February 2026



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...
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Saturday, March 1, 2008

Madison's eclectic Reptile Palace Orchestra hasn't slithered in Motherfool's Coffeehouse since 2001 but is looking forward to lighting the room up Saturday March 1 at 8pm with lightly amped up versions of Eastern European, Balkan folkdance material and psychedelic delicacies from Turkey, Egypt and the USA.