Josh Rank - The Present is Past

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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Friday, July 21, 2023
7:00 pm

Mary Weber is losing her grasp on the difference between the past, present, and future. And after her husband suffers a heart attack, they need to figure out how to move forward. Something seems to be calling to her—but can they figure out what it is before it’s too late?

Josh Rank graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee before moving to various cities around the country only to return to his hometown. His fiction has appeared in The Emerson Review, The Feathertale Review, Hypertext Magazine, and elsewhere. He keeps himself busy putting together ugly woodworking projects, cooking for his wife, and wishing his dogs were better behaved.