About the artist

ARTIST RUSS KAUFMAN

Philosophy

As an artist, I want to create cool looking things that make people happy. I love the timelessness of stone and the freedom to play with color, texture, and of course, shape. I imagine my art among a hidden treasure trove - it’s interesting to look at and you can’t tell if it’s a week old or a few 100 years old.

Beginnings

I learned everything backwards. I started carving things directly in stone when I was completely green. I was working for Jerry Williams in Barre, Vermont on master level work that was way beyond my ability at the time. I would rough it out as far as I could see it and then Jerry would come draw on it, guiding me in closer.

The real turning point was when I worked on a monument base that had four columns with Italian renaissance capitals. I struggled on the first one, but by the third one I could “see” into the stone and had gained a huge measure of confidence and understanding.

Old, black and white photo of an inventor with a satellite

Mentorship

The expertise of the mentors in my life has been amazing. Most often I didn’t even know it at the time, I just thought that’s how things were. My passion for invention was greatly influenced by my grandfather. He was the guy they called on for the United States when the space race started. He built the first satellite for the US, the second one ever, and then invented the radio telemetry system to track it. When they formed NASA, they asked him to run the research lab. It was a huge pay raise, but he turned them down because it was also a desk job. No more inventing. I can relate.

Inventing

I'm an inventor at heart.

As a kid, I took everything apart. In fact, I still do to this day, just to see how it works. At this point in my life, art and engineering have blended together and it’s all the same thing to me now. Art is something I do because I have so much creative energy stirring around that I have to make things. However, many of my inventions are out of my reach because they will take considerable time and resources to build.

Today

I don’t worry about how to make it actually function until later. That’s my secret recipe - I go straight to what I want as if anything is possible. Then, I find a way to make it happen.

Today, I’m doing more drawing, which is normally the foundation that most artists build from. Inspired by the rugged coast of Maine, I love collecting ‘wows’ with my work and pushing the boundaries with each creation. Seeing my work being collected by you is both amazing and wonderful. Thank you for being here.