Local painter, muralist, and woodworker Conrad Kaufman grew up appreciating nature.   A  self-taught artist with a B.S. in Anthropology from WMU, his many public works of art can be seen at the People’s Food Co-op, the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, the Portage and Kalamazoo Public  Libraries, and illuminating poems on walls all around Kalamazoo. He also paints landscapes that “soak in the soft combing of wind through branch and leaf, the gossip of birds and the swish and sway of grasses, the smell of dew, the decay of leaves, the flavor of serenity.” His work brings nature and the great outdoors to the forefront of our senses.