“Artist & Walking Work of Art”
(1918-2015)

Barbara Kaufman embraced life and translated it into art. She grew up in a family that owned a textile business, and she would often travel with them internationally in search of exotic fibers. While a teenager, she became interested in art and worked with sculptor Harry Wickey. After attending Skidmore College, she and her husband, Ralph, settled in Walden, New York, for 23 years, where they raised their three children and operated an apple orchard.

In the early 1960s, they moved to Woodstock, Vermont. Barbara enjoyed country life - spending much of her time in her art studio with her beloved dog at her side. She worked in many media including clay, plaster, paint, pencil, concrete, and needlework.

Those who knew her best have described her as “beautiful, elegant, funny, and honest. She was, with her wrists full of silver bracelets, silver polish on her toenails, a flower and hair sticks tucked into the back of her pinned-up long grey hair, a walking work of art.”

Barbara’s sculpture is found in many private collections as well as public spaces throughout the Upper Valley, including Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and Mount Ascutney Hospital.