Avant Guardians

By Leticia Gonzales

At 72 years old, Nan Karr Kaufenberg, of Redwood Falls, continues to juggle working as a block print artist and real estate agent.

“I have always been interested in art and started drawing when I was a young child,” Kaufenberg said. “I took every art course that was offered in school.”

With a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Minnesota in art history and English, Kaufenberg later returned to college for a bachelor’s of science interdisciplinary degree in art and education from Southwest State University in Marshall.

“I had worked with block prints in high school and early college, but when I returned for my courses at Southwest State University, I really fell in love with the linoleum block print process,” she said. “Eventually, I experimented with water coloring the prints and that is the medium that I work in now.”

She later went on to receive her real estate sales license and broker’s license in Minnesota.

“The things that drew me to real estate are my interest in the various styles of houses and my love for working with people. I often use the interesting features of the houses and the country scenery for ideas for my art pieces.”

Kaufenberg’s inspiration comes from her surroundings.

“Indoors and out. I work from photos and sketches of things and scenes that inspire me.”

Some of Kaufenberg’s most-used themes are landscapes, seascapes and other nature scenes, as well as historic buildings.

“Most of my seascapes are from the North Shore — one of my favorite places.”

“There are a few other places: Norway, Lake Michigan, Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia. Landscapes are mostly southern Minnesota farmland scenes — my other favorite area is southern Minnesota.” Her creations incorporate linoleum blocks, gouges, ink and heavy paper. “I draw an image on a linoleum block, carve away the part that will stay white, and then I roll the ink onto the block and print onto heavy paper, which results in a print of the image. Once the ink dries, I watercolor each print.”

The process is not quick, taking anywhere from 10 to 20 hours to design and carve the linoleum block, plus another five to 10 hours to print an edition of prints. Then, Kaufenberg spends anywhere from 10 to 20 hours applying watercolor to the prints.

“I print small editions up to 20 prints. I have a linoleum block printing press that is hand-cranked, and I also do totally hand-printed editions by placing the paper on the block and rubbing with a wooden spoon across the back of the paper until the lines are all printed.”

This year her work has been on display at the KK Berge Gallery in Granite Falls, the Jaques Art Center in Aitkin and at The Grand Center for the Arts in New Ulm.

She has a show scheduled during September at The Bird Island Cultural Center in Bird Island and at the Hinterland Art Crawl, which will take place in Redwood County from 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. Sept. 25.

“I have been making and displaying my block prints for over 25 years and I have been in real estate for 16 years,” she said. “The two fields mesh well since both have flexible schedules. I do ‘carve’ out time to do art by taking vacations to northern Minnesota where I can relax in nature and spend hours on my carving, painting and idea gathering.”