Rachel Kauff was born in the suburbs of Chicago to a plein air landscape painter and an engineer. She received her BFA in printmaking from Grand Valley State University, and her MFA in printmaking and sculpture at the University of Iowa in 2017. She trained in artist-book publishing as an intern-in-residence at the Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosendale, NY and learned to work in wood through working for sculptor and designer Josh Vogel. Kauff has been the recipient of the Iowa Arts Fellowship and the Gordon Arts Fellowship, and has been awarded residencies at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, and the Pierce Cedar Creek Institute.