Process designer and aspiring urban forester. Passionate wild herbalist and equally at home in the forest as in the urban jungle. Her motivation is to get people excited about plants with awareness projects, illustrations and meeting spaces. In the world since 1997, prefers cool weather and likes to quote movies. (Extracted from URBANROOTS)

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Out & About: Do you call yourself an artist?

Kim Wüst: Yes, because for me art has to do with how you look at the world (environment) and try to understand it. The craft of art, i.e. drawing, painting, etc., are tools for me to interpret what I observe, respectively to look closely at it.

“Be brave and patient.”

What inspires you?

I feel most inspired when I am out in nature, surrounded by plant and animal life. But also works of other artists can inspire me or their techniques.

How did you start?

To the chagrin of my parents, I started painting walls as a toddler. From that early on I liked to paint, do handicrafts and so on. At some point I got my first watercolor box and then felt like a real painter. Since then I was actually always connected with art. Depending on how you define art.

If you had the chance to study art, would you do it?

I probably wouldn’t study anymore, but courses to learn different techniques would appeal to me.

“However, my plan is to offer workshops that deal with plant illustration.”

Do you think a professional training or education would have led you faster to the current state?

The trainings I took brought me to the point I am at now. With a Fine Arts education I would not have been faster or maybe even somewhere else entirely.

Do you have an underlying message in your work?

My works often show elements from nature (meaning flora, fauna). From this I think they show or express my connection with the environment.

Do you earn money from your art?

With the pictures I paint or print (linoleum print) not really yet. However, my plan is to offer workshops that deal with plant illustration. As I mentioned before, art can create a connection (relationship) with the other person (in that case, the plant). And it is these relationships between humans and flora that I would like to foster.

Do you have any additional sources of income?

On the one hand, through a bread job (in the true sense of the word), in a bakery in sales. On the other hand, since this year I work as a freelancer for various clients in the areas of (plant) tours, workshops, sales etc.

How did your first exhibition come about?

My first “exhibition”, if you can call it exhibition, I had last year at the Gleisbogen, where I am active with my project Atelier Pionier. I work there mainly with environmental awareness and have portrayed plants and exhibited these images at the opening event.

Do you have any advice for aspiring young artists?

Be brave and patient. The key is relationships; a good network opens many doors. And ask for help. I always need support with financial things, for example.

Dear Kim, thank you so much for your inspiring answers! We sincerely wish you all the best on your further path as an artist.

Interview: Ina Bandixen

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In the interview series “Artists without a degree in art” we have conducted interviews with artists who have no formal training in the liberal arts and who combine different backgrounds. It is important to us to show that the often still elitist thinking in conservative art institutions represents a barricade for many people, for example when discriminatory structures, racist and sexist attitudes, or even financial barriers make it difficult for them to enter art studies. On the other hand, it is also about understanding that life courses do not always follow a linear and clear line, and that detours and backgrounds outside the field can represent great added value. In the series, seven artists answer the same ten questions about their own CVs and how they ended up where they are now. They tell of very individual and stubborn paths to art, which show how diverse the path to professional creation can be.