Kat’s murals bring the wild to you
February 27, 2024
Sometimes a little paint can make a big impact in a space and how we interact with it, shares artist and entrepreneur Kat Timm.
The Fruitful Wild founder is a recent graduate of Entrepreneur Rising Academy, a free, 10-week business-building bootcamp (that is currently accepting applications for the upcoming spring 2024 cohort!)
Kat specializes in large-scale vibrant artwork and murals “to help people create beautiful spaces and unleash their wild,” she said.
“I’ve always been making art,” she recalls. “It’s just what I do — Frogs hop, and bees buzz, and I make art.”
She describes her style as “biophilic,” inspired by plants and animals in nature.
“We didn’t evolve living in these houses, in these built environments completely devoid of outside life. Humans evolved with plants and animals, they’re our food and predators and prey,” she said. “I’m just in love with life, the vibrancy, the lushness, the organic shapes, the imperfections. Having more of that around us — the organic shapes, vibrant colors — stimulates a part of us and makes us feel alive and connected to the world, and that’s really important.”
The entrepreneur title, on the other hand, is a bit new.
“It’s a byproduct of me wanting to spend my time on art,” Kat said. “The company is a way to create more commitment and structure around the art practice. It’s a way for me to share my art with others, and also apply it in a way that improves people’s lives.”
When the time came to figure out exactly what her business could be, she turned to Entrepreneur Rising Academy.
“I started ERA with way too many ideas and no idea where to go,” Kat said. “Talking to Reginald (the facilitator) really helped me make those decisions. And he’s willing to be that person who says something doesn’t make sense with your stated business goals. That type of resource is not easy to come by.”
Kat suspects her Alaskan upbringing helped prepare her for her entrepreneur journey.
“Alaska is kind of at the edge of civilization, so Alaskans are very resilient at coming up with solutions,” she said. “If something breaks, you might order a spare part to fix it, or you might just find something around the house and make it work. That spirit of, there’s a solution, I will make this work, is helpful for an entrepreneur.”
Entrepreneur Rising Academy also helped build her confidence, she said.
“There’s a lot that you don’t know that you don’t know. That’s very intimidating. That still makes me nervous,” Kat said. “But ERA was so inspiring, and now I’m much more confident in my ability to be an entrepreneur and make a positive change, make the world a better place by providing value to people.”
If you’re curious about starting a business, just do it, she added.
“Planning and research is important, but it can only get you so far. You can’t plan a perfect business, you have to try things, see what works, iterate and make improvements along the way,” she said. “Start before you have everything figured out.”
