A Q&A with artist Katerina Shukshina

Why do you use plants as your medium?

Plants as a material for creativity continue the logical chain: plants as a material for play, plants as a material for life. As a child, my brothers and sisters and I spent most of our time outside. And all our games were built on interaction with nature in one way or another. We built huts out of twigs, made whistles out of acacia pods, and made manicures out of flower petals. We used the leaves of the trees as money when we played at the children’s store. Plants were part of the game.  In addition, the whole family went to the forest for mushrooms and berries, took care of the garden, harvested crops, went to haymaking. Plants were a part of life. Constant contact with nature also influenced my aesthetic perception. I looked at maple winglets as potential earrings, lichen patterns as a print in clothes. Plants have become a part of my creativity.

Where do you find inspiration? And what comes first – the idea of an object to make, or the plant you want to make something with?

Inspiration is everywhere. It is in the wheat spikelets fluttering in the wind, in the glare of the sun playing on the water surface, in the aroma of cherry trees, in the juiciness of young blossoming leaves after a long winter. Ideas come to me in different ways. Sometimes I take natural material as a basis, study it tactilely and visually. Already at this stage, some images begin to emerge, which soon find their embodiment. But it also happens that specific ideas come to mind immediately and the most I can do is write them down in notes. I don’t draw sketches (I keep a picture in my head), because there is an element of unpredictability in working with natural materials, and not everything can go according to plan. I love my creativity for the opportunity to create in the moment, improvising, not fully realizing what the result will be.

Where do you find the plants you use in your work, do you grow anything yourself?

The plants that I use in my work are usually in the closest radius from me. This is my vegetable garden that gives me not only a rich harvest, but also inspiration and materials for creativity. Every year I want to make my garden more abundant and diverse, so I dedicate the end of winter to my favorite kind of shopping – buying seeds. A wide variety of plants greets me on the territory located near the house (herbs, flowers, shrubs). And I like that the creative material is within walking distance from me. Sometimes I go to the forest and collect material there.

Your pieces are by nature ephemeral, being fashioned from plant material. What happens to them after?

I try to find practical applications for my pieces. Ballet flats from zucchini become pancakes, cabbage leaves that make up the jacket go to feed chickens, cherry tomatoes come off the bag and go straight to the salad, flowers become a herbarium or go to drying for tea.

What does a typical day in the life of an artist look like for you?

My day starts with a morning workout and a glass of hot water. Then I cook myself breakfast. If this is the spring-autumn season, then I go to collect the ingredients for breakfast in the garden and greenhouse. I really love it! I work in the garden until lunch (I’ll transplant something, weed the beds and all that sort of thing). Later, I do administrative work (sending emails, processing requests for cooperation). I really like to cook, so I also cook lunch and dinner from vegetables from the home garden. At lunchtime, I get on my bike and go to the forest, collect materials for creativity, herbs for tea, berries. I also collect plants near my house, spread a blanket in a green clearing, lay out plant materials and start creating. If I understand that it will take me a little time to create a product, then I shoot and photograph it on the same day. In the evening, I water the garden, drink tea on a bench near the house and watch the sunset.

Do you have any favourite gardens to visit or places to immerse yourself in nature?

My favorite place where I immerse myself in nature as much as possible is the village where I live. I went to live in different cities many times, but I always came back. For me, this is a place of power and it fills me with energy. But I also dream of visiting gardens located in all corners of our planet. For example, the Kirstenbosch Garden in South Africa, the gardens of Great Britain, Japan and the flower parks of Holland.

What has been one of your favourite pieces to make?

My favorite works are mostly made of cabbage. I love this material! Cabbage is so simple and understandable, but at the same time textured, multi-grade. I get great pleasure from working with dandelions, onion and garlic arrows, so products made from them are my favorites.

What are you working on at the moment?

Not far from my house, fluffy cattail caps grow in a pond. (More precisely, they have already faded, so they fluffed up). This fluff is very attractive to me. That’s what I’m going to experiment on in the near future.

Finally, as we are the Garden Museum, can you tell us about your relationship with plants, gardening and nature?

My relationship with nature and gardening began in childhood and continues to this day. I can say that this is the strongest relationship in my life. For me, a garden is not just a storehouse of useful products, a source of inspiration and materials for creativity, but also one of the ways to grounding. Interacting with plants, digging in the ground, doing physical labor, you leave no room for bad thoughts. Problems fade into the background. The vegetable garden is also a platform to realize my culinary abilities. I love cooking and delighting my family with delicious dishes. That’s what makes me happy.

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  Follow Katerina on Instagram: @shu_katerina