Klara Heim - pittore contemporaneo

About me...

Thinking back, my first works of art were made when I was four years old in my great-grandfather's carpentry workshop. To this day, I can still smell the scent of knee-high, freshly-ground sawdust. From the first moment, I was enchanted and captivated by the desire to create, which has never diminished. My first role model made me a wooden hammer, and when he smiled and handed it to me, he said: Nail, my girl, just nail! And I nailed it. I nailed everything. Even the things I shouldn't have...

A few years later, when that little wooden hammer was worn out, I picked up a graphite pencil. My mother gave it to me to keep me busy. But it wore out quickly, so I got another one and then many more. I couldn't and wouldn't stop. I just kept drawing and drawing. Everywhere and for everything. Even where I shouldn't have...

My mother's best friend - who was a real painter - when she came over to our house, she would invite me to draw with her at my little red table. She would curl up next to me and enchant me with her art. I got goosebumps from the admiration she could inspire with a plain piece of paper and a simple graphite pencil. She gave me so much inspiration and knowledge during those late night drawing sessions.

Many years have passed and much water has flowed down that particular river since then. The current was strong, and for a long time it took me in a different direction. By the age of seven I was a professional competitive athlete. Although I still drew occasionally for fun, gymnastics became the focus of my life. I went from practice to practice, from competition to competition. Because I was always a perfectionist about my work, the work I put in paid off. As an adult, my life became even more fast-paced, and gymnastics became my full-time job. As a coach, I helped a lot of kids achieve their goals. Six training sessions a week, choreographing, sewing costumes, editing music, and preparing for competitions filled most of my time. I loved it! I loved it because it took creativity. The children's eyes sparkling with happiness as they achieved their dreams made up for all the sweat and toil. Even during this time, my close friends and family never forgot that art was a part of my being. They constantly approached me with various requests and demands. "I just need a painting for my cafe that's opening, I just need to renovate my grandparents' old wardrobe, I just need a fun drawing for my kid's room, or I just need a big decoration for my office!" These and similar requests kept coming in, and I could never resist. I just created again, everywhere and for everyone. Even where they didn't ask...

These were the moments in which I never got tired. It gave me a charge like nothing else. I created when I was happy and I created through the night even when something was really bothering me inside.

Meanwhile, I kept hearing from my loved ones, "Why don't I do something with my God-given talent? - "I don't have the time!", I said immediately. They never understood. No wonder, only an artist can really understand. Only an artist can understand how one needs time to stand still and there is no rush. I need the opportunity to bring out the self that is repressed under the weight of everyday life, the self that can create. To be able to see and feel the world differently. A world that needs to be shared and shown to others. When I am creating, I cannot be spoken to nor do I hear what is being said to me. It's just the three of us. Me, myself and the miracle I'm working on at the time. In the past, due to lack of time, I could only reach this magical level less often.

And then I continued to roll with that particular river, and life threw something at me. Time. The time that gave me the opportunity to let my imagination run wild and to indulge in the joy of creation. I am an autodidact, I learn and develop my craft to this day. My aim is to bring color, warmth and something unique into homes. My most important tools are heart and love.

I am rich because my work is my passion. My supporters are my husband, my little boy, my family and my friends, who have stood behind me with their unwavering faith.

Today, I create in my own workshop, and every time I take a hammer in my hand, I hear my great-grandfather's smiling words: nail, my girl, just nail! And I do...