Bio & FAQs
Kim Kuchenbecker, Creative Coach & Visual Artist
Hi, I’m Kim :)
As a coach, I believe in the power of creativity to transform everyday life into an adventure of discovery, creation and connection.
In my 15 years of working in games and animation, I developed a passion for helping creative people make their best work.
I’ve been a background painter, children’s book illustrator, art director and even a a production coordinator, but this is my most exciting job yet. Working one-on-one with clients brings me absurd amounts of joy and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to challenge and cheer on their incredible efforts.
“The world is full of magic things patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” —unknown
I first read this quote in the book Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross. This was the first time I learned about science that proved what always felt true to me: that creative pursuits have a tremendous impact on the brain, body and soul.
But, so often we lose the connection to these benefits. Artists and creative types are feeling a growing sense of dread due to AI, fewer industry jobs and a cacophony of voices on social media.
I got into coaching out of a desire to tame my own creative demons and out of concern for so many friends and colleagues who had also gotten stuck in the quagmire of self-doubt and self-sabotage or just struggled day to day to keep their creative sparks alive.
Engaging with creativity means engaging our senses, so it’s no surprise that it makes us feel more alive! For artists, the creative spirit can feel like a life force, a powerful way to channel inspiration and expression. It’s part of how we approach the day and what gets us out of bed in the morning. But if that life force is depleted, if we find ourselves just surviving, just going through the motions, it can feel soul crushing. Like a piece of us is lost or missing.
I want to help creative people listen to and develop their own voices and make whatever is in them to make.
In my 8 week coaching program, you’ll build self-trust through reflection and action. You’ll build confidence through deliberate practice and resilience through challenge. We’ll explore different perspectives, reflect on values and identity and experiment with new processes. In our time together, I hope that you not only achieve your personal milestones, but that you fall in love with your craft in ways you never imagined.
How is coaching different from therapy?
The coaching process helps clients to build skills, practices and habits, set attainable goals and achieve them. Coaches hold clients accountable, encourage and challenge them. Coaching is not usually covered by insurance.
Therapy is very different. It involves analysis, diagnosis & treatment of conditions like depression, anxiety, grief and other mental distress. It requires professional licensing and is often covered by insurance.
Some of the activities of coaching like journaling, self-reflection and habit formation can be complementary to therapy, but they are no replacement or substitute for the important healing that therapy provides.
What is creative coaching ? Who is it for?
Over an 8 week period, my coaching program is designed to help clients revitalize their passion for creating and prevent or recover from burnout through building confidence in their abilities and clarity about the most important actions to take at this stage in their life and career.
Creative Coaching can help with:
Starting, picking up and/or finishing a project or ongoing creative practice
Finding inspiration, generating ideas and connecting more deeply with your craft
Prioritizing creative practice, planning, skill development and time management
Building self-trust through clarity, alignment with your values and taking action
Changing self-sabotage behaviors like procrastination, perfectionism and imposter syndrome
Bringing joy, wonder, gratitude, self-compassion and beginner’s mind to your process
Should I sign up for coaching even if I’m very busy?
This comes down to your particular situation, but here are a few things to consider:
If you’re already struggling with balance, coaching may provide the change you need. The coaching process will help you prioritize what is most important so that you can plan out your time better while keeping balance with work, rest and relationships.
You’ll need to set aside one hour a week for your 1-on-1 coaching call.
A lot can be accomplished in 30 minutes a day or even a few hours a week with focussed attention. Effort compounds over time, forming habits and acquiring skill makes progress faster.
Will you have more time in the next few weeks, months, years? Creative goals can be easily forgotten in favor of more urgent demands. But, if you decide to make the commitment, coaching can help you make the time.
What is the coaching experience like?
One of my most important jobs as a coach is to help you remember that you are already creative, whole, capable and resilient. You already have everything you need within yourself to succeed, even if it doesn’t always feel that way.
Coaching requires an equal partnership, so we’ll both commit to giving our best effort. The more energy you bring to coaching, the more you will get out of the process.
I’m here to encourage you, challenge you and keep you accountable to your values, hopes, dreams and goals. I’ll also help you discover patterns that may be hindering your progress.
Each coaching relationship is unique because all people are unique! We’ll continuously adjust to each other as time goes on.
Everything we discuss will be kept strictly confidential. I want to create a safe space to dream, experiment, strategize and to express yourself while also embracing challenge and struggle.
Coaching should be fun! Bringing a light heart and plenty of self-compassion to a solid commitment makes you more likely to stick with it, especially in difficult circumstances.
I will never shame you for not finishing something on time or in a specific way. Instead, we’ll treat this information as data that can help you iterate and improve. In fact, we learn much more from asking why something failed than we do from a perfect success.
How much does it cost?
The cost is currently $1500 for my 8-week coaching program with an option to be charged two monthly payments of $750.
This includes:
A (1 hour) 1-on-1 session with me every week where we dive into your unique vision of a creative life and the skills, projects and experiences that will help you build it
Resources, creative exercises and e-mail check-ins throughout the weeks to help keep the momentum going and answer any questions you may have as they come up
It’s true that coaching is not cheap, but the potential it has to transform your process, your drive, your trajectory and balance in life is, in my humble opinion, immeasurable!
What will we focus on each week?
This is a general guide. We’ll mix and match topics according to your unique goals :)
Week 1 – We’ll begin with a snapshot of where you are, where you want to be and what’s prevented you from achieving your creative goals in the past. We’ll get to work right away on the first steps to get you headed in the right direction.
Week 2 – I’ll challenge you to dream big! Imagine that you’ve already achieved everything you’ve ever wished for. What skills, values and traits would you need in order to become this future creative person?
Week 3 – We’ll tackle your creative project head on, setting incremental milestones and engaging the right amount of challenge, a firm commitment and plenty of self-compassion.
Week 4 – We’ll get into the core of creativity, we’ll turn up the senses and examine how you experience and create art. We’ll come up with ways to see ideas everywhere, hear your creative voice more clearly and do more of the work that lights you up.
Week 5 – We’ll focus on how to get things done better. We’ll build self-trust through adjusting habits, learning from mistakes and tracking your progress.
Week 6 – We’ll delve into the common physical, mental and emotional obstacles that we all experience on our creative journeys and how to spot and respond to them.
Week 7 – We’ll explore your concept of meaning-making and the contribution you’d like to make, whether it be on a small or large scale. How can creativity help you and your loved ones, team or community flourish?
Week 8 – We’ll reflect on how far you’ve come and celebrate the real transformation you’ve made in yourself and your life. Once we’ve investigated what went well and what to change next time, we’ll set new exciting goals and build anticipation for the next phase of your creative work.
How will I know that I’m making progress?
As you progress, you may start to feel confident trying things that scared you before. You might get faster or better at an activity that used to frustrate or overwhelm you. You may start imagining new dreams and new goals and believing that more things are possible.
When we’re engaged in a healthy level of stress, we don’t just enjoy it, we actually crave the challenge.
When we extend too far beyond our capacity, the negative effects of stress inhibit learning and quickly lead to burnout, so we’ll be working together to find your perfect range.
The graph of progress is not a straight diagonal line, it looks more like the edge of a mountain with peaks and valleys that generally trend up and to the right over time.
If your goal is set where it needs to be, you will encounter obstacles, struggle and even fail. The important thing is that you keep showing up, give yourself grace and recognize what you’ve learned and how far you’ve come.
What are your thoughts on using AI in the creative process?
As AI evolves, each of us will need to personally question how to act with integrity using this technology. In its current state, I chose to interact with it as little as possible.
Here are my reasons for being wary:
We built and continue to sharpen our cognitive and tactile abilities through effort and struggle, not tech reliance. Overuse of AI can disrupt our self-trust, inhibit decision-making and cause important skills and abilities to atrophy.
Technology is designed to be easier and easier to use over time. It’s our ability to reason and our personal catalog of knowledge, taste and tenacity that will enable efficient use of the tool should we be required to use it one day.
Data centers cause immense damage to the environment, require an incredible amount of water and energy to run and make local conditions unlivable.
AI steals from creatives without permission, devalues their work and violates their copyrights.
Because AI companies are operating at a tremendous loss, their tools may one day become too expensive to access.
AI is currently an unreliable tool. It returns answers that it thinks the prompter wants to hear and hallucinates incorrect information. There are specific uses and programs that have a high accuracy rate, but it can’t be relied upon across the board.
Human connection is important for our nervous systems. Engaging with art that we know was made by a human can expand our perspective and strengthen our sense of belonging. It can help us understand each other better. Interacting with AI chatbots can cause us to isolate and increase our sensitivity to threats.
We’ve been trending towards a more desk bound and sedentary lifestyle since the invention of of the television. Finding time to nurture our mind/body connection puts us back in balance with our physical and mental needs.
The creative life is a life not tethered to a phone or computer. Immerse yourself in experience, train your senses and expand your perception of the world around you. Dive into your ‘self,’ your subjective point of view. What lights you up? What fascinates and delights you? What fills you with rage or brings you to tears? What evokes a sense of wonder? What brings joy?
Share, collaborate and contribute to your community in person. Embrace your humanity, your emotions, your strengths and weaknesses, your hopes and dreams, your fears and failures and make something that is truly yours.
