We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Esther Boesche a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Esther, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you. Or what your definition is for meaning fun art?
Anything meaningful affects us deeply and holds irreplaceable value or impact. A good hammer can be useful, but if it’s meaningful depends on its purpose, replaceability, who gave it to you, and on its cultural or historical significance. We have to ask, meaningful for whom? Art’s role and significance varies greatly for a gallery, an art collector, a teacher, an activist, a child, a hobby artist, or a creative art therapist.
Personally, I see gardeners and chefs as some of the greatest artists. Though their creations are not displayed in galleries, they provide healing, intentionality, and transformative experiences. Limiting art to traditional building or painting materials overlooks a broader definition that includes any stage or practice creating beauty relationships, insights, and transformation.
A more inclusive view expands, rather than challenges, the value of traditional art. In fact, before the Covid pandemic, many artists in New York City began integrating cooking evenings and food performances into their public practices. They were very popular, reflecting an evolving understanding of what constitutes art. For myself making art means providing a transformative experience, creating something that affects the viewers or participants thoughts, views and emotions, and ideally leaves them with a little more hope and inspiration than before.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Making art has been essential throughout my life, helping me process experiences, environment, and self. Becoming an artist involves both conditioning and innate essence. Working with young children has shown me the early manifestation of personality and choice in human beings. For myself I cannot say what I inherited from conditioning through culture and environment and what was already predestined for my artistic journey. During childhood I was immersed in art and exploration, drawing inspiration from nature and outdoor adventures. Art was integral to my upbringing, complemented by a school curriculum that included woodworking, dance, and music in 1980s Germany. Around age 4 or 5, my dad taught me to use a hammer and screwdriver.
To minimize TV time and provide us with an intellectually stimulating and adventurous childhood our time was filled with outdoors activities and art, painting, and board games during bad weather and the harsh Northern winters. Weekends were spent visiting family, exploring forests and museums, or simply driving into the blue. These trips, introduced me to the beauty of the world around me. My father, who owned a car business in the 80s and early 90s, saw an opportunity to sell cars in former East Germany and Eastern Europe when the borders opened. This helped our family through the economic hardship of the time. During these trips, my parents provided me with a sketchpad and colored pencils, offering solace amidst car sickness and cramped quarters.
Drawing remains my favorite medium, it pulls you into creative flow states and especially abstract drawing produces results that are surprising even to the artist. New ideas always appear during the drawing process. It is like a higher power is moving you. This makes drawing much more into an exploration of what wants to happen through you, rather than a doing.
As a teaching artist, I see my students enter their flow states within 15 to 20 minutes of class. Given their long school days, the kids need this opportunity to ease and heal heir brains. Art, taught well, can teach children engineering, common sense, math, collaboration, social skills, and self-confidence—Unfortunately this is often undervalued and unrecognized. Everywhere, art programs for children are reduced more and more.
Being an artist involves engaging with communities and embodying openness and creativity in life.
My work aims to inspire and resonate with others, fostering transformation, and prompting reflection on perceptions, behaviors, and choices without imposing judgment or giving directives, but encouraging to seek alternative actions and view points. Through my art, I look into contemporary issues and fundamental questions of our time, exploring themes such as identity, emotions, cultural and societal structures, dreams, hope, human experiences of pain and joy, and resilience. Recent projects have explored topics including family dynamics, working conditions, female emotions, identity, and the impact of technology on humanity.
When did you start thinking like a professional artist?
I began thinking like a professional, conceptual artist in my early twenties with the purchase of my first point-and-shoot camera. Born in the 1980s, I experienced the excitement of evolving new technologies. Each new invention felt world-changing and fundamentally enriched our lives. When this cameras became affordable, I hoped it would expand my artistic possibilities. My first conceptual project involved folding paper boats from newspapers and Wall Street Journals, playing with them at the lake and river, and filming their behavior.
At the time, I lived in a historic city of about 70 thousand people, rich from medieval salt exports, and filled with museums, art spaces, and a university. I worked in an Italian restaurant, while preparing art school portfolio applications. The city was vibrant with young, creative, and entrepreneurial people. I became part of the early bar and coffee shop scene, working on my laptop and making friends. I learned etching techniques at a small community art studio and continued drawing, using my own father and many of my friends as models for my early serious photographic endeavors.
Initially struggled to find the right art school until I enrolled at the Muthesius School of Arts in Northern Germany. Here, I had freedom to develop both my design and artistic skills. Despite initial challenges in a mandatory photography course, I became one of the most ambitious students, eventually mentoring others in photography and video production. Little did I know at the time that my diligent effort would later allow me to go to New York City to continue my studies with several public and private grands and scholarships.
As an Artist what are your thoughts about the current developments in Ai and technology?
My curiosity about any new technology persists. Recently, I’ve been exploring AI in my art. It’s a fantastic tool that can support our work in many ways. People are afraid, but resisting AI is akin to rejecting the use of mobile phones or computers. AI doesn’t render artists’ work obsolete; handmade, unique creations will always hold intrinsic value, because the technology lacks the spiritual and meaningful essence infused by human hands and minds, which are guided by empathy, deep understanding of humanity, and our environment. Unless one views existence purely as a simulation, our spirit, physicality, and emotions remain indispensable.
Currently, I am developing large-scale drawings depicting ordinary spaces such as kitchens, supermarkets, public spaces and offices, transforming them into futuristic and alienating environments on paper. “Otherworld is Already Here,” delves into the integration of technological advancements, AI, and the concept of potential alien encounters that are already shaping our lives and ideas, particularly in the technologically progressive culture of the US. Through embedding associations from outer worlds into these scenes, I aim to emphasize how aspects of our daily lives, often perceived as normal, can also appear isolating, otherworldly and utopian.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
New York showcases remarkable coexistence among diverse cultures, religions, perceptions and ideas, demonstrating the possibility of integrating diversity. This can be very inspiring to be surrounded by enormous creativity and cultural diversity. However, many good artists have left for financially more hospitable, artist friendly environments. In the US and more and more in Europe as well, public discourse and artistic focus have heavily centered on racism, identity politics, climate change, which, while crucial, can overshadow many other aspects of artistic creativity and humanity. There is space and need to show diverse voices alongside these critical issues without losing focus on addressing them.
Current activism in the US often takes a confrontational, demanding and uncompromising stance, lacking empathy and understanding for differing cultural backgrounds. This hinders progress and worsens divides between races and cultures, often escalating into anger and violence during protests. There’s a pervasive sense of anger among different groups and activists who feel discriminated against and victimized, a sentiment that has intensified recently, through global conflicts and pressure from economic challenges.
Advocating for a cause through aggression, and resentment can alienate broader community support and understanding. New York City is known for cultural tolerance. Most individuals are primarily focused on their families, work, and financial stability from month to month. To effectively engage people from other cultures empathy and bridge-building between cultures are crucial. Progress requires inclusion, vulnerability, cultivating empathy and willingness to understand others to achieve transformation.
Understandably, addressing personal and cultural blind spots that clash with others’ rights and perceptions is challenging and complex, especially amidst US polarization and a “me-first” culture where a focus on the own personal self-expression and own communities rights and demands only often lack interest in wider community well-being and compromise.
How does your experience of New York and as an artist influence your teaching artist practice?
Teaching in underserved communities, I think a lot about my students’ futures, skills, and opportunities. I encourage them never to see themselves as victims or excluded. While I support them in speaking their truth and advocating for their rights, I emphasize not focusing too much on any of their limitations whether perceived or real.
Opportunities abound more than ever before. So it’s crucial to acknowledge that economic and social disparities are not solely rooted in discrimination. Many individuals achieve success through hard, continuous work and personal sacrifice, without seeking to exploit others or using their background as an advantage. This diversity is evident in significant positions across sectors like tech, banking, finance, education, and real estate, are held by very intelligent and capable minorities and immigrants, showcasing varied paths to success.
A lot of negative thinking and hopelessness based on parents past experiences, is passed on to the children in certain communities. Many children grow up being told at home the world doesn’t want them. Thats not good, because our thoughts create our experience.Teaching 600 to 800 kids a week at peak times, I’ve observed that the most successful students are not those with the highest IQ but those work continual and believe in themselves.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
My interest in the US first sparked in my early 20s, working as teacher with the international cultural program for children, CISV. This eventually led me to New York City for my MFA in advanced photographic studies, at the International Center of Photography/ ICP-Bard College. I was seeking to learn from the legacy of the great American photographers and the vibrant photographic culture here at the time. My own proficiency in photography and fascination with American photographic tradition led to a DAAD Artist Stipend for the US, as the only German photographer that year.
Moving to New York City marked a profound cultural shift for me.
While I never loved the city as a tourist, living and working here has been incredibly rewarding. Over the past decade, I’ve built a strong network of artist friends and collaborators, essential for launching projects and artist led initiatives. Navigating New York City has exposed me to a spectrum of experiences and challenges. Over time, I developed leadership skills that I now impart as a mentor and teacher. Alongside, I’ve learned about the cutthroat nature of the art market and the challenges of sustaining a livelihood as an artist. Teaching and building a growing education design business have provided independence from market trends and cancel culture pressures. I have learned to navigate the unique challenges of balancing multiple roles—a quintessential New York experience.
I’ve learned to blend my experiences of American culture with my Northern German roots in my art. While photography remains central to my recent works, I’ve expanded beyond it significantly. Growing up, my father’s encouragement to explore various materials gives me the confidence and skill to fearlessly and skillfully combine materials in my artwork. Rooted in Europe and nature, I find grounding amidst the hustle of NYC, embracing two cultures enriches both my art and my life profoundly.
How do you think opportunities for artists in Europe compares to the US in your experience as an artist living and working on both continents?
Generally Europe seems more accommodating for non commercial artists initiatives, allowing artistic events in many unused spaces. Creative people can easily organize events in borrowed spaces with widespread support. In contrast, NYC presents challenges such as skepticism, space limitations, and legal concerns. Despite these obstacles, I’ve co-organized pop-up shows in Wall Street storefronts, exhibited in white cubes, hotels, cafes, and alternative art spaces. This has allowed me to engage diverse communities and make art accessible to a large and diverse body of people.
I still remember the intense, weary energy pervading New York City just before the pandemic lockdown. Thinking it would only last two weeks, I welcomed the break, observing how tired and hopeless people looked on the subway at that time. Little did I anticipate how much longer the restrictions would stay. In the fall of 2020, after the last lockdown, I left the country to check on my aging parents and to escape the atmosphere of aggression and exhaustion in America.
Returning the following year, I embarked on a project celebrating the return to normalcy. This project aimed to capture the joy of summer, reflecting a renewed sense of hope and gratitude as people embraced outdoor life. However, much of this optimism has faded, particularly among younger individuals who increasingly feel disconnected and lonely and those in low-income jobs, of course.
During challenging economic periods, many artists turn to smaller works using more affordable materials to sustain their practice. It’s surprising how economic and societal tensions can sometimes stifle creativity rather than ignite it, contrasting with historical periods of economic woes and wars, which spurred a lot of clandestine artistic production despite adversity. Many artists I’ve spoken with recently feel burdened by economic pressures, lack of time and space and a fear of repercussions for expressing unpopular opinions, such as side job loss, exclusion, or public cancellation.
There is a growing anxiety over free speech globally, which worries me much, given that it stifles inclusive progress, and the historical lessons from my parents and grandparents about German history, where everything began with economic woes and censorship. Art in its transformative capability is also fundamentally about seeking out. Having to fear repercussions makes it more difficult for artists to speak and work freely.
Building supportive communities rooted in generosity acceptance and openness is essential for both, meaningful societal change and artistic expression. Amidst diverse communities and activism, I’ve come to value inclusive and tolerant approaches. Our shared vulnerabilities and dreams bring us together, underscoring the importance of informed, compassionate activism that bridges divides through patience and mutual respect.
Working with children has illustrated the transformative impact of art to me. Touching even one person’s life, regardless of age, can have a ripple effect through countless others. This belief in connectivity and spirituality motivates my artistic journey.
Art is a personal and transformative endeavor, whether practiced within a community or pursued independently. True artists are driven by an innate need to create and share, unaffected by fame or resources. Artists are unafraid to explore and repurpose materials to create new meanings. While a non-creative person usually sees a sponge as just a sponge, and a spoon as a spoon, an artist sees endless possibilities . It is the artists fundamental nature to create and to bring new ideas into the world, it is the essence of what an artist does.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.estherboesche.art
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/estherboesche/
- Other: https://thephotoeditor.cargo.site https://estherboesche.tumblr.com
Image Credits
courtesy of StudioEb
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