Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kurt Steger. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kurt , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

It has always been my dream to build an art studio from the ground up, and in 2020 I was finally able to fulfill this dream. Located in the Hudson Valley of New York, it is a 700-sf structure of my own design, with a sculpture garden that extends my studio outdoors. There is a gazebo that I designed and built where guests naturally congregate. I host a monthly salon and invite people to share their talents and ideas.

I am currently working with partners to build a woodworking school for youth. This is a longtime dream, and a way to give back to the community, as well as to build a future that includes creativity and independence. We’re working with the city of Peekskill to create an after school curriculum in which we teach woodworking skills at no cost to the students. This is about more than woodworking; it gives a child confidence, builds coordination and life skills, while giving them the satisfaction of engaging in creative projects. Our pilot program will begin this summer.

In 2016 I created “Scribing the Void”, a large sculpture at ODETTA Gallery in Brooklyn, New York. I scribed a famous rock in Central Park, Umpire Rock, and built the sculpture based on the scribe line. It hung from the ceiling and filled the entire gallery. A composer, Rodrigo Guzman, composed a score based on the scribe line, and when my piece was shown at RAW Gallery in Hartford, Connecticut, the Hartford Symphony performed his composition in the gallery. This conceptual piece brought the urban environment into the gallery space.

The Burden Boat Project was a ceremonial and healing project based on ritual. I built a sculpture that had the form of a boat and invited visitors to write their burdens on a piece of paper, then place it inside the boat. At the end of the ceremony, I set the papers on fire, releasing the burdens. I first performed this ritual at Virginia Tech after the mass shootings, and in 2011 I performed it at the Smithsonian Institute for American Art as a 10-year remembrance of 9/11. This ceremony is currently performed twice a year at Carillion Hospital in Roanoke, Virginia.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’ve always loved working with wood. I learned carpentry and woodworking skills as a young man and collected the leftover scraps of wood from job sites, which I brought home and made into sculptures. Once I got the creative bug, I was hooked. In addition to sculptures, I started designing and building furniture, and people hired me for various woodworking projects. At an early age I was able to make a living by working with my hands, and this gave me the confidence and financial independence to follow my bliss. My sculptures have a distinctive style, as they are a synthesis of many influences, including shamanism, Western psychology, and environmental concerns. They often incorporate the performance of rituals and rites of passage, always with the intention of healing and the release of burdens. My passion for form and function led me into the realm of design, and my functional pieces embody the same interests as my sculptural work: a dining room table with Japanese joinery, a chair shaped perfectly to a client’s body proportions, a footbridge that integrates with the environment in the Zen tradition. I’ve shown my sculptures in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, and my outdoor sculptures have been shown in sculpture parks, including my own sculpture garden in the Hudson Valley. My current passion is to pass on my skills and creative spirit to young people, and I’m currently building a woodworking school to realize this dream. Working with partners and the City of Peekskill, we’re creating a program based on developing skills and building character through the traditional craft of woodworking. This is my legacy project: to pass on the benefits that I’ve received over my lifetime, and to give young people the opportunity to engage with their creativity.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

My resilience came in the form of a learning disability. I had dyslexia before there was even a name for it, which gave me low self-confidence. I floundered in school and almost didn’t graduate from high school, but when I was introduced to art, I found my way. I was a natural at woodworking and design, and by engaging with my creative talents, I gained the confidence that had been lacking in my life. I believe that the hand is the bridge between the heart and the mind, and this balance was crucial to my life path. I’m now grateful for my disability, as it placed me on a creative path that has given my life an abundance of art and beauty.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I believe that the cuts in our educational system have been short-sighted. Kids should be able to explore all aspects of themselves to develop fully and find their passion. Creativity is a life skill that leads to deeper insights, and we should not underestimate its potential beyond the classroom. By supporting the arts, we invest in the future of our global community and the environment. Simply put, if we are not engaging in creativity, we are engaging in destruction. People should support artists by investing in art, and if that’s not financially possible, they should support artists through craft fairs. The money trickles down to support the next generation, so that they will learn the crafts and life skills that are currently underutilized in our educational system.    

Contact Info:

• Website: www.stegersculpture.com, www.stegerdesign.com
• Instagram: @stegerkurt
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/kurt.steger.3

Image Credits
Guenter Knop, Paul Takeuchi