Kurt Steger has been a carpenter, woodworker, and sculptor for over four decades. He brings a high level of craftsmanship, design, and ingenuity to his creations, which in turn express his concern for the environment and humanity. His work has many influences, from Shamanism to Buddhism to Western psychology. Steger’s accomplishments include an installation in Sacramento City Hall in Sacramento, CA, a traffic circle sculpture in Grass Valley, CA, and an interactive sculpture and healing ceremony conducted at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington D.C., honoring the ten-year anniversary of 9/11. Steger's work is in private, public, and museum collections, and in 2017 he received a NYFA Sculpture Grant. He teaches woodworking classes and recently started a public woodworking program for children in which he emphasizes the importance of working with one’s hands as a way of building positive character traits.
ARTIST STATEMENT I am interested in the natural world and its connection with the human psyche. My sculptures are constructed primarily of wood, and I work with such materials as paper, twine, concrete, and steel. I often incorporate impermanent elements – ice, fire, erosion, gravity – which leave their mark and allude to the passage of time. The stains left by the fugitive materials refer to the destruction of nature and the devastating imprint that humans have imposed on the environment. I was trained as a carpenter and woodworker and value the beauty of craftsmanship, as well as the importance of ritual. Working by hand, I combine knowledge and intuition, bridging the gap between mind and heart. My work addresses our need to reconnect with nature to heal the primal wounds of the human psyche. Beyond the physicality of the objects that I create, there are the invisible agents that speak to the heart.
