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.
BIO
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.
CV
2017 NYFA Sculpture Grant
COLLECTIONS
Taubman Museum, Roanoke, VA
Ahmanson Collection, Irvine, CA
Hammond Museum, North Salem, NY
PUBLIC ART COMMISSIONS
2010 The Elders, Public Commission Traffic Circle, Grass Valley, CA
2008 Emergence, Public Commission Reichmuth Park, Sacramento, CA
2006 Reflections, Public Commission Sacramento City Hall, Sacramento, CA
SELECT EXHIBITIONS
2024
Welcome Home, Jane Street Art Center, Saugerties, NY
Outdoor Sculpture Show, Hammond Museum, North Salem, NY
2023
Driven to Abstraction, Hammond Museum, North Salem, NY
Axis Mundi: Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
Lockwood Gallery, BUILT III, Kingston, NY
2022
Turn On the Light: Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2021
BUILT II: Architecture in Art, Lockwood Gallery, Kingston, NY
2020
BUILT: Architecture in Art & Design, Lockwood Gallery, Kingston, NY
Spring Show: Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2019
Environmental Structures: Garrison Art Center, Garrison NY (solo show)
2018
Aftermath: Fred Giampietro Gallery, New Haven, CT
Define Gravity: Sculpture in the Ahmanson Collection, Irvine, CA (curated by John Silvis)
On Another Note: The Intersection of Art and Music: Lyman Allyn Museum, New London, CT (curated by Alva Greenberg)
2017
Meltdown: Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ
Pending: Governor's Island Art Fair, New York, NY
Pending: An installation at ODETTA Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (during Armory Week)
2016
Scribing the Void: ODETTA Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (solo show)
Scribing the Void: Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT (solo show)
RECLAIMED: ArtHelix, Brooklyn, NY (solo show)
FLUX Art Fair: with ODETTA Gallery, Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem, NY
New Works: Randall Scott Projects, Baltimore, MD (solo show)
2015
Structures: a group show curated by Keith Schweitzer, Manny Cantor Center, NY, NY
2014
Lodge, City Drift, Portland, ME
Lodge, ArtHelix, Brooklyn, NY
2012
Aftermath, Artifact, New York, NY
Sculpture and Recent Works, Les Yeux de Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2011
Burden Boat Project, Smithsonian Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC
Silent Nature, Olin Hall, Roanoke College, Salem, VA
2010
From the Forest Floor, Selden Gallery, Norfolk, VA
2009
Primal States and Portals, Perspectives Gallery, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
Burden Boat Project, Perspectives Gallery, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
2008
Mixed Response SDFA Gallery at The Jacksonville Center for the Arts Floyd, VA2006
Confluence of Form, Columbus Cultural Arts Center, Columbus, OH
Resurface, Quicksilver Mine Company, Forestville, CA
2005
Rise & Fall, Site-specific installation, Gallery 131, Grass Valley, CA
(R)evolution, Gallery 555, Oakland Museum of California at City Center, Oakland, CA
2003
Wingspan, Site-specific work, Foresight Foundation, Haines Gallery, Nevada City, CA
2002
Weight of Time, Julie Baker Fine Art, Grass Valley, CA
2001
Mixed Media Sculpture, Sonoma Museum of Visual Art, Santa Rosa, CA
1999
Sculpture, Sagato Garo Gallery, Sacramento, CA
1998
Mixed Mediums, Northern California Center of the Arts, Grass Valley, CA
1997
Walking Stick Project, Cultural Arts Council of Sonoma County, Santa Rosa, CA
Zen At Hand, The Artful Eye, Healdsburg, CA
1996
Water and Wood, The Quicksilver Mine Company, Sebastopol, CA
Ancestral Witness, Arts Guild of Sonoma, Sonoma, CA
1995
Altars To The Earth, Ren Brown Collection, Bodega Bay, CA