Artist of the Month - Westwood Unitarian

A summer spent traveling through big sky country in Montana, USA, seeing clusters of beautiful tipis inspired these images, each like a sanctuary in its simplicity, symbolic of a cathedral as a sacred space and place. As my family spent the summer driving through reserve land, I was taken with the vibrant patterns on the tipis and canoes scattered throughout the state. I love the idea of an abode being able to travel with me, of being able to carry with me this sanctuary of sorts. It is similar to how our family spends our summers camping but feels so much more reverent. Being raised in a northern Cree community, I have always been enamored by the romanticism of a simpler life of fewer belongings and the possibility of packing up a tipi or a canoe and moving when called to do so. And of that connection to the land, living life cradled by the landscape and dictated by the seasons. The necessity of not only creating a place to reside but a beautiful home. Much like we do in our society today, our spaces created and decorated to bless and protect us.”
                                                                                                                                    – Veronica Funk

Veronica Funk exhibited two series at The Daffodil Gallery: Sacred Space and Sacred Vessel.

Sacred Space features renditions of tipis, inspired by the trip to Montana.   Her Sacred Vessel Series features paintings of canoes  and is inspired by the multiple definitions of Vessel found in Websters’ Dictionary: (1) a utensil for holding something, as a vase, bowl, pot, kettle, etc. (2 ) The Bible: a person thought of as being the receiver or repository of some spirit or influence; (3) a boat or ship; (4a) a tube or duct containing or circulating body fluid, (4b) a continuous, water-conducting tube.

Veronica is greatly influenced by Northern Manitoba and Cree culture. She is often inspired by pictographs  and her experiences in Northern Manitoba. Her work is “filled with the images, colours and symbols of [her] memory”

Veronica Funk has taken numerous workshops, has studied Art & Design at Red Deer College and is currently working on her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Thompson Rivers University. In 2013, Veronica was nominated for the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award. Veronica is currently the Art Program Coordinator at the Airdrie Public Library, and the co-chair, for the AIRdirondack Art Project in Airdrie, Alberta. She has been featured in numerous books and exhibitions throughout Canada, including the summer 2015 edition of the Arabella magazine of Canadian Art, Architecture & Design.