 Women's empowerment through the use of paintbrushes and pigments “My portraits aren’t a perfect representation of people.” Veronica Funk, an eco-conscious and multimedia artist who grew up in Leaf Rapids, located in Northern Manitoba, has been living in Airdrie for 30 years now. Her parents are both of South American descent. A lot of her early art education came from Cree grandmothers who taught her how to weave and bead. Growing up, she was surrounded by Indigenous arts and artisans that lit a fire in her artistry. Funk went to Red Deer for Arts and Design in the 80s at the age of 19. “It was a great experience, that’s where I got exposed to a whole lot of media, where we did everything there. The professors were fantastic, and I’ve met a lot of people who are still my friends to this day,” she said.
What made her choose painting is how constant it is. Funk had experimented with different kinds of mediums, like oil, then switched to acrylics, but both of these formulas caused an allergic reaction to her husband, which prompted her to try organic and plant-based pigments. “Environmentally, I wanted to leave a better footprint on the planet. I also walk as much as possible. I’m careful about the products I purchase and where they are made,” she said. She converted to using natural pigments for the last five years. The process of making her own watercolour pigments involves mixing these three ingredients. She uses gum arabic in a powder form from Natural Earth Paint, water, and honey. Then, she’ll combine the wet mixture with the powder pigments. Hand-milled them and then put them in the pans. Funk finds that it’s a lot more economical to do, which also lasts her for a long period. As a mother of two, Funk would describe herself as a bit of an activist. “I see how women are often disregarded. The first project I did was 52 weeks of portraits of women my daughters and I admire, and it’s called ‘Heroes’ where I draw one each week.” During that project, she’s been experimenting with different kinds of mediums, colours, and textures, which led her to her next project, “The Nasty Women,” where she drew women who inspire her and made an impact. “I posted on social media and asked women if I could paint their portrait, from actors to politicians,” she said. Before the pandemic started, Funk started a project called “The Grandmothers”. What inspired her was when she discovered that her grandmother from Paraguay had delivered the most babies in the area, and all of them survived. Her grandmother learned from a Canadian medical textbook about sterilization, which is the practice she applied. What made Funk focused on women’s portraits and stories specifically was her children. She believes that everybody deserves equal rights, and she wanted to draw attention through her works. Even with her ongoing project “Women of the West”, she took some art history courses during the pandemic at Alberta University of the Arts. “I had some professors, I know this is not their fault and it’s in the curriculum but they kept talking about men artist always in the classes and not the females unless they would mention them as the male artist’s sister or wife and yet a lot of these females were more successful at that time so I started researching Alberta's history and artists and it’s been wonderful,” she said.  “I kind of like that softness (in portraits). This is my first time doing squares and it just feels like a quilt to me (hanging on the wall). It feels more old fashioned in a contemporary way. My colour palette has not changed, I still like the same colours. As long as I have some kind of blue, red and yellow. With those three colours, I can paint. You don’t need a lot to create," she said.  Two of her books are at Airdrie Public Library: "The Sacred Vessel: a Handbook for Artists" and "Extraordinary Canadian Women"   "You don't have to have a big, fancy space. You can create anywhere." Art Journal She started doing art journaling when she worked at Airdrie Public Library, where she saw many books being discarded, like books missing pages and getting damaged, so she started decorating them with different craft pieces and writing down her favourite quote.  Comments are closed.
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