 The exhibitions opening this month at Leighton Art Centre each revolve around characters.
For The Grandmothers, a portrait collection by Airdrie artist Veronica Funk, those characters are the strong women who have been symbols of strength to their offspring. Painting one each week, her portraits were based on old family photographs of strong female role models sent in by their grandchildren. The project, looking back on past generations, was decades in the making. “Several years ago my father passed away, and then the following year when we went back to Manitoba to go through old family photos,” Funk said. “I found out my great grandmother was a midwife in South America. “She had delivered the most healthy babies and her photograph is in a hospital in the city of Asunción.” Practising in a turn-of-the-century hospital in South America, Funk said her great grandmother Gertruda Toews was a trailblazer in safe medical and birthing practices for the hospital, learning from a Canadian medical textbook. “She learned about sterilization, so she made everyone in the room boil linens, wash their hands and sterilize all the equipment they used, scissors and everything,” Funk said, adding her aunt still possesses those scissors. “She took the initiative to study and learn in order to help other women, and I thought if my great grandmother had done something this amazing, I would love to hear the stories of other grandmothers. “I put out a call on social media and asked people to share photos and stories of their grandmothers and great grandmothers and the response was just phenomenal.” As the pandemic took hold, the project became a driving force for Funk. “In March 2020, COVID hit and so many of our elders were directly affected, so it became even more meaningful as I went along with this process,” she said. "Plus having isolation time and galleries shutting down, it was so nice to stay connected to other people through this project. “And to honour these women that have come before us, because there’s just so much they have done to allow us to do what we do today.” The paintings, while created off reference photos from various eras, are juxtaposed with a layered painting style that incorporates other elements such as typography or lace graphics that complement the pursuits of that character. ~ Brent Calver, Okotoks Western Wheel Comments are closed.
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