Growing up in the Canadian Northern boreal forest shaped Veronica Funk into a contemporary hippie, embracing a love for the environment, nature, and advocating for women’s rights. A celebrated painter who favours watercolours, Funk thrives on collaborating with other multi-media artists exploring connections through their work. Using bright colours and textured layers, the work reveals a vibrant and whimsical feeling whether the subject is a landscape, interior scene, portrait, or vignette. She has been featured in multiple publications and is a recipient of numerous awards including the Federation of Canadian Artists Tinyan Chan award, TD AMNA Fortis Alberta Professional Artist award, and AAW Vitreous Amazing Cultural Ambassador award.
-Written by Ron Funk, husband
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Which ’hood are you in?
After living in Calgary briefly, in 1997 I moved to Airdrie. Though most of what I do is in and around Calgary, my husband and I chose Airdrie as we had a young family and could walk everywhere, which meant that we required only one vehicle. Sustainability is important to me, so the more that I can walk, the better I feel about the footprint I leave in this beautiful place.
What do you do?
I am a painter. My work has always focused on series and, after a shoulder injury, I had to reduce the size of my work but still wanted to create series, so my work has become project based. When I began exhibiting in Calgary, I created large interior acrylic paintings on stretched canvas titled ‘Simple Pleasures’. Then I shifted to working more abstractly, incorporating spray paint and stencils on a series of canoe and nature-inspired pieces titled ‘Sacred Vessel’ and ‘Sacred Space’. After many years away from portraiture, I began to create series based on several themes: ‘Nasty Women’ which consisted of 100 portraits in 100 days and was meant to be a positive spin on a negative political situation south of us; ‘The Grandmothers’ which featured women and their stories during Covid19; and ‘Woman’s Work’ focused on the fact that women were disproportionately impacted by job loss during the pandemic. As a female artist and mother of two adult daughters, I want to ensure that women are seen and their stories heard. I also teach workshops on creating a body of work and preparing a portfolio including everything from writing an artist statement to curriculum vitae. Since 2021, I have also been mentoring online with Mastrius.com.
What are you currently working on?
Last summer, I spent a week doing research at the Banff Centre for the Arts and in September and October was selected to be the Artist in Residence at the ASA Gallery (Alberta Society of Artists). The work is a series titled ‘Women of the West’ and features historical Alberta female artists. I was initially inspired by an exhibit of work by artist Margaret Shelton at the Collectors Gallery in Inglewood. Her orange-painted bike and pochade box were part of the exhibit and I was excited to see the work and determination of this woman who I had not heard of in art classes or otherwise. I’ve also had the privilege of visiting the archives at the Galt Museum in Lethbridge and the Whyte Museum in Banff as part of my research. It’s so exciting to see their belongings and sketches and to read their notes. After being interviewed on CBC Radio, several people have reached out to share stories and photographs of family and friends who were painting in Alberta in the early 1900s. As difficult as it is to be an artist, particularly a woman artist, these women persevered.
Where can we find your work?
My work can currently be seen at Bluerock Gallery in Diamond Valley, Lineham House Galleries in Okotoks, Leighton Art Centre, and online at my website and Instagram. In August 2025, I will also exhibit a series of vintage-inspired portraits titled ‘Ahead of Her Time’ at Framed on Fifth in Kensington.
