ABOUT

Gretchen Funk is a Minnesotan artist and designer, currently finishing a degree in Studio Art with a minor in Digital Media at Metro State University 

​

Artist Statement:

"I focus on the ever-present items we have used, passed without noticing, or stopped using due to overtaking technology. My work also contains thoughts on portions of infrastructure we pass unnoticed, such as power utilities, cell towers, and parked semi-trucks. The use, abandonment and oversight of these items are often subjects in my pieces. This reflects my constant lingering thought that ubiquitous things in our life remain in the world long after we do while the importance and the stress of owning things and collecting is universal.

These things are a large part our lives, yet they exist beyond us after our death. How does that impact their importance? What if we saw them differently? When we contemplate collections, what do they become when the collector is gone? When these items, thoughts, or images linger in my head, I create art to process them. People consider memories connected to other people and events; I connect them to the things I used consistently at the time, the minutia of working with lesser technology, and how quaint those items seem now.

Clean lines, features of architecture, and graphic images are things I admire and aspire to. At the same time, feelings of nostalgia and longing often find their way into my work.
Digital art, photography, and painting are some of my preferred mediums. Some important steps in my practice involve layering images and playing with focal points. I use my own photographs exclusively for my work, as it gives the viewer another level of personalization and direction to my perspective. Carrying my camera with me gives me the opportunity to collect images constantly."