Ascending Paths Painting

ARTIST BIO Kathleen Funk (b. 1986, Manila, Philippines) is a multidisciplinary artist, healer, and energy practitioner whose work explores the intersections of ancestral memory, intuitive process, and energetic resonance. Rooted in their lineage as a 4th-generation traditional healer and informed by a background in energy medicine and a Doctorate in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (DAOM), Funk’s practice blurs the boundaries between the material and the metaphysical, creating works that function as both visual art and talismanic objects. Their paintings are layered with embedded energies, intuitive downloads, and symbolic textures, often unfolding over years as living records of transformation. Funk embraces an organic, evolving process, where each mark, bump, and texture becomes integral to the work’s narrative. The result is a body of work that feels both spontaneous and meditative, serving as artifacts of grief, joy, and the liminal spaces in between. Funk has exhibited at Art Gallery Le Logge (Assisi, Italy) and in Pioneer Square (Seattle, WA), and has collaborated with organizations such as lululemon and institutions like Asia Society Houston. Their work invites viewers into an intimate dialogue with the unseen, offering spaces for reflection, healing, and connection. Funk lives and works in Houston, TX. ARTIST STATEMENT My work is a dialogue between the seen and unseen, a process of translating energy, emotion, and intuitive insight into form. As both an artist and energy practitioner, I approach the canvas as a living field—a space where downloads, messages, and subtle energies find expression through layers of color, texture, and movement. Each piece holds its own frequency, shaped not just by what’s visible but by what’s felt beneath the surface. I view my works as talismanic, each one carrying an embedded resonance meant to serve as a vessels for energy, designed to interact with the spaces and people who encounter them. The textures, layers, and gestures within my paintings are markings of transformation, protection, and connection. I’m drawn to the liminal spaces where shadow transforms into light, where chaos softens into clarity, where the past is honored without being erased. I rarely aim for perfection; instead, I’m interested in what remains, the textures and marks that tell stories of evolution and becoming. Ultimately, my art is about connection—to self, to others, to the unseen threads that bind us.