Mari Funaki facts for kids
Mari Funaki (born in 1950 – died May 13, 2010) was a very talented artist from Australia. She was known for making amazing jewellery, designing things, working with metal, and creating sculptures. Mari Funaki was active as an artist from 1990 until 2010. She started out making jewellery, but later began creating large sculptures.
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Her Early Life and Studies
Mari Funaki was born in Matsue, Shimane, Japan. In 1979, she moved to Australia. There, she studied painting and how to work with gold and silver at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).
Her Unique Artworks
In 1995, Mari Funaki had an exhibition called Marie Funaki Metalwork. She showed beautiful containers, candle holders, and gold jewellery. Her work was so special that Jim Logan, a curator from the National Gallery of Australia, bought some of her pieces for the gallery's collection.
Mari Funaki became famous for her unique brooches, rings, and bracelets. They often looked like insects or creatures with many legs. Later, her art grew into huge, geometric sculptures, some as tall as 6 metres!
In 1995, she also opened Gallery Funaki in Melbourne. This gallery became one of the most important places in the world to see amazing jewellery from both Australian and international artists.
Exhibitions and Big Sculptures
In 2009, the Art Gallery of Western Australia held a special show just for her, called Marie Funaki Works 1992–2009. Mari Funaki made many new pieces for this exhibition. People described her work as having a "sense of danger." For example, her insect-like containers had thin legs supporting large, unusual bodies. Her rings and bracelets looked like tiny, powerful monuments that played with size and weight in fascinating ways.
In 2010, the National Gallery of Australia asked Mari Funaki to create a sculpture for the entrance of their new building. This sculpture was called Twilight. It was made from aluminium and painted black. Mari Funaki was inspired by the pukumani burial poles from the Tiwi Islands. She said she wanted her art to make people feel emotions or use their imagination. She was interested in how empty and full spaces work together.
Mari Funaki became unwell while finishing Twilight with Robert Hook, who helped build it. She sadly passed away in May 2010 after battling cancer.
Later in 2010, the National Gallery of Victoria held a big exhibition of her work called Marie Funaki: Objects. This show displayed her art from the late 1990s to 2010. It showed how she developed from making wearable jewellery out of gold and steel to creating pure sculptures. The exhibition highlighted her amazing creativity with lines, shapes, and spaces in her sculptures. Her geometric sculptures were even described as "gravity defying," meaning they looked like they could float!
Mari Funaki’s jewellery, objects, and sculptures are now kept in many important collections. These include the National Gallery of Australia, the Powerhouse Museum, the National Gallery of Victoria, and Die Neue Sammlung in Munich, Germany.
Awards
- 1996: Herbert-Hofmann-Preis
- 1999: Herbert-Hofmann-Preis
Her Lasting Impact
To honor her, the Mari Funaki Award for Contemporary Jewellery was started in 2014.
The RMIT also has a collection of over 200 books and art catalogues related to her work and interests.
