Benjamin Funke

Sculpture Lab Technician

Benjamin Funke is an artist and educator who has been working as the Sculpture Lab Technician at Cal Poly Humboldt since 2014. He supervises bronze casting and other fabrication processes, and he manages the laboratory's day-to-day operations. Ben introduces Cal Poly Humboldt students to creative practices in a laboratory environment that is safe, supportive, and welcoming. In his creative practice, he uses drawing, photo-based processes, and sculptural media to create diaristic work about sports, society and identity.

Ben has exhibited artworks in the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC, CICA in Seoul, South Korea, the Snite Museum of Art, and the Eastern Bloc for New Media in Montreal, Quebec. He has shown his work in Eureka at Morris Graves Museum of Art, Black Faun Gallery, First Street Gallery and at College of the Redwoods' Floyd Bettiga Gallery. He organized the art exhibitions Sublime Frequencies (2017) and Backcountry Metaverse (2023), both co-curated with Gabrielle Gopinath. In 2020 he founded the public arts nonprofit organization REBOUND, which uses interactive art to revitalize public spaces. REBOUND has completed projects including a mural to celebrate the legacy of the Karuk artist Brian D. Tripp and a multiple forthcoming projects in Arcata.