Molly Wallner Morton's "Fox and the Grapes" is hand-cut linoleum stamp art.
How does someone go from making beer to commissioning art? For Levi Funk, the journey started when he got into sour beers, specifically, Lambics.
After graduating with an economics degree from UW-Eau Claire, Funk started attending beer tastings and tradings — a rarified world of beer exchange in which enthusiasts all over the world swap select beers with each other.
Although beer trading takes place in a legal gray area, its devotees learn a lot about a wide variety of products. Ultimately they become members of a far-reaching and friendly beer community.
What Funk learned from trading, among other things, was that traditional Belgian Lambic producers are often not brewers but blenders. They buy beers from brewers, then blend and age them to achieve a desired result. Like many homebrewers who begin their work in spare spaces like garages, Funk filled his first barrel in his basement. Not long afterwards, he joined forces with O’so Brewing Company in Plover to start a new Lambic program. Funk Factory Geuzeria is the name he gave to his American Lambic-style brand.
Amanda Funk's label artwork for Funk Factory's fruited lambics.
Once launched, Funk immediately embraced the participation of artists. His wife, Amanda Funk, designed the labels for their earliest blends. Inspired by her creations, Funk began commissioning other artists to design labels for subsequent releases to, as he puts it, showcase local talent while making sure that “the outside of the bottle is as beautiful as its contents.” Funk calls the series “Fermentation Is Art.”
Mixed-media artist Amy Swoboda launched the collection with her collage work for the “Dweller on the Threshold” brew. The second commissioned artist, Molly Wallner Morton, used hand-cut linoleum stamps to create the label for “The Fox and the Grapes.”
At each beer-release event, Funk has also arranged for the sale of limited-edition prints of the original art.
"Dweller on the Threshold" by Amy Swoboda combines thin layers of acrylic paint and vintage paper clippings.
Collaboration between artists, chefs and farmers has become increasingly popular in recent years in Madison and across the country. Funk Factory Geuzeria continues the trend. Now located in an old storage facility on Madison’s south side, Funk recently filled 33 barrels with beers from O’so and a few other breweries.
Eventually he hopes to use the building as an art gallery, too. He envisions hosting gallery nights to feature the Fermentation series art, his wife’s prints and other commissioned works. He loves the idea of hanging framed prints, for example, alongside an original installation, made with in-house materials like staves, barrel heads and barrel hoops.
Right now, Funk has no specific brand design strategy and is open to suggestions. Artists are encouraged to contact him via Twitter (@ffgeuzeria) or Facebook with ideas and proposals. It should be an interesting process to watch.
Funk Factory Geuzeria, 1604 Gilson St., will host an open house with artwork from 3 to 10 p.m. on Aug. 7 on the eve of the Great Taste of the Midwest.
