Donor Profiles
Ruth Funk Enhances Fabric of Florida Tech

President Anthony J. Catanese publicly thanks Ruth Funk.

Some people give gifts. Others, by their continuing generosity, are gifts. One of these special people is expert and philanthropist of the textile arts, Ruth Funk. She first began her relationship with Florida Tech in 2003 when she heard of the Dream Weavers textile arts display to be mounted on campus.

Since her exhibit at that first show, Funk has given to the university. And given and given.

The artist, teacher, therapist and international collector first donated hundreds of items of kaleidoscopically colored ethnic textiles and wearable art from around the world, and jewelry and cultural artifacts of artistic and historic value. She also enriched the Evans Library’s holdings of art and design material by almost 500 volumes. The books, collected over a lifetime, encompass needlecrafts, clothing, folk art, ornamentation, art history and jewelry.

Funk has inspired, led and supplied the raw material for several events and programs. Her collection has made possible a fashion show of wearable art, a Central Asian textiles exhibit at a local art museum and “Traditional Textiles of India,” the first exhibit in the on-campus Funk Textiles Gallery.

She funds the annual textiles program, Uncommon Threads, which brings to Florida Tech international experts in the textile arts. This includes a free lecture and fundraising luncheon symposium with exhibits and entertainment. Last February, Mattiebelle Gittinger, research associate for Southeast Asian textiles at The Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., came to present “Cloth that Speaks: The Intricate Roles of Indonesian Textiles.”

Funk’s generosity has made possible Florida Tech’s first textile course, “History of World Textiles,” as well as the annual Ruth Funk Visiting Professor in Textiles. The first, Christel Baldia, an expert in the use of colorants in Native American prehistoric textiles, taught Native North American Textiles in spring 2007.

But, in fall 2006, Ruth really put the beads on the collar, the appliqué on the pocket and the trim on the hem. She announced a $1.25 million gift to the university for a textile arts museum. With an additional $250,000 from the university, plans are now under way to make what will be the only textiles museum in Florida a reality.

“Ruth is truly an inspiration because of her creativity, passion and energy,” said Carla Funk, director of special projects (no relation). “I’ve also learned a lot from her—not just about the textile arts but also about the rewards of collecting art and sharing it through philanthropy.”