1. Fred Penner

2. Karen Fuhr

3. Lara Rae

Twenty-five years ago, Karen Fuhr painted a rock for the first time.

“I was always a drawer as a kid,” Fuhr says, “and then I studied fine arts. But then life took me into working at a bakery and doing all these other things. But during a hiatus, I painted on a stone.”

Not long after, she began selling her work at local maker shows and created what eventually became ArtRocks, her business that has grown far beyond that initial painting on a found stone.

“It started as painting little animals and stuff,” Fuhr says. “Then I developed into writing on stones with positivity and mindfulness quotes and doing art on them.

“I’d always wanted to have a cardmaking company, so about 15 years ago, I started designing cards and selling them at my shows alongside my rocks. And 10 years ago, I was reintroduced to letterpressing and screenprinting.”

Fuhr uses vintage type and old letterpress machines to create her cards. Her work is now sold at locations all over Winnipeg, including Forks Trading Company, Riley Grae and Martha Street Studio.

Fuhr is still learning new tools and media to expand her palette.

“(In 2023) I got myself an iPad Pro (and learned) how to use Procreate to do some designing for my cards and screenprints, so that’s new for me ... (I’ve also been) taking an etching course. So I want to do a little more ‘art’ art, you know what I mean?”

The community support for Fuhr in the Uniter 30 came as a surprise, but in this writer’s opinion, it’s well deserved, as Fuhr is herself a visible supporter of the local community.

Folks tapped into the local music scene may recognize her as the mother of House of Wonders’ Adam Fuhr and a second mom to those working under that umbrella. When I first met her, it was when she came to the Uniter office to pick up back issues of the paper covering Adam’s work. She brought me cookies.

Published in Volume 78, Number 12 of The Uniter (November 30, 2023)