Liv Headshot

Background

Liv Valmestad is a librarian, artist, and art historian who resides in Winnipeg, Canada, located within Treaty No. 1 Territory, the original lands of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation. Since 1997, she has been on faculty at the University of Manitoba as the Art Librarian in the Architecture/Fine Arts Library for the School of Art and Faculty of Architecture and was Head of the new Arts and Humanities Division, Libraries, 2020-23. Valmestad attained the rank of Full Librarian through many achievements and recognized excellence in every area of art librarianship: teaching, research, publications, and service, for which she received an UMFA Merit Award in 2021. She has been active in ARLIS/NA, Art Libraries Society of North America, an international association for art and design Information specialists, serving as President of ARLIS/NA Canada, and a and is incoming Vice President/President-elect for 2024. She has a B.F.A. from the University of Saskatchewan, graduate degrees from Queen's and Western Universities, and a post-graduate diploma in art from Ringebu College, Norway. As a visual artist, Valmestad has held solo exhibitions internationally and authored several exhibition catalogues. She has received grants from the Winnipeg Arts council, the Manitoba arts council and Creative Works grants from the University of Manitoba. As an art historian, she has lectured at several universities and international conferences on 19th-century Norwegian painting and is a Carl R. Nelson Jr. Award winning Instructor in the Department of Environmental Design, Faculty of Architecture. As a Senior Fellow at St. John’s College, she has worked on art donations, exhibitions, and the annual student art competition. She continues to research Public Art at the University of Manitoba.

Course List

  • EVDS1602 Visual Literacy, Department of Environmental Design, Faculty of Architecture.

  • Since 1997, Valmestad has taught information research courses at the School of Art and the Faculty of Architecture in art history, studio art, city planning, landscape architecture, architecture, interior design and environmental design.

  • Selected Guest lectures at the School of Art: Public Art at the U of M, Norwegian Stemningmaleri and 19th Century Norwegian Painting.

Education

  • 2019 -  NES Artist Residency, Skagaströnd, Iceland
  • 2018 - Oral History Certificate, University of Winnipeg
  • 2013-23 - Art Library Study Tours, ARLIS/NA to Amsterdam, Berlin, Dessau, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Helsinki, Paris, Fontainebleau, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Brno, Athens, Florence
  • 2003-04 - Foundation Advisory Program and Mentorship Fellowship, MAWA (Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art), Winnipeg
  • 1992 - Master of Information Science, University of Western Ontario
  • 1990 - Master of Arts, Art History, Queen’s University
  • 1987 - Postgraduate Diploma, Fine Arts, Norway
  • 1986 - Bachelor of Fine Arts (Studio) with Great Distinction, University of Saskatchewan
  • 1985 - Fine Arts Diploma, Ringebu Folkehøyskole, Norway
  • 1983 - ATCL Piano (Teacher and Pedagogy), Trinity College of Music, London, England

Selected Publications

  • 2023 -  “Embracing Messiness: Inspiring and Creating Improvisers,” Creators in the Academic Library, edited by Rebecca Zuege Kuglitsch and Alexander C. Watkins, Chicago: ACRL, 2023.
  • 2020 - In Between (s)p(l)aces: Scenes from Norway and North Iceland: Place, Identity, and Affect through Representations of the Nordic Landscape. University of Minnesota, 2020.

  • 2018 - Co-authored Academic Integrity in the Visual and Spatial Arts modules with CATL and the HUB, University of Manitoba.

  • 2017 - The Northern Line, exhibition catalogue, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba.

  • 2016 - “Oh West Canada! Contemporary Artists from Western Canada,” Imago Mundi, Luciano Beneton Collection, Venice: Antiga Edizioni, 2016.

  • 2016 - “Making the fleeting permanent,” Art Documentation, University of Chicago Press Journals, vol.35, No.1, spring 2016.

  • 2015 -  “Applying art to an environment,” the Restoration of Don Wallace’s Expo 1967 Sculpture, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba.

  • 2013 - “Browzine: leaf through articles,” Path to Pedagogy, (University of Manitoba Centre for the Advancement of Teaching & Learning), Volume 21, No.3, 2013, p.19.

  • 2011 - “Q(a)R(t) Code Public Art Project: A Convergence of Media and Mobile Technology,” Art Documentation, University of Chicago Press, vol 30, Issue 2, Page 70-73, October 2011

  • 2010 - Prairie Prestige: How Western Canadian Artists Have Influenced Canadian Art, Archives & Special Collections, UML http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/digital/prairie_prestige/index.html

  • 2010 - “Best Free Social Learning Web Tools for Art Educators and their Students” NAEA Journal, Vol.52, No.2, April 2010.

  • 2010 - Public Art at the University of Manitoba, Blog and Artist Website, and UML Digital Collections.

  • 2010 - co-authored with Dr. Joanna Black, “Sites Worth Looking At,” NAEA (National Art Education Association Journal), vol. 52, no.1, February 2010.

  • 2009 - Valmestad, Liv., and Amy. Karlinsky. Liv Valmestad : Linearis. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba, 2009.

  • 2009 -  “Melva J. Dwyer Book Award: Winnipeg Modernism 1950 -1975, “ARLIS/NA MOQ Publication, vol.19, no.1, (Fall) 2009.

  • 2009 - Digital Images Library for Teaching & Research,” Path to Pedagogy, University Teaching Services, vol.18, no.1, (Fall) September 2009

  • 2009 -  “Environmental Design in a Web 2.0 World, VLC,” Path to Pedagogy, University Teaching Services, vol.17, no.3, (Summer) June 2009.

  • 2009 - Art History Learning Modules, Virtual Learning Commons, University of Manitoba.

  • 2008 - Environmental Design Learning Modules, Virtual Learning Commons, University of Manitoba

  • 2006 -  “The History of the Architecture/Fine Arts Library, University of Manitoba,” History of Art Libraries in Canada/Histoire des bibliothèques d'art au Canada, The National Gallery of Canada, 2006.

  • 2001 - Designed and Published Locating Feminism Web Site, Mentoring Artists for Women's Art Symposium, Winnipeg

  • 1999 - “Surfing Artist-run Centers in Winnipeg, Manitoba,” Art Libraries Journal, vol.24 no.3, (Fall), pp. 31-37.

Selected Art Exhibitions

  • 2022 - The Great Wide Open, Cr8tery Gallery, Winnipeg
  • 2021 -  Sight Lines 2020, Border Crossings Gala Art Exhibition, Waddington’s, Toronto
  • 2020 - Scenes from Iceland, solo exhibition, Icelandic National League of North America Conference, Gimli (cancelled Covid)
  • 2020 - Land(e)scapes, solo exhibition, The Quiet Room Gallery, St. John’s College, U of M.
  • 2020 - In Between (S)P(L)ACES: Scenes from Norway and Iceland, Rapson Hall Gallery, Solo   Exhibition, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
  • 2019 - Iceland: Up Close, Solo ExhibitionDr. Paul H.T. Thorlakson Gallery, University of  Manitoba
  • 2019 - Opid Hus, Group Exhibition, Skagastrond, Iceland
  • 2019 - She Presses Flowers to Her Cheek, Group Exhibition, School of Art, University of   Manitoba
  • 2018 -  Dreams and Nightmares, Border Crossings Art Gala Group Exhibition, Winnipeg
  • 2018 - Imago Mundi: Great and North, Group Exhibition, Onsite Gallery, OCAD University,     Toronto
  • 2017 - Imago Mundi – Luciano Benetton Collection - Great and North, Group Exhibition, Palazzo Loredan, Istituto Veneto di Scienze,  Lettre ed Arti, Venice
  • 2016 - The Northern Line, Solo Exhibition, The Manitoba Society of Artists, Piano Nobile Gallery, Winnipeg
  • 2015 - The Northern Line, Solo Exhibition, Dr. Paul H.T. Thorlakson Gallery, University of Manitoba
  • 2014 - Retrospektiv, Solo Exhibition, Fleet Gallery, Winnipeg
  • 2014 - The Last Decade, Solo Exhibition, Great West Life Gallery, Winnipeg
  • 2014 - Dis-Integration, Solo Exhibition, Blankstein Gallery, Winnipeg
  • 2013 - Stemningsmaleri, Solo Exhibition, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg
  • 2010 - Delineation, Solo Exhibition, Blankstein Gallery, Winnipeg              
  • 2009 - Linearis, Solo Exhibition, Dr. Paul H.T. Thorlakson Gallery, University of Manitoba
  • 2008-17 - MAWA Over the Top, Group Exhibition, Winnipeg
  • 2005-09 - Winter Warmer, Group Exhibition, Ace Art, Winnipeg
  • 2006 - Kaleidoscope, Group Exhibition, Multicultural Centre, Winnipeg
  • 2005 - Synergy, Solo Exhibition, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg.

Examples of Art Work

Liv Epic Art Work
Liv Meeting Art Work
Liv Perry Art Work