Experience Counts
Lisa Christensen has worked in the art world for thirty five years, writing evaluations and appraisals for Heffel Fine Art Auction House since 2005, as a curator since 1990, and in an art centre prior to that. She was the primary researcher on the recent record setting Lawren Harris canvas Mountain Forms, that sold for 11.2 million dollars (CAD) in 2016. Her knowledge of Canadian art spans the realm from Calgary's local artists to Canada’s most esteemed artists with a deep specialization in the Rocky Mountains of Western Canada.
Education · Bachelor of Art in Art History, The University of Calgary
Work Experience
· 2017 - present Corporate Curator/Freelance Curator/Freelance Writer
· 2013 - 2017 Heffel Fine Art Auction House - Director, Calgary Office
· 2005 - 2013 Heffel Fine Art Auction House - Calgary Representative
· 2002 - 2005 Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies - Curator of Art
· 1995 - 1997 Glenbow Museum - Associate Curator of Art
· 1990 - 1994 Glenbow Museum - Curatorial Assistant, Art Department
Publications · As sole author · Truth and Beauty in the Canadian Rockies: An Explorer's Guide to the Art of Walter J. Phillips, 2019 · The Lake O’Hara Art of JEH MacDonald, and Hiker’s Guide, 2003 · A Hiker’s Guide to the Rocky Mountain Art of Lawren Harris, 2000 · A Hiker’s Guide to Art of the Canadian Rockies, 1997
· As a contributing or primary author · Artistry Revealed: Peter Whyte, Catharine Robb Whyte and Their Contemporaries, 2018 · Stone and Sky: Canada's Mountain Landscape, 2018 · Heffel Fine Art Auction House catalogues/newsletters/press releases/website
Curatorial Work and Guest Curatorships · Whyte Museum: Peter and Catherine Whyte, The Fire Show, Lyndal Osborne, Neil Graham, Michael Cameron, Joyce Majiski and others · Glenbow Museum: The Art of Illustration for Children, Sybil Andrews, A Hiker’s Guide to Art of the Canadian Rockies · Art Gallery of Alberta: Harris and Jackson, Jasper and Robson (2000 and 2015)
Awards · Banff National Park Award, Banff International Mountain Book Festival · Outstanding Publication, Canadian Museums Association · Book Design, Book Publishers Association of Alberta · Trade Title of the Year, Book Publishers Association of Alberta · Inaugural W.O. Mitchell Book Prize
Research Experience · Extensive research on members of the Group of Seven, particularly Lawren Harris, AY Jackson and JEH MacDonald, as well as the Railway school, Tom Thomson, Emily Carr, David Milne, Walter J. Phillips and William Kurelek · Research on William Beatty, Paterson Ewen, Marcelle Ferron, Rita Letendre, members of the Painters Eleven and the Regina Five. Specialized knowledge of Alberta modernists such as Maxwell Bates, John Snow and Marion Nicoll. · Authority on Canadian artists who have worked in the Canadian Rockies