Lara’s practice as an art advisor is grounded in her unique methodology to unite the art market and art history. As a trained art historian (PhD, University of British Columbia, 2007) and fine art appraiser (International Society of Appraisers, 2012, 2020; Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, 2012, 2105, 2022, 2025), Lara is equally committed to both art historical analysis and art market due diligence. In 2012, she established Openwork Art Advisory, a boutique firm specializing in USPAP-compliant appraisals for donation, insurance, and resale purposes, as well as high value private treaty sales. In 2023, Lara founded ArtRow Fine Art Inc, a full-scale art advisory with robust services in collection management, appraisals, corporate art installations, and private acquisitions. 

On behalf of private and corporate collections, Lara has bought and sold works by a broad range of modern and contemporary artists, including but not limited to:

Henri Matisse, Edvard Munch, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Raoul Dufy, Pablo Picasso, Alfred Munnings, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Andy Warhol, Jonas Wood, Jeff Koons, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Emily Carr, Gordon Smith, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Michel Rovner, John McLaughlin, Damien Hirst, Emily Young, Guillermo Lorca, Dale Chihuly, and David Hockney.

Having resided in Toronto, Paris, Bermuda, Vancouver, and London, Lara has an extensive global art network and works closely with private collectors, institutions, researchers & curators, gallerists, and auction houses to provide bespoke services to her clients.

Lara’s expertise in due diligence results in sound acquisitions and her deep art historical knowledge sets her apart from other art professionals. Lara works fastidiously and with complete discretion, building private and corporate collections that reflect the ethos and mandate of both new and established collectors.

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy in Art History, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (2007)

• Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), NYU (2013, 2015, 2020, 2022, 2025)

• Core Course in Appraisal Studies (International Society of Appraisers), Toronto (2013, 2020)

• Master of Arts in Art History, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec (1998)

• Bachelor of Arts in Art History, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (1994)

Professional Experience

• Founder and Principal, Openwork Art Advisory, Victoria, BC, Canada / London, UK
• Director of Art Acquisitions, Shares.com, London, UK, 2016
• Lecturer, University of Victoria, BC, Department of Gender Studies, 2010 – 2014
• Appointed Member, Arts Advisory Council, Capital Regional District, Victoria, BC, 2012 – 2015, 2017-2019
• Lecturer, University of British Columbia, Department of Art History, 2000 – 2005
• Gallery Associate, Winsor Gallery, Vancouver, BC, 2003 – 2004
• Researcher (exhibitions), Morris & Helen Belkin Gallery, Vancouver, BC, 2003 – 2004
• Researcher (archives), University of British Columbia Archives, 2003 – 2004
• Curatorial Assistant, North Vancouver Museum & Archives, Vancouver, BC, 2001
• Curatorial Assistant, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, Ontario, 1999 – 2000

Selected Lectures & Conferences

• The Price of Everything: Commerce, Aesthetics, and the “Value” of Contemporary Art, Co-Chair, Universities Art Association of Canada Annual Conference, Vancouver, Oct 2020.
• Separate Spheres: Global Art Finance and Contemporary Art Practice (accepted). Association of Art Historians Annual Conference, Loughborough University, April 2017.
• At the Intersection of Art History and the Art Market: Navigating the Business of Art, Co-Chair, Universities Art Association of Canada, Ontario College of Art and Design, Oct 2014.
• Artful Assets: Collecting, Valuing and Gifting Fine Art, presented with Schibli Stedman King and Edward Jones, Victoria, BC, Sept 2014.
• Landscape, Nationhood, Identity: Emily Carr’s Modernism. Art Gallery of Victoria, Dec 2011.
• The Pacific Nation: Art, Poetry, and the Formation of the Vancouver Avant-Garde, 1965-68. Art Association of Canada Conference, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Nov 2007.
• On Lotus Land: Aesthetics, Counter-Culture, and the Formation of the West Coast in the 1960s. Association of Art Historians Annual Conference, University of Bristol, April 2005.
• Clement Greenberg: Modern Art, Modern Taste. Vancouver Art Gallery, October 2003.
• 19th century Technologies of Vision: Photography and the Colonial Production of Knowledge. Art History and Technologies Conference, Princeton University, March 2003