Valerie Tomlinson

As Conservator of Contemporary Art, Valerie Tomlinson assesses and prepares collection items and incoming loans for exhibition, assesses and oversees care of collection items for outgoing loan, as well as assessing new acquisitions for treatment and care needs on display or in storage. Over her career she has given conservation treatment to everything from Viking archaeological material, to a fully grown taxidermied wildebeest, to the statues on Parliament Hill, and been a site conservator in the Arctic. Valerie has a Masters degree in Art Conservation, a Bachelors degree in Chemistry, a college diploma in Cabinetmaking, as well as training in fine art, physics, several languages and an esoteric range of other subjects (such as Navigation for air search and rescue in the Arctic). She has worked as a conservator at museums, heritage institutions, art institutions, and private practice across Canada from the Arctic to Ottawa, and in several other countries from Norway to New Zealand.