ABOUT SIMONE OBENDOERFER

Simone holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (Hons) in Classics (Art and Archaeology) and a Master of Arts degree in Cultural Studies (Curatorial Practices) from the University of Winnipeg and has worked with diverse collections since 2015. She is a member of the International Society of Appraisers.

​

Simone began her experience as a student Archaeologist on the Sikyon Excavation Project in Greece in 2015 where she excavated Greek artifacts. During this time, she received training in conservation and ancient artifact handling.

​

Simone earned a SSHRC research grant for her major M.A. research, in which she explored universal design and accessibility in museums. She surveyed the floor plans and designs of three of the major museums in Winnipeg and connected with several individuals with disabilities in order to create adaptive museum tours for people who are blind or have vision loss.

​

During her Curatorial Internship at the Winnipeg Art Gallery Between 2017-2018, Simone worked directly under Chief Curator, Andrew Kear. Highlights of her time include acting as Assistant Curator on the exhibitions The 80s Image and Ivan Eyre: Landscapes and Still Lifes for WAG at the Park. She successfully completed acquisition justifications and Outstanding Significance (OS) statements for CCPERB applications for several artworks, notably those from Tony Scherman’s series, About 1865. Simone also researched and wrote content for the WAG-Qaumajuq website for the touring exhibition, French Moderns from the Brooklyn Museum. Based upon the quality of work that she produced during this internship, Simone was hired for a term position as a Collections Management Assistant at the Gallery, during which time she completed several collections related tasks before the year-end audit, most notably inventorying and cataloguing a loan of nearly 400 Inuit prints and drawings.

​

As Co-Director of The Lux Digitization Project from 2017-2019, Simone researched, photographed, and catalogued objects in the University of Winnipeg’s Hetherington Collection for a new online database with the goal of making the collection more accessible to scholars and the public.

​

Since graduating, Simone has continued to work contractually with the Winnipeg Art Gallery as a Collections Management Assistant and Copyright Consultant. Her work has involved photographing, cataloguing, and rehousing the Inuit art collection to the new visible vault in Qaumajuq. She regularly managed incoming acquisitions, which involved condition reporting, acting as liaison between donors and the museum, contracting appraisers, compiling documentation, and adding artwork to the database. Perhaps most notably, she supervised and edited the WAG’s first 3D online exhibition: Simply Splendour (curated by Stephen Borys) and composed a training manual on the software for future users.

​

Simone currently works independently with institutional and private clients as a Curator, Art Consultant, Collection Manager, and Appraiser. Her most recent project is curating the upcoming exhibition O(e)uvre: Commemorating Ivan Eyre at the Pavilion Art Gallery.

​