Valerie Almquist (1970- )
"Summer Evening in St. Augustine "
Watercolor, 1997.
LFAC #2008:06:01
Biography
Valerie (Paidar) Almquist was born in 1970 and graduated from Luther College with a B.A. in art in 1992. In 1995 she finished her M.A. at the University of Northern Iowa (Cedar Falls) with an emphasis in graphic design. From 1995-2000 she was a graphic designer with Parsons Technology/Mattel Interactive in Hiawatha, Iowa, and from 2001-2004 she was senior designer with Stamats Communications in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Since that time she has worked from her home in Shellsburg, Iowa.
Almquist has earned a number of awards for her design work, including an Addy Award from the Advertising Federation of Cedar Rapids for a 4-color poster; an Admissions Advertising Award (Silver) in the Outdoor Transit/Billboard category, and also an Addy Certificate of Excellence (billboard campaign) for her work with Our Lady of Holy Cross College, New Orleans, LA; and an Admissions Advertising Award (Merit) for a search brochure she developed for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
There is one piece by Almquist in the Luther College Fine Arts Collection, a watercolor titled Summer Evening in St. Augustine. The work was given to the college by the artist and was part of “Celebrating Connections: Forty Years of Artistic Dialogue,” a 2008 exhibit at Luther College that featured the work of Douglas Eckheart and selected alumni artists on the occasion of Eckheart’s retirement from teaching at Luther. Almquist says of her painting:
Summer's Evening in St. Augustine, FL reflects a calm Southern evening enjoyed on the porch. St. Augustine is a busy tourist area in Florida. However, after the tourists leave about 6pm, the town takes on a hometown attitude as the shop workers return home and the crowds leave town. Neighbors come out and enjoy their evenings like any other old-fashioned town. This painting beckons back to a time from yesterday when people enjoyed a simpler time. It also reminds me of the countless summer evenings on a porch here in Iowa with my own Grandparents while I was growing up.
