ABOUT

Lara A. Bjork, Founder, Principal Advisor

Lara A. Björk is the Founder and Principal Advisor of Von Rudebeck Art Advisory, where she advises a global collector base in the development and management of private and corporate fine art collections. She specializes in artwork from the 20th and 21st Century to living Contemporary artists.

In 2024, she founded Advisors’ Advisory, a peer group of top art advisors in New York City, created in order to foster community and collaboration in the art advisory community.

In 2024, she also founded NiceToLookAt, a private art sales platform, offering artworks by contemporary artists priced under $10k.

Prior to founding VRAA nearly 20 years ago, Lara served as Director of a private art financing firm in New York City, analyzing the risk assessment of the borrower, artwork collateral and loan structure. This, paired with her professional background in Private Wealth Management at Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch in Washington, D.C., informs her holistic and fiduciary approach to art advising, synthesizing clients’ collecting goals with their aesthetics and spaces.

Lara holds a Master of Art Business from Sotheby’s Institute of Art (London, England) and earned a double major in her Bachelor of Science Degree in Corporate Finance & Marketing from the University of South Carolina (Columbia, SC). 

Her team manages the studio of her practicing artist mother, Anne Wehrley Björk. Lara remains connected to her Southern roots by serving as the Visual Arts Director to Spoleto USA in Charleston, SC, and is a member of the collections and exhibitions committees at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, SC.

Outside of VRAA, Lara frequently lectures for her alma mater, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, in New York and curates art exhibitions in the Southeast.

[ Advisory Services ]

  • Emily Usher is a Washington, DC based advisor at Von Rudebeck Art Advisory.

    For nearly a decade, Emily has built personalized and value driven collections for clients on both the East and West Coasts. She provides collection management and advisory services for collectors at all levels and stages in their collecting journey with a specific focus on contemporary art and design from the 20th and 21st Century.

    Prior to joining VRAA, Emily worked independently in Los Angeles advising and providing comprehensive collection management services, including acquisitions, collection inventory and cataloging, valuations, as well as deaccession strategies.

    Emily started her career at Phillips auction house with a focus on 20th Century design and jewelry.  

    She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Lake Forest College (Lake Forest, IL) and a Master of Arts from The New School Parsons in partnership with the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt Museum (New York, NY) in History of Design and Curatorial Studies.

  • Chiara Di Muccio serves as the Registrar to the Von Rudebeck Art Advisory team.

    Chiara holds a Master of Art Business from Sotheby’s Institute of Art (New York, NY) and a second MA in Cultural Heritage from the University of Bologna (Bologna, Italy).

    Prior to joining VRAA, Chiara interned in several international art institutions and organizations between the US and Europe, including: the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, where she assisted in the Education and Registrar departments; the Dorotheum auction house in Vienna, where she worked as Cataloging Assistant in the Old Masters department; and Lio Malca Gallery in New York, where she served as Research and Archives Assistant.

  • Natalie power serves as Administrative Assistant to the Von Rudebeck Art Advisory team.

    Natalie’s professional experience spans the fields of writing, fine art, performance, and film. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction from Hunter College (New York, NY) and has penned original press texts for galleries and artists including Kate Newby, Hannah Beerman, Sam Linguist and Jake Manning. 

    Prior to joining VRAA, Natalie held the positions of Principal Gallery Assistant and Registrar at Laurel Gitlen gallery, Studio Assistant for Adrianne Rubenstein, and Gallery Assistant at Webb Gallery.

  • Bella Ramón serves as Administrative Assistant to the Von Rudebeck Advisory team.

    Bella holds a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from the University of St. Andrews (St. Andrews, Scotland), where she specialized in Latin American and Latinx Modern and Contemporary art. She is currently pursuing her Master of Arts from The Courtauld Institute of Art (London, England).

    Prior to joining VRAA, Bella interned at Stanford Contemporary Gallery in Nashville, TN. There, she independently curated a private exhibition on Uruguayan artist Mario Giacoya, his second US showing. Bella has experience in social media management, artist liaising, and content writing.

  • Jimena Velarde-Alvarez serves as Digital Designer to the Von Rudebeck Art Advisory team.

    Jimena is a practicing artist and graphic designer. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting with honors from Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, RI). 

    Jimena has experience across multiple sectors of the art world, previously as a Studio Assistant to Elizabeth Glaessner and Rafael Domenech, volunteering at PArC Peru Contemporary Art Festival in Lima, and currently working as Gallery Assistant at Margot Samel, where she assists with logistics, inventory, and client relations. Her curatorial experience includes organizing the exhibition Safe in My Garden at Gelman Gallery.