This month Steve Edson offers a piece on what it means to be a part of the AGO’s group of dedicated volunteers. Originally posted November 30, 2011.
Volunteer Steve Edson. Photo courtesy AGO photographer Ian Lefebvre
As an adult I have always volunteered. For a number of years, when I was a High School teacher, I coached a girls’ swim team and boys lacrosse. In my community I was a uniformed leader with Scouts Canada for 25 years, and now, I am a Gallery Guide at the AGO. I think that it is my way of giving back and saying “thank you” for some of what has been given to me in the past.
Art, and painting, have always been part of my life. Two of my great grandfathers were painters and one of them is represented in the collection at the AGO. My father was an amateur painter who briefly studied under Arthur Lismer. My son is a printmaker and an Associate Professor of Fine Arts at Mount Allison University and my daughter-in-law is a painter. All of this has encouraged me to take an interest in art in general and Canadian art in particular.
When I retired I spent some time enjoying my freedom and catching up on reading that I had let slide, but then I began to wonder – is this it? It was my wife who suggested that I have a chat with Jack Carr who was a docent at the AGO at that time. Of course I took her advice and Jack put me in touch with the gallery. I was interviewed and accepted into the Adult/Daytime Docent group. That was when the fun began.
At first I was worried that my lack of formal training in art would be a drawback, but guess what? I found that I was working with a collegial group of people who were, and are, interested in sharing their knowledge, information and skills in a process of continuous learning. It was a breath of fresh air. For the last ten years I have been the beneficiary of friendships with volunteers and staff at the AGO.
The other reward is interacting with the visitors to the gallery and helping to enrich their experience.