Hello volunteers! I’ve heard folks have had some difficulty understanding access and pricing for the Keith Haring show, so I reached out to our Visitor Welcome team with some questions, which they have clarified below. Hope this helps! – Holly

Only Annual Passholders and Members can visit Keith Haring: Art is for Everybody. This show is being marketed as a benefit of membership. That means, no single ticket sales. You have to be an Annual Passholder ($35) or Member to access the show.

For staff and volunteers:

We can enter the show at any time. Make sure you wear your volunteer badge. There is no need for us to get a ticket. Just walk-in.

Unlike other shows in the past, we cannot “walk-in” guests/friends or family. Each staff and volunteer can claim 2 tickets to give to friends and family. Best ways to do this:

Call the Contact Centre! They can email you (up to) 2 complimentary tickets, which you can forward by email to your friends/family. These tickets will allow access to Haring. Tickets cannot be issued without a date, so the hiccup here is that you need to know the date you friends/family will be visiting. The Contact Centre phone number is: 416 979 6648.

You can also claim tickets in person at the Welcome Desk, by showing your volunteer badge. Follow the same process as described above (for calling the Contact Centre). But note: our lines this week have been long! To avoid standing in line, it’s best to call in. Please do not jump the line ahead of visitors.

Hello volunteers,

We’re postponing our November 21 in-person workshop. Thanks so much for your understanding. Our workshop (online), that is scheduled for Tuesday November 28, from 5:30pm – 7:30pm will continue as planned. Hold tight for details!

With appreciation,

Holly (volunteer resources)

Think back with us a few months, AGO volunteers – to when you were asked to cast your vote to support a project for this year’s Volunteer Endowment Trust fund donation. You voted to support Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800, an exhibition and accompanying (gorgeous!) catalogue, edited by Alexa, and Andaleeb Badiee Banta, with Theresea Kutasz Christensen, Baltimore Museum of Art.

You’re invited: Tuesday November 14, at 5:30pm over Zoom

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82838041273?pwd=gmTAatZGS0bZDqwf52Abccqal2wF2r.1

Meeting ID: 828 3804 1273

Passcode: 812761

This illustrated talk, about the making of the book and exhibition (opening at the AGO in March 2024) will be led by Alexa Greist, Associate Curator & R. Fraser Elliott Chair, Prints and Drawings, with accompanying special guest, our Director and CEO Stephan Jost (who also wrote the catalogue’s foreword). This presentation is offered in thanks and recognition, for your generous gift of volunteer funds.

This talk will be recorded and shared, for those that cannot attend.

Making Her Mark introduces us to new artistic heroines (!), bringing together more than 230 objects from royal portraits to metal work, ceramics, textiles, and cabinetry, to demonstrate the many ways women contributed to the visual arts of Europe.

An important note for Gallery Guides: Education and Public Programs has coordinated an additional learning session, specific to Gallery Guides on Thursday November 16th, at 3:00pm – this is focused on engagement strategies guides can use in the exhibition to engage visitors. For more information, please see Danah’s emails.

Hello everyone,

This week marked the opening of another significant fall exhibition – Keith Haring: Art is for Everyone. There has been a tremendous amount of effort on the part of pretty much everybody to launch a successful fall season of exhibitions and programs. And you’ve done it. I would especially like to thank Georgiana Uhlyarik, Curator, who has done a truly incredible job, as well as all staff involved with planning, prepping and installing the exhibit. It looks amazing. Thanks also to the PR team for executing the media preview, the Communications and Marketing teams for getting the word out, as well as the Development and Education & Programming teams for various opening week events. A big thank you to Visitor Experience and Protection Services staff who will be welcoming our public over this busy opening weekend.

I encourage you to check out the show when you can. Also – continue to check in on one another and to be kind.

Take care,

Stephan   

Hello everyone,

Sometimes when one sees the world in chaos, it is good to focus on the tangible. This week, with so much pain in the world – which does impact us here at the AGO – I saw new glass railings on the east and west side of the building. I visited the installation of the Haring exhibition. I had my favourite comfort food at the Bistro – a hamburger and fries. I saw the Arnold Newman show that depicts portraits of extraordinary people of the twentieth century.

My hope is that we find comfort in the tangible in the face of great difficulty. Again, be kind, as the challenges will continue.

Stephan

P.S. This morning my daughter and I joined 99 people – from 29 counties – in becoming Canadian citizens. It has been a seven year process and I am proud to have taken this step.

As the Gallery prepares for the opening of Keith Haring: Art is for Everybody on November 8,we are excited to invite staff and volunteers to preview the exhibition.  

The Staff and Volunteer Exhibition Preview will take place on Tuesday, November 7 from 3 pm to 5 pm on Level 4 of the Gallery. Staff and volunteers are invited to visit at any time during these hours, just bring your ID badge for entry. Please note that guests are not allowed – the preview is for staff and volunteers, only.

Staff and volunteers may visit the exhibition once it opens on Wednesday November 8th, but due to high demand for the exhibition, please do not “walk-in” additional guests using your ID badge. Everyone that visits the show must have a ticket.

How can guests of staff and volunteers access the exhibition? 

Staff and volunteers can secure entry to the exhibition for guests in these ways:  

1.  With complimentary tickets: Each staff member and volunteer are entitled to two complimentary tickets for Keith Haring: Art is for Everybody. 

To claim your two complimentary tickets: 

• Please book a date in person at the Welcome Desk (i.e. ticket wickets on the main gallery level) or email the Contact Centre at [email protected] 
• Please make sure to bring your ID badge with you to book your complimentary tickets  
• Complimentary ticket admission will begin on Saturday, November 11  

2. With their AGO Annual Pass or Membership. Annual Pass access beings November 11 

Only guests with complimentary tickets, memberships, and annual passes will be allowed in (no walk-in guests).

We thank all staff and volunteers for their cooperation and understanding!  

Watch the exhibition launch video for Keith Haring: Art is for Everybody here:

https://artcloud.ago.ca/index.php/s/CzSMQ6RkatMzn8m

You’ll be asked to enter a password. Please enter: Harin54AGO

Questions? 

Please reach out to Trish Popkin, Associate Director, Visitor Welcome, at [email protected]  

We are happy to share this link for Shelagh Barrington, Gallery Guide and National Docent Symposium Council Chair for Canada. Please see details, below:

Discover how The Walters Art Museum Docent Corps (Baltimore, Maryland, USA) examined and updated their touring tools and approach to make all visitors feel more welcome. Learn how they used the Museum’s DEAI goals as a framework to elevate their touring practices during this one-hour program.

• Tuesday November 14, at 2pm, online via Zoom
• Register, HERE

Familiarize yourself with The Walters Art Museum, HERE.

Think back with us a few months, AGO volunteers – to when you were asked to cast your vote to support a project for this year’s Volunteer Endowment Trust fund donation. You voted to support Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800, an exhibition and accompanying (gorgeous!) catalogue, edited by Alexa, and Andaleeb Badiee Banta, with Theresea Kutasz Christensen, Baltimore Museum of Art.

Join us: Tuesday November 14, at 5:30pm over Zoom

(*link to be provided closer, to the date of our session)

This illustrated talk, about the making of the book and exhibition (opening at the AGO in March 2024) will be led by Alexa Greist, Associate Curator & R. Fraser Elliott Chair, Prints and Drawings, with accompanying special guest, our Director and CEO Stephan Jost (who also wrote the catalogue’s foreword). This presentation is offered in thanks and recognition, for your generous gift of volunteer funds.

Making Her Mark introduces us to new artistic heroines (!), bringing together more than 230 objects from royal portraits to metal work, ceramics, textiles, and cabinetry, to demonstrate the many ways women contributed to the visual arts of Europe.

(Can’t wait!) Save the Date and see you there! – Holly (volunteer resources)

KAWS cut his teeth as a graffiti artist in the 1990s, “bombing” through the streets of Jersey City, then New York City with graffiti legends like Zephyr. He then graduated to guerilla-style public art interventions, painting his famed iconography and characters directly over top of corporate billboards and phone booth ads. After being introduced to vinyl toy mogul Hikaru Iwanaga on a serendipitous trip to Japan, KAWS made his foray into sculpture, issuing a small run of “COMPANION” toys in 1999 – the rest is history.  

Over the last two decades, KAWS has become a household name in the worlds of fine art and design. His iconic family of characters have appeared everywhere from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade to Kid Cudi album covers, and his vibrantly coloured, hard-edged paintings are the pride of major art collections across the globe.

In the days leading up to the exhibition’s public opening, Foyer writers met with KAWS for a conversation. Seated comfortably amongst his newly installed works, he reflected on 30-plus years of art making – from teenaged graffiti writer to pop culture icon.

Read the full interview in this week’s Foyer, linked HERE.

Gallery Guide Shelagh Barrington has been travelling through India, and shares the story of an artist’s work she first saw at the AGO back in 2007 …

The National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi, India  

I first saw Subodh Gupta‘s work at the 2007 AGO exhibition Hungry god: Indian contemporary art (linked HERE).  Other artists in the show included:  Atual Dodiya, Tallur L.N., Bharti Kher, Justin Ponmany, Subodh Gupta (work pictured below), Ranbir Kaleka, Jitish Kallat,Tushar Joag, and Reena Saini Kallat.

Drawing out attention to our disposable society by using everyday items to construct, a tree of life?      

Another interesting connection, I also saw a piece by this artist in a private collection in Kansas City while attending the 2022 National Docent Symposium.

Shelagh Barrington, Gallery Guide

National Docent Symposium (NDS) Council for Canada

We know it’s the time of year for travel for many of our volunteers. Want to share a story? Send your submission to Holly Procktor ([email protected]) to post!