A place for AGO volunteers to share, learn, and connect
Thursday April 25
Hello Volunteers,
Gallery Leadership is very pleased to report that the Art Gallery of Ontario has reached a tentative agreement with OPSEU/SEFPO Local 535. The agreement is subject to ratification by the union local members with a vote scheduled on Friday, April 26.
The return-to-work / volunteer date will be confirmed after the agreement is ratified.
On Volunteer Appreciation week, as Volunteer President I wanted to write a few words and a big thank you for everything! appreciative of how welcoming everyone volunteer’s and staff have been on my arrival over the past few months. Collaborating together with Holly is wonderful and to be working with the best Volunteer crew and staff! One of the highlights being how great to meet, listen and speak with many of you. I’m taken away with the level of talent, art knowledge, chats and our conversations, grateful for all you do. We are off to an exciting great start with new initiative’s and more to come! We truly care and are here to listen, as always, please feel free to send through your ideas and any thoughts as a collaborative volunteer community.
These are the priorities I’m working on in my role as your Volunteer President:
Dear Volunteers,
Next week, April 14 – 20, Canada celebrates National Volunteer Week. Though the current Gallery closure means our formal celebrations will be delayed, we still want to thank you for so generously giving of your time, energy and skills to support our staff, visitors, membership and one another.
Your contributions are felt throughout the Gallery: by welcoming visitors through wayfinding; facilitating folks in deep chats and conversation about art; helping to organize & build our library holdings; and supporting our summer art camps and family programs.
We’re pleased to share a snapshot of some of the exceptional impact volunteers have had this year, here at the Gallery:
You are a committed, passionate and intelligent group, always willing to lend a hand, expertise and opinion. You are there for us, and each other. This week, we want to thank you particularly for your sensitivity to our current situation, and for your patience. Volunteer recognition and appreciation planning is underway, and we look forward to celebrating together, at the Gallery, when we can.
Most recently, we also want to recognize all the ways we have come together outside the gallery’s walls as a community: our recent outing to the Gardiner Museum to view the special exhibition, Magdalene Odundo: A Dialogue with Objects combined with a private docent-led tour followed by a social group lunch. We also visited volunteer Aliye Akbarzadeh’s artwork showing at Sahar K. Boluki Fine Art Gallery; and enjoyed this past weekend’s visit to the Artist Project to view Janne Reuss’ artwork. These are among a growing list of volunteer initiatives we have planned to support our learning and engagement to show how much we care for our community, and as a way to equally support you and give back.
We look forward to future outings and opportunities that build connection – across placements, and shifts, with each other, and the greater GTA volunteer community. We are working hard to strengthen the bonds that tie us together, even in challenging times.
With thanks for all of your incredible support, commitment and achievements this year.
Holly Procktor, Coordinator, Volunteers
Barbara Glaser, Volunteer President
shared from Volunteer President, Barbara Glaser:
Hello fellow volunteers,
This week, Toronto welcomes “The Artist Project” – an exhibition of over 250 independent artists –including our own AGO volunteer and Gallery Guide, Janne Reuss. I will be there this Saturday, April 13, at 1pm, and will be meeting with other volunteers to go together as a team, with those who express interest. Please join us. This is a great opportunity to meet fellow volunteers! Please let me know if you’d like to meet up by emailing me at [email protected]
Please note: volunteers will need to purchase their own individual tickets to visit the show– online, click HERE: https://theartistproject.com/home/ , or at the door
We will continue to highlight opportunities where we can view our fellow volunteers’ art and come together as a community to support each other. Stay tuned! There are so many talented artists in our volunteer group! There will be further opportunities to highlight.
Posted for Barbara Glaser, Volunteer President:
One of my mandates as Volunteer President is to build connections. Highlighting here, a volunteer to volunteer initiative; we can view fellow volunteers’ art/ exhibitions, and come together as a community, to support our fellow volunteers.
Sharing some photos from my recent visit, this past Thursday April 11, to see Gallery Guide Aliye Akbarzadeh‘s exhibition “How Do I Look”, closing this weekend at the Sahar Gallery, 160 Davenport Road (view by appointment).
Love her art, its meaning, context and bringing to life her creativity and back story with such a contemporary lens.
Website link:
Hello volunteers! During this time apart, your Volunteer President Barbara Glaser and myself have been dreaming up ways to gather together, outside of the Gallery.
Next up: we invite you all to watch the new TVO documentary: Whaam! Blam! Roy Lichtenstein And the Art of Appropriation (watch on the TVO website, linked HERE), and then join us for a post-viewing zoom on Thursday April 25, to debate and discuss the movie.
STEPS:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83625537099?pwd=eEtrN0dQZTlxWHUyenpRTHloTDdVZz09
Meeting ID: 836 2553 7099
Passcode: 419606
If you would like to share images (Lichtenstein works and others – we know this is a big topic in art) to discuss and debate with the group, feel free to send Holly an email message with the name of the artwork/artist you’d like to talk about, and Holly will upload and include their images in a PowerPoint presentation she’ll put together for the group viewing – so we can all see and talk about it all together on the night of 25th.
Some probing initial questions for your to consider:
If you have any further questions, just get in touch with Holly. Until then, save-the-date, and we look forward to seeing you there!
Hello volunteers,
I understand many of you are awaiting updates about our current situation. Please know that we will keep volunteers informed.
The AGO has been closed since Tuesday March 26, due to a labour disruption. We remain hopeful that we will reach a negotiated agreement with OPSEU soon. We are asking our volunteers to be on standby, for email updates. We will continue to keep you informed with timely communication as it becomes available. Please know, when there is news to share, we will share it.
Thank you for your patience in this challenging time,
Holly Procktor, Volunteer Resources
Hello volunteers! Holly, here – I discovered just this morning (Thursday) that our volunteer database is being impacted by a technical issue (our database is hosted by a third-party provider), that is restricting our ability to email many of our volunteers. We’re postponing tonight’s talk with Janne, so that we can ensure she has the audience she deserves – and we’re really looking forward to launching this series at a future date when our communications are secure. For those of you that did log this date in your calendar, Barbara Glaser, Volunteer President, and myself will be online at 5:30pm for a little volunteer social. So, if you’re missing us as much as we are missing you in this time, log on via Zoom, same details below – see you at 5:30pm.
Hello volunteers! We are thrilled to invite you to an exclusive AGO Volunteers Artist Talk with AGO Gallery Guide Janne Reuss. Janne is exhibiting in The Artist Project, opening next weekend, April 11 – 14, in Toronto and we thought this would be a great way to celebrate Janne’s work, excitement, and achievement with fellow volunteers!
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82188865394?pwd=bEFUREUxMXhNVjNHcXpVRWt5SUFsQT09
Meeting ID: 821 8886 5394
Passcode: 336111
About Artist Janne Reuss:
Janne Reuss was born and raised in Mexico City and is currently based in Toronto, Canada. She has been a professional practicing artist for more than two decades, having lived, worked and exhibited her artwork in Mexico, United States, Germany, Italy and Canada — including five solo shows and numerous group exhibitions. She studied Fine Arts at the Academy of Art & Design in Stuttgart, Germany and History of Art in Mexico.
Her preferred media are photography and collage, but she also paints, often cycling fluidly between the three techniques. A constant theme in Janne’s work is her interest in human nature and how memories and experiences are imprinted deep inside of us.
In 2020/2021 Janne participated in residencies at Akin X Collision Gallery and Akin Studio Program Auto BLDG at MOCA, the former culminating in her most important solo exhibition so far: Rewriting the Story, a series of over 20 overpainted photomontages.
Please see Janne’s website for more: https://janneartdot.wordpress.com/
We’re really grateful for the opportunity to connect during this time when the Gallery is closed. A big thank you to Janne, from Volunteer President Barbara Glaser & myself. We hope you can join us! – Holly Procktor, Volunteer Resources
Congratulations to Gallery Guide Alieh (Aliye) Akbarzadeh, on the eve of her first solo exhibition – please see invitation, below:
A message from the Gallery’s Director:
We are thrilled to invite you to the solo exhibition of the talented young artist Alieh Akbarzadeh at Sahar K. Boluki Gallery. The exhibition, titled “How Do I Look,” showcases Alieh’s captivating work created through fabric collages and sewing techniques.
Alieh’s art delves into the complexities of identity, dislocation, and vulnerability, inviting viewers to contemplate these profound themes through her unique artistic lens.
This is an excellent opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of this up-and-coming artist and witness her remarkable talent firsthand. We look forward to celebrating with you at this special event.
– Warm regards, Sahar
Make sure to RSVP your attendance, to help the Gallery prepare to welcome guests – please RSVP, HERE.
Congratulations Alieh!
Monday March 25, 10:00pm
Dear Volunteers,
Unfortunately, this evening we received notice from OPSEU that they have rejected the Gallery’s offer, and have chosen to go on strike, effective immediately.
This means that tomorrow, Tuesday March 26, the AGO will be closed due to a labour disruption. We remain hopeful that we will reach a negotiated agreement with OPSEU soon.
We are asking our volunteers to be on standby, for email updates. We will continue to keep you informed with timely communication.