The Volunteer Program has undergone many changes in the 26 years since I first came to the Art Institute. These changes allow us to better serve the evolving needs of the wide range of people and communities that visit us. The current program, developed in tandem with the 2021 redesign of the Ryan Learning Center, is tailored in part to support expanded offerings in the Art Exchange, the museum’s free public hub for learning and creativity. Today, our volunteers engage visitors in a range of ways: they orient families to the various art-making and participatory experiences available in the RLC; support K–12 teachers and their students during tours and throughout their day here; engage with visitors in the galleries, sparking conversation about works of art and answering questions about the museum; and support special events and other projects as needed.
Whatever their post, each Art Institute volunteer is tasked with making sure our visitors feel welcome and engaged. Jessica, Hugo, and Kathy all do this and more, and I am so excited to introduce you to them.
—Michael Mitchell, Director, Volunteers and Operations, Ryan Learning Center
Jessica Ramirez, Art Exchange Volunteer
How did you come to the Art Institute?
I’ve always had a passion for the art world, and I really love Impressionism, so the Art Institute was the museum I visited most whenever I came downtown. In 2018, I was looking for an opportunity to connect with museum professionals and get some experience in the field, so I applied to the Volunteer Program. I started out in the role of guest guide, helping visitors with wayfinding and working in special exhibitions like 2019’s Andy Warhol show. For a few years, the program was on hiatus, but I was asked to return this past July as part of the new program under the Ryan Learning Center. In the meanwhile, I earned my bachelor’s degree in art history from the University of Illinois Chicago.
What does your new role involve?
I’m an Art Exchange volunteer, so I engage with families, children, and teens as they complete exhibition-inspired activities and enjoy the space. I make sure the stations are well stocked with supplies and materials and that things are generally running smoothly. Sometimes I’ll assist with special events, doing whatever needs to be done—like rolling posters for visiting educators to take back to their classrooms.
And what do you do when you’re not volunteering?
I work at a daycare center in a gym. There’s never a dull moment. We’re always doing activities in the care center. I get a lot of my inspiration from the activities offered in the RLC. So it’s worked out well, this mix of roles.
I’m also working on my art. I was an art minor in college, and I do a lot of oil paintings and work with pastels and charcoal. I’m taking a class right now at the Oak Park Art League. I’m also really into roller skating as a hobby. I’ll go to Fleetwood Roller Rink or just skate around town, usually Mills or Scoville Park in Oak Park. I also enjoy collecting antique and vintage objects. My favorite is a parasol from the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair.
Do you have a favorite object at the Art Institute?
I love Jay DeFeo’s The Annunciation. That’s the first painting I go to every time I visit the galleries. It has that wow factor both at a distance and up close—the thick use of paint, the texture of it, the colors, the weight. I just fell in love with it.
What do you like best about volunteering at the museum?
Getting to know the staff, other volunteers, and guests has been wonderful. I’ve had some great conversations about art and many other things. People come here from all over the world, so you never know who you’re going to meet next. I love sharing in the excitement of this place.
Kathy Sargent, Gallery Volunteer
When did art become a passion of yours?
It’s been a passion my whole life! I was the art editor of the yearbook in high school. I would’ve loved to have been an art history major, but that wasn’t a very practical thing to be as far as my family was concerned. So I went into teaching, which was fabulous. But art is just something I’ve always enjoyed.
What did you teach?
Mostly elementary school, but everything from preschool through eighth grade. My husband and I moved a lot, and every time I found a new teaching job. You adapt.
And where were you before this?
New York. I was a docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art until 2012. I worked up in the Cloisters, which is where my interest in the Middle Ages came about. It was a gift. It was like I got a master’s degree in the subject, but I didn’t have a piece of paper for it.
Coming back to Chicago, I couldn’t imagine not trying to get into the docent program here. So I did, and fortunately it worked out. I was a docent from 2012 until the museum closed for a while in 2020. When the new Volunteer Program began, I took on the role of gallery volunteer. I work in a few different galleries, but you can usually find me in medieval and Renaissance art, arms, and armor.
How does your past role as a docent carry over to your new role?
They’re different. I’ve been surprised by how much I have enjoyed being a gallery volunteer after so many years of leading student tours. Rather than focusing on just one or two objects, I have the whole gallery to work with.
I always love when somehow or another I can get someone interested in a subject they don’t know anything about. It’s “Welcome to the Art Institute. Is this your first time? I noticed you’re looking at this. What made you come over here? Well, if you like this, I’d like to show you something else …” I just bounce in and out—I don’t want people to feel like I’m dominating their time. In my role, you’ve got to enjoy engaging with people and talking to them.
What are some of your other passions?
I’m interested in history. I’ve taken classes at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Northwestern on topics like Japan and the Ottoman Empire, and it’s been exciting to learn and share in each class. I’ve gotten to know so many great people with different backgrounds and life experiences. I just love it.
I also have three grown kids and grandchildren who keep me busy, as do my friends. Golf fills my summers, and I read a lot. I am happier when I am busy and involved, and I try to stay as active as possible. There is room for everything. The fact that I’ve gotten to do what I’ve gotten to do after retiring is a gift.
When are you happiest in your role here?
I’m always happy, but I really love it when the museum is packed—when we’re really busy. Especially when I get to talk with lots of international people or people that have never been to Chicago before. I love to see the surprise and awe of first-time visitors who were unaware that we have a museum of this caliber here. I love showing them what a gem the Art Institute of Chicago truly is.
Hugo Nugraha, Art Exchange Volunteer
How long have you been a volunteer here?
I joined the program in late September, so it’s been about five months now. It’s still pretty new, but I’m learning a lot.
Have you always been interested in art?
Definitely. I’m from Indonesia, and my family and I like to travel. Wherever we go, we always go to an art museum. We went to art museums all over the world when I was a kid, the Art Institute included. I’ve appreciated film as an art form since I was a young age, and my undergrad is in film. Going to museums helped me appreciate art in other mediums.
How did you come to be a volunteer?
Recently I completed my master’s degree in arts management at Columbia College Chicago. After I graduated, I was looking at opportunities with the Art Institute and stumbled upon the Volunteer Program, and the rest is history. I had found myself becoming more and more passionate about the museum experience—how it feels to be in an exhibition, to be in a gallery, seeing paintings and sculptures that blow your mind away. I want to be a filmmaker in the future, but I also plan to stay involved in the art community and the museum community.
What is a typical day here like for you?
Around 10:30 I check in at the Volunteer Program office, and then I head up to the Art Exchange to say hi to everyone. Like Jessica, I usually work in that space. But some days I work at the kiosk outside the RLC, greeting people and answering questions. Most of the time they’re just wondering where the bathroom is, which is okay. I want to make sure they have whatever they need, and I love how it feels to help people and make them feel welcome. I take my break around 1:00, and when the RLC closes at 3:00, I broom the floor and clean the tables. Then I’m done.
What do you bring to your role that’s uniquely you?
Because I travel so much, I get how hard it can be to navigate a new place and find information when you don’t know the language. I speak a couple of languages, and I’m learning Japanese. I haven’t run into any Indonesian visitors yet, but I’m hoping I do! Recently a couple from Kazakhstan came to the RLC, and they didn’t speak any English at all. So we used Google Translate.
How does volunteering fit into your other responsibilities?
I work part-time as assistant to the director of international students and scholar services at Columbia, so I split my week. There I work mostly with international students, helping them navigate paperwork and all of the arrangements they need to make in order to come to Chicago and study here. I also assist with student events, which I really enjoy.
In my free time, I volunteer as much as I can at film festivals around town. And I go to the movies at the AMC theater in Streeterville or on the Mag Mile at least three times a week. I love the Gene Siskel Film Center, right here on State Street, and the Music Box, up in Lakeview. Lately I’ve been walking around the city, taking a lot of pictures and shooting some stuff for my creative portfolio. I like to keep busy. And I always love making new friends and connecting with people. That’s really important to me.
—Michael Mitchell, Director, Volunteers and Operations, Ryan Learning Center
Hugo Nugraha, Art Exchange Volunteer
Jessica Ramirez, Art Exchange Volunteer
Kathy Sargent, Gallery Volunteer
Learn more about volunteer opportunities at the Art Institute. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at museum-volunteers@artic.edu.
