“Every moment I spend volunteering at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, I learn a little more about the extraordinary life Georgia O’Keeffe lived. Hopefully, I will become more courageous in my life and push boundaries as she did,” says Lesley Adams. the O’Keeffe Museum Store. The opportunity to be a small part of this prestigious Museum was and still is very rewarding. The O’Keeffe attracts people from all over the country and all over the world. I enjoy making visitors’ experiences memorable by helping them select a gift or memento.” Volunteers at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum support every department through a variety of efforts, and enjoy doing so—we couldn’t do our work without them! Some are young professionals seeking to give back to the community; others are seasoned professionals still actively involved in their careers or enjoying retirement. Volunteers come by train, car, and on foot; some live or work in the neighborhood while others drive for several hours to the Museum or to Abiquiú to reach Georgia O’Keeffe’s home and studio and the tour office there. The common elements motivating them all are their enthusiasm and willingness to serve the Museum and our visitors. Elaine Trzebiatowski has volunteered in the Education Department for six years. “It’s the job you love going to!” she says. “This volunteer experience has allowed me to be exposed to and interact with wonderful people of all age ranges, such as schoolchildren with their teachers and parents, the Museum visitors and education program participants, other volunteers and docents, and, of course, the Museum staff. I also have the fantastic opportunity to continually learn about one of my favorite subjects: art.” Volunteers serve on committees that support the Museum’s fundraising and endowment efforts, public outreach programs, and marketing initiatives, as well as help with administrative and support tasks by preparing marketing and development mailings, doing research on special projects, helping with events, greeting visitors in the lobby, assisting with family programs, teaching art lessons, and selling merchandise in the Museum Store. O’Keeffe enthusiasts, dedicated educators, and professionals from a wide variety of backgrounds are partners integrated into the Museum’s ongoing work and programs. Additionally, volunteers are ambassadors, spreading the word about the Museum to their family and friends. A volunteer at the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio for 15 years, Rose Hume knew she wanted to volunteer at a museum when she moved to Santa Fe. As there are many museums in the city, she looked into various opportunities and decided that the O’Keeffe was the best match for her. “It was the level of scholarship and research at the O’Keeffe that won me over,” says Rose, a volunteer for Visitor Services and a docent. She enjoys interacting with out-of-town visitors because of their curiosity about and interest in American Modernism. “It is wonderful to discuss the art, and fun to talk about the personalities who created it.” Enthusiasm best describes Karen Ralston’s engagement with the Museum. Karen, who greets visitors as they enter the Museum, declares that she is “proud to represent the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in the community and to serve as an ambassador to Santa Fe.” Karen, who is also a docent, can switch comfortably between English, Spanish, and French and has served on the Museum’s Marketing and Development committees. Linda Firestone, who relocated to New Mexico from Pennsylvania, says, “As a retiree, volunteering at the Museum has kept me active and provided a lifelong learning experience that is important. I can now focus on the arts, which has always been a desire of mine. I look forward to the docent training sessions so that I can extend my volunteer service to the Museum.” Susan Berk related that the work she does for the Research Center—maintaining the international magazine collection and periodicals and helping to inventory new donations to the Library—is work that she does “with an open heart, willingness, and commitment, and with no expectations of compensation other than personal satisfaction and relationship building, education, and the opportunity to learn something new.” Asked to recall a specific memory regarding a meaningful
2010 Yearly Accomplishments • 56 education docents and volunteers worked 3,375 hours • An additional 1,800 hours of volunteer time were clocked by the other Museum departments • 4,635 K–12 students toured the Museum led by volunteer tour guides
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