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If you have questions, concerns or ideas, sign up or drop by during office hours to chat virtually or in person, with Karen, Director of Volunteers and Operations.
Have you done your research but still are stumped? We will do our best through our Educators and Interpretation team to get you some answers. Please leave previous answers untouched, but type your questions into the "Question" column. (Check back frequently for answers :-)
Did something noteworthy (positive or challenging) happen on your shift? Take a moment to share your experience with us.
Career Corner:
Career Corner:
Looking for a job? While volunteering is generous and a good community and résumé builder, there is no direct pipeline from volunteering to employment. If you are interested in working for the Art Institute, keep an eye here on the employment page. The entirety of the hiring process is managed by HR, and staff often are not aware of new jobs posting or updates on the process.
If you'd like someone to consider being a reference, please ask first! And, if you do apply for a position, let us know! Best of luck!
Volunteer micro-trainings
Volunteer micro-trainings
The Art Exchange staff took great initiative and care in creating a series of micro-trainings for Volunteers. Topics range from gender/ pronouns to self care, to museum safety, to how to help with a lost child.
A new resource for Visitors
A new resource for Visitors
Interpretation is introducing a new tool for visitors to use in the galleries called “8 Ways to Look at Art.” The printed guide presents eight prompts that encourage fun and creative ways of engaging with and thinking about the work they encounter in our galleries—from matching an artwork to the last song they heard to thinking about which artworks might be friends or enemies. Developed in both English and Spanish, the guides will be available at ticketing and info desks before the end of the summer.
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Did you know?
Did you know?
Volunteer Benefit!
Volunteer Benefit!
Your Volunteer ID gets you free/reduced access at many museums and cultural institutions in Chicago and beyond. It's hard for us to know a list for sure, but you should always ask! Let's keep a list of places that volunteers have had success entering with their Volunteer badge to crowd-source this knowledge!
Volunteer/ Staff Viewings
Volunteer/ Staff Viewings
The Hispanic/Latine Affinity Group has created a Community Ofrenda in Classroom 3 of the Ryan Learning Center to mark Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead. All staff are invited to visit the decorated altar through Monday, November 16, and learn a little about our colleagues’ culture, traditions, stories, and experiences.
Staff Viewing: Jill Mulleady—The Passenger
Tuesday, Nov 3 2:30–3:30pm Gallery 289
This presentation of haunting paintings by Jill Mulleady is the artist’s first solo show at a major museum. Curator Giampaolo Bianconi will share remarks and be available for questions.
Staff Viewing: Body and Being in African Art + Reading Room
Tuesday, Nov 4 9:15-10am Gallery 227 & Reading Room
Tuesday, Dec 8 1:30–2:30 Gallery 227 & Reading Room
Selections of our Arts of Africa collection will be back on view with a major presentation of more than 50 objects in the horseshoe gallery (G227) and Olówé of Ìsé’s veranda post in the Franke Reading Room. Hear from Costa Petridis and Leslie Wilson, respectively, for these staff-only viewings of both spaces.
Artist Talk for Staff: Hyejeong Kim
Friday, Nov 13 9:15–10am Gallery 105
While in town for a public talk, ceramicist Hyejeong Kim will join curator Yeonsoo Chee to talk with staff about her work, technique, and influences.
Staff Viewing: Tony Cokes—On Boredom
Tuesday, Nov 17 10:30–11:30am Bluhm Family Terrace
Our current Bluhm Family Terrace installation features the work of Tony Cokes, combining text, color, and music. Curator Giampaolo Bianconi will share remarks and be available for questions.
Internship Program Info Sessions
Tuesday, Nov 17 2–2:45pm Virtual
Wednesday, Nov 18 2–2:45pm Virtual
With the internship request form now open for Summer 2027 internships, Academic Engagement and Research is hosting two virtual info sessions for museum staff curious about the program and interested in being involved. Summer internship requests are due by Tuesday, December 1.
Staff Viewings: Beatriz González—In Series and Full Color
Wednesday, Dec 2 9:15–10am Galleries 124–127
Tuesday, Jan 19 10–11am Galleries 124–127
Known in Colombia as “la maestra,” Beatriz González spent her six-decade career reflecting critically on her country’s recent history, opening a space for memory and collective grief. Discover her influential work in this major retrospective. Co-curator Felipe Villada Ruiz will share remarks and be available for questions.
Museum Events (click to expand)
Museum Events (click to expand)
Please bookmark and check www.artic.edu/events regularly for programs and events happening every day
Please bookmark and check www.artic.edu/events regularly for programs and events happening every day
Daily
Daily
Sunday 11/1/26
Gallery Tour:
1:00pm-1:45pm Meet at the Grand Staircase Free with museum admission
Gallery Tour:
3:00pm-3:45pm Meet in Griffin Court Free with museum admission
This tour will begin in Griffin Court and travel to 393, 391, and 291
Monday 11/2/26
Teen Open Studio: Clay Bodies:
11:00pm-3:00pm Ryan Learning Center, Studio B Free, no registration required
Explore depictions of the human form on view in Body and Being in African Art, and learn handbuilding techniques to bring your own figures to life in air-dry clay. This program is designed for teens ages 13–18. All materials will be provided, and no prior experience is needed.
Gallery Tour:
1:00pm-1:45pm Meet at the Grand Staircase Free with museum admission
Gallery Tour:
3:00pm-3:45pm Meet in Griffin Court Free with museum admission
Closed Locations (click to expand)
Closed Locations (click to expand)
Please be aware that we will be closing off a corner of Gallery 144 on Monday, July 13–Wednesday, July 15, and Tuesday, July 21, for installation of Edgar Miller's carved linoleum panel The Great Chicago Fire of 1871. This work will be happening in the northwest corner of Gallery 144 (the immediate left corner when entering from Gallery 151). The north set of glass doors will be blocked during this work, but the south set will remain fully accessible.
Rolling closures of portions of the Thorne Rooms on Wednesday, July 29–Friday, July 31, while the AAE team conducts an internal study on several models. Screens will shuffle through the gallery to block where the work is being done and help direct visitors accordingly.
Many of the Arts of the Americas galleries will close in preparation for construction on the new Grainger Center for Conservation and Science—revisit the details here.
Picasso’s Old Guitarist Going off View - The Old Guitarist by Pablo Picasso will be going off view on Monday, June 22, for a long-term conservation project. Thanks to a grant from Bank of America, the painting is undergoing treatment for the first time in over 60 years. We’ll look forward to sharing findings and other details about this project in the coming year.
REMINDER:
In regards to these closures, here is language you can use if you receive inquiries from members of the public about gallery closures, particularly galleries 135 and 136. For general inquiries, you can use the topline message just below. If people ask about a specific work or region, you can direct them specifically, as in You can now see XXX in gallery XXX, using the reference list printed out in Volunteer office or here.
“As we work over the next several years to evolve our campus to better serve our visitors and showcase our collection, you’ll notice some changes along the way. There are several galleries closed as we convert them into our new special exhibition space. As part of this long-term project, works have been redistributed across other galleries. Visitors can still see African Art, Indigenous Arts of the Americas, and other highlights from the closed galleries in spaces throughout the museum.”
Media Highlights
Media Highlights
Jill Mulleady and her solo show The Passenger were featured in an in-depth W Magazine profile.
Mary Cassatt: After Impressionism was included in WBEZ and Modern Luxury lists of can’t-miss events for fall and reviewed in the Observer.
WBEZ also included Lee Miller: Fearless and Beatriz González: In Series and Full Color in their list of can’t-miss events.
Willem de Kooning Drawing received positive reviews in the Atlantic and New York Review of Books.
Newcity Art and Galerie Magazine reviewed Lee Miller: Fearless.
Tony Cokes: On Boredom was included in the Newcity “Art Top 5” for October.
The Thorne Miniature Rooms were highlighted in an article about miniatures in Bloomberg.
Our return of Jean Metzinger’s Woman with a Fan was covered by the Chicago Tribune, CBS News, WTTW, WBEZ, People, Artforum, ARTnews, and Smithsonian Magazine.
The New York Times covered the New York State appeals court’s unanimous ruling in favor of the Art Institute in the Manhattan district attorney’s case involving Egon Schiele’s Russian War Prisoner.
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