During our closure for the HVAC project, the museum recruited and trained a team of volunteers to engage visitors in the 50% of the Story: Women Expressing Creativity exhibit. The Gallery Attendants learned about the goals of the exhibit, the featured artists, and explored different ways to converse with guests in the space. We were fortunate to meet Heila Rogers through this process and have been inspired by her warm and inviting approach to the role. We asked Heila why she volunteers for the museum and she shared, “The type of interaction with the variety of people is edifying and fun. I love being there when a piece of art makes people’s eyes light up because of how something in it relates to them personally.” Heila shared that she never knows what people will be drawn to in the space and it’s fun to see what the connect to, “It’s a pleasure to share observations and interesting connections because of human-made, handmade pieces in the gallery.”
As part of Heila’s experience in the exhibit, she has kept a list of interesting conversations with guests of all ages. When people are exposed to art and museum exhibits it inspires a lot of different topics from “light-up shoes for adults, how to make jewelry out of automotive paint scrapings, and a Fire Tornado museum in Minnesota. Many people share very cool examples of their own, family members or other art that they’ve encountered and loved.”
Outside of her time in the 50% exhibit, Heila is very interested in the new Until Forever Comes: This is Ute Homeland exhibit. She noted a favorite quote by Cassandra J. Atencio, one of the exhibit contributors, that has inspired her to learn more, “We call ourselves Nuuchiu or Nuu’ciu, ‘the people’ … We know who we are; we don’t need someone to tell us who we are or where we came from.”
For Heila, volunteering in a space of art and creativity is a natural fit, “I am a writer who respects the power and beauty of words and enjoys creating with them.” In addition to her volunteer work, Heila shared that she enjoys, “streaming British cozy TV mysteries, purposefully humorous action films, making new playlists across genres, and watching the fantastic cloud shows that unfold over our mountains here in the Springs.” Congratulations Heila and thank you for your service!