The Nicolaysen Art Museum and Discovery Center in Casper honored one of its own by presenting her with the 2010 Volunteer of Year award at a recognition tea last week. Volunteer Coordinator Lori Klatt and Nicolaysen Registrar Ingrid Burnett presented the 2010 Volunteer award to Arlene Larson. Clay Anthony, communications director for the Nic, says they very much appreciate their volunteers.

Volunteers help museum:

"Oh, we have a lot of volunteers. Counting Nic Fest and all our festivals, we call on probably several hundred volunteers in a year, but we have a really core, immediate group of probably 20 or 25, and a good majority of those end up doing front desk duty."

And some volunteers are asked to do more meticulous work, like 2010's Volunteer of the Year.

Work on permanent collection:

Arlene Larson, who gets to work in the back with the staff and help do some of our permanent collection cataloguing. She gets to actually handle some of the art back in the collections room, and she takes pictures of it and measures it and writes descriptions of the pieces, and we use that information and put it in our computer database for all of our collection.

When asked why he thought someone would volunteer their time at the Nic, Anthony guessed it was their love of art and the desire to be helpful.

Why volunteers volunteer:

"The impression I get from most of them is just that they love the Nic. They love art. They love the Nic and they have the time, so they want and try and give back and help a little."

Mr. Anthony welcomed even more volunteers and said if anyone is interested, they can talk to their Volunteer Coordinator Lori Klatt. For more information you can call 235-5247.

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