The annual event celebrating art.
Slow Art Day is Saturday, April 11, 2026 Join Us!
Photo by Greg Neville
African Art and Haiku in South Africa
March 4th, 2026For their eighth Slow Art Day, Artichoke Gallery at MelonRouge in Magaliesburg, South Africa invited visitors to slow down with art and poetry at an interactive morning titled “Afriku: Slow Visions & Whispered Words.” The event paired slow looking at a curated selection of African artworks with a hands-on Japanese haiku writing workshop led by gallery owner Hannelie Sanders.
On Saturday, April 5, 2025, participants gathered in the gallery’s contemplative space to begin their slow looking experience. The exhibition offered a rich range of African art — from textured mixed-media works and figurative compositions to abstract pieces that emphasize line, pattern, and gesture. The diversity of the artworks created varied visual rhythms: some pieces invited attention to bold color and dynamic shapes; others unfolded quietly, revealing depth and nuance through closer observation.
As participants slowed down with individual works, they were encouraged to engage with formal elements such as surface texture, mark making, and spatial relationships, and with the emotional presence each piece carried. These visual qualities provided fertile ground for deep attention, allowing slow lookers to connect more intimately with what they saw.
After an initial period of quiet observation, Hannelie Sanders introduced the basics of Japanese haiku. Participants were then invited to translate what they noticed in the art into their own three-line poems, using mood, imagery, and sensory detail as inspiration. The morning’s workshop emphasized presence, patience, and creative response, encouraging people to let what they saw inform what they wrote.
Following the haiku writing, the group shared reflections over a light lunch. Many spoke of how slowing down shifted their perception, helping them notice details and relationships within the artworks that might otherwise go unseen. In a further celebration of creative engagement, the haiku poems crafted during the session were displayed alongside the exhibition for the remainder of its run through May 4, allowing poetry and visual art to exist side by side.
At Slow Art Day HQ, we appreciate how Afriku wove visual art with poetry (and lunch!) into the slow looking experience. We love that participants’ poems became part of the exhibition itself.
We look forward to seeing what Artichoke Gallery at MelonRouge comes up with for Slow Art Day 2026.
– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
P.S. Follow them on Facebook
First Slow Art Day at Wichita Falls Museum of Art
March 2nd, 2026For their first Slow Art Day, the Wichita Falls Museum of Art at MSU Texas in Wichita Falls hosted a focused workshop within the exhibition Follow the Waters by Delita Martin, led by Dr. Zora Carrier, Executive Director of the Museum.
Participants were invited to slow down with five selected works from Martin’s exhibition, spending 10–15 minutes in silent observation with each piece. The workshop centered on Martin’s layered mixed-media portraits of Black women, exploring themes of cultural storytelling, symbolism, and spiritual legacy.
Following the slow-looking sessions, the group gathered for a facilitated discussion that encouraged participants to share personal interpretations, reflect on emotional responses, and consider how extended time and dialogue can transform the viewing experience.
To support the process, the Museum provided a structured worksheet titled The Art of Seeing (attached below) that guided participants through observation, implication, analysis, and reflection, prompting them to consider elements of art such as line, color, texture, rhythm, and unity, while also imagining the moments before and after the scene depicted. This layered approach reinforced visual literacy and encouraged deeper engagement beyond first impressions.
(By the way, museums and galleries should feel free to steal some of their lovely worksheet design.)
Feedback from participants was what we have heard from many thousands around the world: One participant discovered layers they might otherwise have missed while another shared that hearing others’ interpretations shifted their own perspective about the art.
We welcome the Wichita Falls Museum of Art to the Slow Art Day community, and look forward to seeing how they build on this strong beginning for Slow Art Day 2026.
— Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
Mindfulness, Music, and Morning Stillness at Caloundra Regional Gallery in Australia
March 1st, 2026For their fourth Slow Art Day, Caloundra Regional Gallery in Australia thoughtfully expanded their event format by introducing guided mindfulness activities to help participants truly slow down before engaging with the art.
Held from 8 – 10am (before regular gallery opening hours), 34 attendees gathered for a guided breathing exercise to help get settled into the experience, soften their gaze, and prepare to look deeply and intentionally.
Using a specially designed worksheet (you can find it below), attendees then spent 8–10 minutes with four selected artworks, plus one artwork of their own choosing.
Featured works included:
- Peter Harris | Jar | c.1992–3
- Johanna DeMaine | Bottle | c.1980s
- Peter Hudson | Girraween After Dark | 2022–23
- Amanda Western | Country Lane | 2023
- Miranda Skoczek | Untitled (impala) | 2012
The worksheet prompted participants to observe carefully, reflect on emotions, imagine stepping into the scenes, and even sketch details they noticed. As outlined in the worksheet, there was “no right or wrong way to look at art”, just an invitation to notice, feel, and reflect.
After the viewing sessions, guests enjoyed home-baked refreshments and fresh fruit platters generously provided by the Friends of the Gallery. A mindful tea-drinking exercise encouraged participants to extend the slow experience beyond the artwork and into everyday sensory awareness.
Adding to the atmosphere, local musicians Graham and Rowena provided harp and guitar music throughout the morning.
Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive, with many expressing appreciation for the quiet early-morning setting and the structured yet personal format of the experience.
A heartfelt thank you to Senior Learning and Engagement Officer Jenny Jones, the Caloundra Regional Gallery team, the Friends of the Gallery, and the talented musicians for creating such a thoughtful Slow Art Day.
We look forward to what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2026.
— Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
Rainforest, Sculpture and Surrealism in Xilitla, Mexico
February 26th, 2026For their first Slow Art Day, the Museo Edward James, also known as Las Pozas, in Xilitla, Mexico hosted a contemplative experience titled “Finding Seclusia,” led by Beatriz Acosta.
The museum, which is dedicated to the legacy of Edward Frank Willis James, is set in a rainforest, and features towering surrealist sculptures amid pools and waterfalls.
That’s all we at Slow Art Day HQ need to know to jump on the plane to Xilitla (pronounced: hee-LEET-lah).
James, an eccentric British poet, artist, and patron of the Surrealist movement created the Edward James Sculpture Garden, Las Pozas, as a fusion of the organic and the artificial, merging jungle and concrete into a single, dreamlike environment where imagination and inner worlds could take physical form.
For their Slow Art Day, the museo welcomed a group of high school students through five carefully designed stations with unique slow-looking experiences. The session began in the Seclusia room with an introduction to the Slow Art Day movement and the power and purpose of slow looking. Participants also received a handout with prompts and spaces to write their notes throughout the experience.
The first of the five stations focused on photographs of West Dean, Edward James’s childhood home. Participants explored James’s early life and family context, reflecting on how expansive spaces and environments can shape imagination and inner worlds.
At the second station, participants spent quiet, individual time reading selections from the digital archive of James’s poetry book, The Bones of My Hands. This station emphasized attentive reading and personal interpretation, allowing each participant to engage with James’s words at their own pace.
The third station centered on 14 original molds used in the creation of the sculpture garden. Participants closely observed the forms, textures, and details of the molds, considering how abstract ideas are translated into physical structures.
The fourth station took place on the museum balcony, where participants engaged in silent observation of the surrounding landscape. They were invited to notice sounds, colors, movement, and physical sensations, recognizing nature as an essential component of James’s creative universe.
The final station consisted of a 15-minute immersive video, Seclusia, which explored themes of imagination, interior worlds, and the human desire to create a personal refuge. This concluding experience allowed participants to synthesize what they had encountered throughout the session.
We at Slow Art Day HQ love everything about this and look forward to seeing what creative design the Museo Edward James comes up with for Slow Art Day 2026.
– Ashley, Phyl, Jessica Jane, and Johanna
P.S. Follow them on their Instagram.