The annual event celebrating art.
Slow Art Day is Saturday, April 5, 2025 Join Us!
Photo by Greg Neville
Slow Looking and Dance at the University of Navarra’s Museum
March 11th, 2025For their second Slow Art Day, the University of Navarra’s Museum located in Pamplona, Spain invited visitors to look slowly at “De este paraíso” (“Of this paradise”), 1969, by Manolo Millares. Present at the event were also a professional dancer and a choreographer for a body expression session.
Ahead of Slow Art Day, the event was published to the Museum’s website, and an invitation newsletter was sent to subscribers.
The Slow Art Day session on April 13 took place from 5 to 7 p.m. It was free and there were 20 places available. Between 5 to 6 pm, all participants first looked slowly at the artwork together, followed by a discussion.
From 6 to 7 pm the group moved into another room for the body expression workshop. It was led by the dancer and choreographer Itsaso Álvarez Cano, and visitors were invited to respond to the artwork through dance (Unfortunately there are no pictures from this part of the event).
At Slow Art Day HQ we love the inclusion of the body expression session. We experience art with several of the senses, and moving our bodies seems like a perfect way to extend slow looking into an embodied response.
We can’t wait to see what the Museum at the University of Navarra comes up with for Slow Art Day this year.
-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
P.S. Slow Art Day 2025 is coming up on April 5. If you have not done so, please register your museum, gallery, church, sculpture park or movie theater here: https://www.slowartday.com/be-a-host/
P.P.S. Stay up to date with the Museum at the University of Navarra through their Instagram or Facebook.
Bloomington Citywide Slow Art Day
March 10th, 2025For their 5th Slow Art Day, Eaton Studio Gallery in Bloomington, IL., spearhead another citywide Slow Art Day in 2024, and as one of the *18* locations, invited participants to a sip-n-view followed by a conversation with artist Herb Eaton.
Slow Art Day has become a prominent force across Bloomington during the past few years, and Pamela Eaton, who has spearheaded the citywide Slow Art Day, told us that the whole multi-venue celebration has been transformative for art in Bloomington.
“Collaborating with the other artists and galleries in our community for Slow Art Day has given our local art scene more visibility and we are now attracting more local and out of town visitors to our art locations.”
Pamela Eaton
The citywide event received a promotion grant to help cover the cost of printing promotional materials, and Eaton Gallery itself received an Illinois Tourism grant to promote the Art Trail on Route 66 for Slow Art Day.
To conclude the festivities, all Slow Art Day goers across the 18-venue city-wide Slow Art Day event were invited to a closing reception with a prize giveaway at The Hangar Art Company from 2 to 4 p.m. in Downtown Bloomington.
At Slow Art Day HQ we have been delighted to follow the events by Eaton Studio Gallery since they joined the Slow Art Day movement during the Covid19 Pandemic. From designing a drive-by exhibition in 2020 to now leading a city-wide phenomenon — we can’t wait to see how Slow Art Day grows in Bloomington during the years to come.
-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
Mason City, IL, Hosts City-Wide Slow Art Day
March 8th, 2025For their first city-wide Slow Art Day, the town of Mason City, Illinois lined up three venues to host artwork events for Slow Art Day: the public library, Reimagine Mason City Foundation, and the Arlee Theater.
All three are local nonprofits who are actively involved in youth services and the arts. Even though Mason City is not large enough to need a stop light (with a population of 2500), they still make sure to celebrate local artists. This year’s featured works included pieces from local artists who have passed on, as well as works from four other Central Illinois artists with various ties to Mason City. Most of the entries were paintings, with one sculpture.
This year’s local artworks were:
- Unknown titled piece by Andrea Maxson
- “Colorful Flowers” by the late Helen Kim
- Two untitled pieces by Anastasia Neumann
- “Protection” and “Old Warrior” by Rick Kehl
- Unknown titled piece by the late Mary Price
- Unknown titled piece by the late Mary K. Mangold
- “Arcturian Landscape Study in Aluminum” by Paige Price
On Slow Art Day, the artworks were divided across the three selected locations, and tips for looking at art slowly were provided at each venue.
- The public library showed their pieces in a special exhibit.
- The Reimagine Mason City Foundation hosted a pop-up coffee shop where their works were displayed.
- And lastly, the Arlee Theater projected digital versions of all of the works onto the big screen prior to the evening’s show (we have seen several theaters participate over the years, and love this type of venue for slow looking!).
At Slow Art Day HQ, we love to see citywide events – and especially appreciate smaller towns who come together to celebrate the day. We also hope to see more movie theaters join the Slow Art Day movement.
We look forward to seeing what Mason City comes up with for Slow Art Day in 2025.
-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
P.S. Slow Art Day 2025 is coming up on April 5. If you have not done so, please register your museum, gallery, church, sculpture park or movie theater here: https://www.slowartday.com/be-a-host/
Mindful Slow Looking at The Foster Museum
March 7th, 2025For their first Slow Art Day, The Foster Museum in Palo Alto, California, invited participants to engage with works by Tony Foster, a plein air watercolor artist who creates series of paintings he calls “Journeys.” Per their website, “Foster’s unique art form is a series of paintings with accompanying notes and symbolic objects or “souvenirs” made with the intention to reveal wild places or explore a specific idea or theme.”
The free Slow Art Day event was advertised in the museum lobby and in their newsletter for a few months before the event on Saturday, April 13. The event started with an introduction by Anne Baxter, co-Director of The Foster Museum, and was followed by an hour of mindful slow looking at 5 of Tony’s artworks. The event ended with a closing discussion and light refreshments.
Anne told us that she learned about Slow Art Day through Alan Petersen, Fine Art Curator at the Museum of Northern Arizona, a longtime Slow Art Day museum. Last year when Alan was in California teaching a drawing workshop and researching the whereabouts of Gunnar Widforss’ paintings in the area, Anne asked him for programming ideas that seem like a great fit with The Foster Museum. Alan immediately suggested Slow Art Day. Love that. Word-of-mouth is how we have built this movement.
And we are happy to welcome The Foster Museum to Slow Art Day and look forward to what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2025.
– Jessica Jane, Johanna, Ashley and Phyl
P.S. Slow Art Day 2025 is coming up on April 5. If you have not done so, please register your museum, gallery, church, sculpture park here: https://www.slowartday.com/be-a-host/
P.S.S. You can follow The Foster Museum on Instagram, FB and X.