Author Archives: Ashley Moran
Turin, Italy – Musei Reali – Galleria Sabauda
Massa, Italy – Museo Diocesano Massa
Pisa, Italy – Museo Nazionale della Certosa di Calci
Turin, Italy – Palazzo Madama – Museo Civico d’Arte Antica
Look Silently; Discuss
There may be as many Slow Art Day formats as there are Slow Art Day hosts. Here’s what Megan Bannister has planned:
“For our second annual Slow Art Day celebration, the Des Moines (Iowa) Art Center will host a series of docent-led and self-guided tours to encourage visitors to look at art more slowly. Two docent-led sessions will be hosted (one at 11 am and one at 1 pm), and each session will highlight four different artworks. Participants will meet in the lobby to receive a handout and then embark on a silent observation of the selected pieces.
“Participants will convene back in the lobby 40 minutes later and then embark on group discussion, facilitated by an Art Center docent, sharing observations and possible interpretations for the next 40 minutes. A third handout also will be available for visitors who have not registered or choose a self-guided observation.
“All participants will receive a custom Slow Art Day button and are encouraged to share their experiences on social media using the hashtag #DSMSlowArtDay.”
A Rare Experience
For the Wiregrass Museum of Art in Dothan, Alabama, Slow Art Day came at what many hosts consider an impossible time. The Wiregrass sees it as an opportunity.
Art educator Leah Lapszynski explains:
This year for Slow Art Day at WMA, we find ourselves in the unique position of being between exhibitions in the early weeks of April. Typically, museum guests are aided in their visit by object labels, wall text, and other informational panels. Participants at WMA’s Slow Art Day event will be treated to an exciting, rare experience as they slowly look and make meaning of an incomplete exhibition. We are interested in the perception of museums that people have as visitors, and how that perception is constructed in the mind from outside opinions and past experiences. How will people make meaning from an exhibition in flux? What thoughts, emotions, or past personal experiences will participants pull from?