Category Archives: Blog

Korea’s First Slow Art Day at Choi Sunu House 

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Ran Hee, the manager of the Choi Sunu House Memorial Museum in Seoul, Korea, hosted their (and Korea’s) first Slow Art Day on April 15 with the theme “Neurim & Nurim (느림 그리고 누림)”, which translates to “Slow and Enjoy”.

The event was jointly organized by the National Trust Cultural Heritage Foundation and Ewha Womans University Graduate School of Education participants majoring in art education, Kim Han-sol, Han Yu-jin, and Heo Bona.

Choi Sunu (1916~1984) was an eminent art historian and museum professional who served as the fourth director of the National Museum of Korea until his death. He devoted his life to define and propagate the beauty of Korean art and architecture through exhibitions and writings. The Choi Sunu House, where he lived from 1976 to 1984, is an expression of his aesthetics of simplicity and elegance, and has been open to the public since 2004.

Ran Hee and team created a three-part event:

First, curator Song Ji-young gave participants an introduction to Choi Sunu and his house.

Next, Bona Heo, Ewha Womans University graduate student, Yoo Jin-han, and Hansol Kim handed out question cards with prompts for slow looking (and talked about the slow looking movement).

Last, Professor Han Ju-yeon hosted a video viewing session and discussion with attendees (scroll down to see photos, as well as audio and video excerpts).

Visitors listening to the introduction of the Slow Art Day event.
Curator Song Ji-young introduces the event.
Participant contemplating the question cards.
Flyer for the event.

The hosts prepared a few memorable excerpts from Choi Sunu’s works alongside a video. Participants were also encouraged to write a short note on postcards about their experience.

Slow Art Day experience cards.

Below are a few links to audio and text excerpts of Choi’s works (in Korean): 

Choi Sunu, “Fruits More Beautiful than Flowers”
Choi Sunu, “The Empty Branch of Mid-Winter” 
Choi Sunu, “Light Green Radish” 

We at HQ are glad to welcome the first Korean museum to the slow art movement, and look forward to seeing what the Choi Sunu House designs for Slow Art Day 2024.

– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. You can also follow Choi Sunu House on Instagram.

Sint-Pauluskerk Calls For More Churches to Join Slow Art Day

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Sint-Pauluskerk in Antwerp, Belgium, called on more churches to join the slow looking movement (more about that in a moment), while, at the same time, hosting its sixth Slow Art Day this year.

For their 2023 Slow Art Day, they invited visitors to take a closer look at two statues, one in marble and one in oak, of Rosa van Lima (the first Latin American canonized saint).

Side view of Rosa of Lima in marble (Artus Quellinus, the younger, ca. 1670). Sint-Pauluskerk. Used with permission.
Front view of Rosa of Lima in marble (Artus Quellinus, the younger, ca. 1670). Sint-Pauluskerk. Used with permission.
View of Rosa of Lima in oak. (Willem Kerricx I, ca. 1680). Sint-Pauluskerk. Used with permission.

The slow looking sessions started with the marble statue, which depicts Rosa Lima holding Jesus as a child. Participants were encouraged to sit in chairs in front of the statue and look slowly for 10 minutes. They were provided the following optional, thought-provoking prompts to aid in the slow-looking, and were then encouraged to ask the guides about the person Rosa van Lima:

– What do you think the subject is?

– Why is the statue in this place?

– What did the artist want to say?

Next, the session moved to the statue in oak on the other side of the church, where visitors were invited to look slowly and discuss their impressions. The oak statue is part of a monumental depiction of the “Last Judgment: the ultimate baroque exhortation not to forget any sin during confession,” in the words of Armand Storck, scriptor for the church.

At Slow Art Day HQ, we love the team at Sint-Pauluskerk. Not only do they often send us the details in advance of their event, but, more importantly, they design events that take full advantage of the church environment to encourage contemplation and reflection.

To that point, we are also excited because, as mentioned, Storck and his team are taking a lead role in challenging more churches to join the Slow Art Day movement. In fact, Storck points out that while hundreds of museums participate in Slow Art Day, only three churches registered this year yet “what environment lends itself better to contemplative art experience than a church? “

We agree, and hope that more churches answer Storck’s question by joining our movement.

And we certainly look forward to what storck and team design for Sint-Pauluskerk’s seventh Slow Art Day in 2024.

-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

Slow Art Day 2023 Is Over – Now Our Work Begins

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It’s a wrap!

Slow Art Day 2023 is now officially over.

Congratulations.

Our community came together and produced another continent-spanning event – China, India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Ukraine, Germany, Poland, England, Ireland, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, U.S., Canada, and *many* other countries.

In fact, Slow Art Day 2023 featured about 200 total events (actually, more than that when you count those that didn’t register with us).

With the work of the museums and galleries done for this year, the work begins for the volunteer Slow Art Day HQ Team. We will spend the rest of 2023 compiling, editing, and publishing reports about each of these individual events.

We have two goals with these reports: 1) help all of you learn from each other; 2) build the bonds of this global community of educators, curators, gallerists.

Our first step is reaching out to each host and asking them to provide us with details, photos, and artifacts from their 2023 Slow Art Day events.

Then when we get their information, we take these five steps:

1. Write-up individual reports
Our volunteer team will spend about five hours working on each individual museum/gallery report – editing and crafting a good write-up of what every individual museum and gallery did and calling out what others might learn from their design.

2. Email your report out to our global community
When each individual report is done, we email it out to the thousands of educators, curators, artists and others on our email list.

3. SlowArtDay.com
We then post it to our website for the world to see.

4. Facebook, Instagram
And we also post each report to our social media channels.

5. Annual Report
Finally, we add each individual report to our Annual Report, which has become the Bible of the slow looking movement (note: the full Annual Report for 2023 will be published in February of 2024).

Thank you for another great Slow Art Day – and here’s to spending the rest of 2023 learning what each other did.

Best,

Ashley, Jessica Jane, Johanna, Maggie, Robin, and Phyl

P.S. Find all our previous Annual Reports in the Host Tools section of the website.

Slow Art Day 2023 – Checklist and Podcast

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We are excited that the 14th Slow Art Day is mere hours away.

*187* museums and galleries all over the world on every continent (except Antarctica) are officially participating this year. And many *more* are running events that we don’t know about.

— And this just in: lovely podcast interview by Claire Bown with Slow Art Day founder Phyl Terry —

A big heartfelt thanks to all the educators, curators, gallerists, and others who are making Slow Art Day happen.

You know the impact it can have on world to help more people learn to slow down and immerse themselves in art.

You are leading an important movement – one that brings many benefits including spreading the ancient simple joy of connecting deeply with art.

We applaud you.

And here’s a quick checklist for tomorrow.

Checklist (for Hosts)

1. Fun
Of course – have fun. Enjoy the day and all the hard work you’ve put into your unique Slow Art Day event. We can’t wait to learn about the design of your day and write it up in our Annual Report so others can take inspiration from you.

2. Photos
Take photos and tag #SlowArtDay2023 on Insta and Facebook (and send them to us separately for your report).

3. Artifacts
Save any fliers, prompts, instructions, brochures (and send them to us so we can include them in our write-up of your event – so others can benefit from your designs)

Have a GOOD and Slow Art Day 2023.

Best,

Ashley, Jessica Jane, Johanna, Maggie, Phyl, and Robin

P.S. If you want to *attend* a Slow Art Day, then:

1. Check the 2023 Venue list
187 museums and galleries have officially registered with us. See if one is near you. And go slow down and look. It will change your life.

2. Or, go to *any* museum, gallery, sculpture park
Run your own slow looking session, using our – playfully named – “slow looking algorithm.”

Philadephia’s Citywide Slow Art Day 2023

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Slow Art Day is but *2* days away and more than 185 museums have registered their events, including five in Philadelphia, making that city part of a growing number of cities hosting 5, 10 or more events.

[Remember to register your Slow Art Day with us so we can write-up a report about your work and feature you in our next Annual Report, which has become the Bible of the slow looking movement.]

Philadelphia Inquirer journalist Michelle Myers wrote a wonderful article about the citywide Slow Art Day – Everything You Need to Know About Slow Art Day in Philadelphia.

For the educators and curators reading our blog, here’s a quick summary of the design of the five events.

1. The Barnes Foundation
With a lot of support from Bill Perthes, the foundation’s Bernard C. Watson director of adult education, The Barnes Foundation has participated in Slow Art Day since 2017. This year visitors will have an hour to observe four works of art, including pieces by Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Honoré Daumier, and Pablo Picasso. Participants will then gather for a 30-minute conversation with Michael Williamson, a member of the Barnes faculty and former Germantown Friends School art history teacher.

2. Corridor Contemporary
Corridor Contemporary will showcase their exhibition, “Printed Perspectives,” which features printmaking techniques such as silk screening and lithography. Visitors can visit the gallery for free between 6 and 9 pm and observe each piece.

3. Glen Foerd
Glen Foerd, primarily known as a historic site and arboretum, will provide participants with a chance to observe four works of art: a portrait by Sir Peter Lely, Poppies in Vase by Hobson Pittman, The Virgin and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist by Girolamo da Santacroce, and An Archive of Desire by Jennifer Johnson. Participants will then gather for a conversation with executive director Ross Mitchell, discussing aesthetics and themes of each artwork.

4. Philadelphia Magic Gardens
This year, the Magic Gardens will observe four pre-selected, untitled terracotta sculptures by the Garcia family of Oaxaca. The gardens anticipate 15 to 20 participants, and the conversation will be guided by educator Samantha Eusebio, focusing on folk art and the importance of passing down family traditions.

5. Philadelphia Museum of Art
The museum’s Slow Art Day event is a guided walk around the Anne d’Harnoncourt Sculpture Garden, led by mindfulness instructor Grady Bates. Visitors will observe Bronze Bowl with Lace by Ursula von Rydingsvard and other works of art.

Wherever you are in the world – Philadephia, Prague (Czech Republic), Pamplona (Spain), Pecs (Hungary), Parkes (Australia), or Provo, UT (U.S.), we hope you have a GOOD and Slow Art Day 2023. 

Best,

Phyl and the volunteer Slow Art Day team

P.S. If you need the Slow Art Day logo for use in your print or digital efforts, or any of the tools and tips from our Annual Reports, then go to the host tools section of our Slow Art Day website.

Slow Art Day at Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid and MACBA in Barcelona

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Slow Art Day is but 5 days away and more than 175 museums have registered their events, including the SaludArte Collective’s slow looking session at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, and the Fundación La Casa Ambar’s event at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona (MACBA) – both museums are considered to be leading centers of modern and contemporary art in Spain.

SaludArte – a group of therapists, artists, curators, and pedagogues who understand “art as the key to building social change” – is planning a “leisurely, reflective, and heartfelt visit” focused on five works by Calder, Picasso, Gargallo, and others at the Museo Reina Sofía.

Art history professor, Pedro Grande, who organizes Slow Art visits with his students throughout the year, is hoping to use this Slow Art Day event to inspire more art teachers to run slow looking sessions with their students.

Meanwhile, the Fundación La Casa Ambar will be slowing down at MACBA and looking at five artists: Ignasi Aballí, Antoni Tàpies, Elena del Rivero, Mona Hatoum from the exhibition “Prelude” Poetic Intention, and “Dialogues of Light” by the Catalan artist, Josep Grau-Garriga.

Inspired by the Talmud – “We do not see things as they are, but as we are” – they will be leading an attentive look at “feeling around art works”, curated, and guided by gestalt therapists.

Wherever you are in the world – from Madrid, Melbourne, and Miami, to Barcelona, Beijing, or Berlin – we hope you have a GOOD and Slow Art Day 2023. 

Best,

Phyl and the Slow Art Day team

P.S. Remember to register your Slow Art Day with us so our volunteer team can write-up a report and feature you in our Annual Report, which has become the Bible of the slow looking movement.

P.P.S. If you need any of the host tools – logo for use in your print or digital efforts, and all of the past reports with their many tools, tips, and inspiring approaches – then go to the host tools section of our Slow Art Day website.

Be Curious with Shanghai Slow Art Day

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Slow Art Day is but 5 days away and more than 175 museums have registered their events, including a recent addition in Shanghai.

[Remember to register your Slow Art Day with us so we can write-up a report about your work and feature you in our next Annual Report, which has become the Bible of the slow looking movement.]

This Shanghai Slow Art Day is being organized by Curious Together at the UCCA Edge gallery – the Shanghai section of a leading contemporary art museum in China.

The event will be based on the exhibit called “Painting Unsettled,” which features the work of eight Chinese-born artists who are reinvigorating painting in the face of global uncertainty and technological change. At the event, participants will look at 5 pre-selected works from the exhibition and then will meet to discuss their impressions.

Based in Shanghai, Curious Together is dedicated to fostering a sense of community and curiosity through the exploration of art. During the city-wide lockdown in Shanghai, when people were forced to stay at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Curious Together hosted an International Slow Art Day on Zoom based on artwork from longtime Slow Art Day leader National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C.

According to Curious Together organizer, Tamara Afanasyeva, this slow art event “brought participants a sense of joy and connection.” That led to Curious Together hosting more slow art events online during the remainder of the two-month lockdown, which “provided a much-needed outlet for people to come together and experience art,” said Afanasyeva.

Amazing.

Find more about Curious Together on Instagram.

Wherever you are in the world – Shanghai, San Salvador, Stockholm, or Singapore, St. Petersburg, San Jose, we hope you have a GOOD and Slow Art Day 2023. 

Best,

Phyl and the volunteer Slow Art Day team

P.S. If you need the Slow Art Day logo for use in your print or digital efforts, or any of the tools and tips from our Annual Reports, then go to the host tools section of our Slow Art Day website.

Sweden’s Nationalmuseum Inspires With a Full Day of Programs

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Slow Art Day 2023 is but 11 days away!

Meanwhile, more museums continue to register their plans with us including the Swedish Nationalmuseum with its inspiring (and first) full day of slow activities.

Under the direction of Johannes Mayer who coordinates the public events/programming for Nationalmuseum, the museum will start Slow Art Day with a slow yoga class amongst sculptures in the sculpture yard, in the morning at 8:30 am before the museum opens. Participants will be led by yoga teacher Victoria Winderud. The session ends with a fresh smoothie served in the café beneath.

Wow.

Then, once the museum opens young visitors (5-11 years old) will be invited to go on a slow looking tour of a handful of paintings in the collection, led by museum staff, between 10:30 and 11:15 pm. At 2pm, adults will be invited to go on their own slow looking tour.

But that’s not all.

There will also be an art-chill session at the beautiful Strömsalen (a large room with both paintings and sculptures), led by Sara Borgegård, Intendent Pedagogik for the museum (roughly – the “Superintendent of Pedagogy”) who will tell a saga based on one of the sculptures in the room.

Wait. There’s more.

All day long, the Nationalmuseum will offer what they are calling “drop-in art-chill” at the sculpture-hall/yard, where visitors can sit or lay down on a yoga-mat and listen to a pre-recorded art-chill session, slowly observing the beautiful room.

Finally, all visitors can borrow a slow-looking guide to explore and discover our works of art at their own slow pace.

Wow. Wow. Wow.

What a great design.

I hope this inspires other Slow Art Day museums and galleries.

And wherever you are, we hope you have a GOOD and Slow Art Day 2023.

Best,

Phyl and the Slow Art Day team

P.S. Remember to register your Slow Art Day with us so our volunteer team can write-up a report and feature you in our Annual Report, which has become the Bible of the slow looking movement.

P.P.S. If you need any of the host tools – logo for use in your print or digital efforts, and all of the past reports with their many tools, tips, and inspiring approaches – then go to the host tools section of our Slow Art Day website.

Frost Celebrates Its 10th Slow Art Day

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It’s going to be another great Slow Art Day this April 15, 2023. More museums continue to register including our first in South Korea.

And I’m proud to share that the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate and one of the largest academic art museums in South Florida, is celebrating its 10th Slow Art Day this year, which, in addition to being great for the slow looking movement, holds a special resonance for the museum and its staff.

The Frost’s first Slow Art Day was planned by then-docent and longtime museum supporter, Helena Venero. She was dedicated to art education and provided great support to Miriam Machado, who was (and remains) the Director of Education. In fact, Venero helped Machado launch their first docent program.

In 2013, Venero led the planning of their inaugural Slow Art Day. Venero did a great job and everything was set, and then in the early morning of April 27, 2013 (i.e., the morning of that year’s Slow Art Day) Machado received a terrible phone call. Venero had just suffered a massive heart attack and passed away.

As you can imagine, the whole museum was in shock and deeply saddened.

In commemoration of Helena Venero’s commitment to the museum, her family created an endowment to fund Slow Art Day (and other educational programs) in perpetuity. The Venero Endowment has allowed the museum to host interesting Slow Art Day events for ten straight years (and for many more years to come), as well as to amplify their ability to reach underserved students with a variety of programs.

Machado remains connected to the Venero family, and keeps them updated on the projects and programs their endowment supports. “I will be eternally grateful to Helena, to her family, and to their passion for education and the arts,” Machado said.

Let’s all thank Helena Venero – and the Venero family – and the many other volunteers around the world who have helped turn Slow Art Day into a global phenomenon.

Hope you have a GOOD and Slow Art Day 2023.

Best,

Phyl

P.S. If you need any of the host tools – logo for use in your print or digital efforts, and all of the past reports with their many tools, tips, and inspiring approaches – then go to the host tools section of our Slow Art Day website.

Slow Art Day 2023 – About 150 Museums and Counting

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It’s going to be another great Slow Art Day – the 14th global event since we officially launched in 2010 – and I’m happy to report that we are nearing about 150 museums, galleries, and venues registered.

If you are participating but have *not* yet registered as a host, then please do.

When you register your plans with us, then we can include you on our site and, importantly, our volunteer team can follow-up after the event to write-up what you did, post it to our site, and add it to our 2023 Annual Report (see all of our past Annual Reports).

The Annual Report is a compendium of slow looking tools, designs, and approaches by talented educators and curators all over the world. Because we’ve seen how much our global community uses these reports, our volunteer team spends hundreds of hours each year compiling, editing, and publishing these write-ups.

But it all begins with you registering as a host.

Hope you have a GOOD and Slow Art Day.

Best,

Phyl

P.S. If you need any of the host tools – logo for use in your print or digital efforts, and all of the past reports with their many tools, tips, and inspiring approaches – then go to the host tools section of our Slow Art Day website.