According to the visitor experience team at Tate Modern, Slow Art Day 2019 was “fantastic.”
Participants slowly looking at The Snail by Henri Matisse
They organized two one-hour slow looking sessions split between two artworks and, then, after the sessions, the team invited the visitors to come together for tea, coffee, biscuits, and a discussion about the whole experience.
Here’s what some of the participants said:
“A really interesting session. I’m more mindful of how to observe art in the future.”
“What a wonderful idea!
“I understand now how you can spend so much time in a gallery looking at art!”
“The combination of looking at art slowly and with other people is a real eye opener.”
“Really like the concept. As someone who can feel a bit intimidated by the art world this felt like a really nice way in and gives me more confidence to engage with art in the future.”
“A brilliant concept, lovely to think that this is going on all around the world.”
“I will definitely bring friends next time. Do it again!”
“I felt like a part of a group/community and was an hour well spent.”
“We can’t wait for next year to do it again,” said Adriana Oliveira, Visitor Experience Manager there at Tate Modern.
For this year’s Slow Art Day, the project ConectArte.Gestalt hosted 2 events across the city of Barcelona, Spain – one at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) and the other at La Virreina. Both events had a Gestalt therapy approach and were led by Gestalt therapist and curator-producer Maribel Perpiñá de Lama.
In this report, we’ll focus on the event at MACBA led by Perpiñá de Lama and focused on five artworks by Daniel Steegmann Mangrané from the exhibition “A leaf in the place of the eye”:
Systemic Grid 126 (Window) (2015)
La Pensée Férale (2020). These are seven photographs taken in the Tijuca National Park in Rio de Janeiro, one of the most biodiverse and endangered rainforests in the world.
Breathing Lines (2020/2023)
Landscape of Possibilities (2016/2023)
Orange Oranges (2001)
The exhibition explores themes of impermanence, collective emotions, perception, fragility, time and space.
Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, Systemic Grid 126 (Window), 2020Landscape of Possibilities (2016/2023) and Breathing Lines (2020/2023)Poster.
During the session, Perpiñá de Lama invited participants to slowly observe the artworks using nine principles from Claudio Naranjo‘s Gestalt approach:
Live now, worry about the present.
Live here, relate more to the present than what is absent.
Stop imagining, experience what is real.
Abandon unnecessary thoughts. Feel and observe instead.
Express rather than manipulate, explain, justify or judge.
Experience displeasure and pain as well as pleasure. Do not restrict your awareness.
Do not accept any “should” or “would have” more than your own.
Take full responsibility for your actions, feelings and thoughts.
Accept yourself as you are.
The event was successful, and several participants left positive feedback:
“This workshop was a very eye-opening experience for me. I had never reflected so much on my own shadow and how it affects my daily life. The artwork really helped me to connect with aspects of myself that I normally avoid.”
“I was amazed at how powerful art can be in exploring how we are in the present moment. Seeing the images and then sharing my reflections with the group really made me feel more connected to myself and others.”
“This workshop made me realize how much we have internalized our shadow and how they influence our decisions and relationships. It was a reminder of the importance of confronting those parts of ourselves in order to grow and heal.”
“The combination of the images in the exhibit and the group reflections was very impactful. I felt very supported by the group to explore and openly share my thoughts and feelings.”
At Slow Art Day HQ we appreciate the innovative work ConnectArte.Gestalt and Maribel Perpiñá de Lama are doing and look forward to what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2025.
For their 4th Slow Art Day, Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbereen, Ireland, led participants in mindfulness practices and slow looking at works featured in their exhibition “Adrift.”
Petrina Shortt, Public Engagement Assistant, ran a lovely meditation-guided slow looking session.
In case other museums want to copy her design, here’s what she did:
Introductions She opened the session with a brief introduction to Slow Art Day, its origins, and what to expect from the slow looking. She then led the group through a round of introductions, and reinforced that the event was not a guided tour, but a moment for each participant to spend directly with art in a relaxing and curious manner.
Breathing/mindfulness practice Petrina then led participants through a short mindfulness breathing practice, asking them to breathe in for a count of four, holding their breath for a count of 5, and releasing their breath for a count of 6. They told them they could do this with their eyes closed or while looking at the featured artwork “Memorandum for Humanity.”
Slow Looking Next she asked them to slowly look at the art, observing without trying too hard to interpret, and instead, focusing on elements in the work: forms, shapes, lines, marks, colors and textures. She also suggested they notice how their eyes moved around the work and where they rested, and encouraged them to continue to focus on their breathing – especially if their minds began to drift away from the work.
Shared observations After eight minutes of slow looking, Petrina asked participants to share their experiences. Most remarked that even though they had seen the work before, they noticed a lot more within the piece after looking slowly at it. All participants commented on how relaxed they felt. They were then invited to explore one or two other artworks in the space for 10 minutes, and reconvene to discuss their observations.
Participants looking slowly at “Chrysalis.”
The group then moved to a second gallery where floor mats, cushions, fruit bowls and water had been arranged across the room. All were invited to sit or lie on the mats and cushions, or take a seat on a chair and close their eyes. During this half of the event, Petrina led the group in a mindfulness meditation which included focused slow breathing and releasing tension. They were then asked to open their eyes and practice slow looking at the large ink drawing on the wall entitled “Chrysalis,” and then to move around the room and look at one more artwork of their choosing.
After the session, all participants were eager to share their observations about the artworks. Some spoke of personal connections that they found, and others spoke of links they made between other artworks that they hadn’t noticed at first. All participants commented on how much they enjoyed the session and would like to attend more Slow Looking events.
At Slow Art Day HQ, we love this design for Slow Art Day. While participants were offered information sheets about the art after the event, the focus was on building a personal relationship with the works and discovering how each other sees. This is exactly what we hope Slow Art Day will continue to cultivate – personal relationships with art and with art lovers across the world.
We can’t wait to see what the West Cork Arts Centre comes up with for their 5th Slow Art Day in 2025.
-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
P.S. Stay up to date with events at the West Cork Arts Centre via their Facebook, Twitter (X) and Instagram pages.
For their first Slow Art Day, the New Bedford Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Massachussetts, invited visitors to look slowly at their collection “Framing the Domestic Sea: Photographs by Jeffery C. Becton.” Becton’s layered visual images feature the maritime world, and highlight contemporary environmental concerns.
The museum took a simple self-guided approach to their Slow Art Day, which is a great way for any museum or gallery to participate.
They designed a simple and attractive flyer with slow looking prompts (featured below – feel free to copy) and also set up a QR code that took visitors to a discussion about the exhibit by the artist and his wife.
For their sixth consecutive Slow Art Day, MOMus-Museum of Photography in Thessaloniki, Greece, hosted yoga and slow looking with a focus on the photography of the Greek photographer Elli Sougioultzoglou-Seraidari (1899 – 1998), also known as “Nelly,” or by her studio stamp name “Nelly’s.”
Sougioultzoglou-Seraidari is best known for her photos of Greece between the First and Second World Wars, which shaped the Western imagination of that country. After the outbreak of World War II, she lived in the US where she continued her photography before eventually returning to Greece.
For the Slow Art Day event, photographer and certified yoga teacher, Ioanna Fotiadou, first led participants in a short yoga practice aimed at all levels of experience. She guided them to move slowly and remain in the yoga positions while focusing on the present moment.
Slow Art Day Yoga session at MOMus
This was followed by a slow viewing of selected works from the exhibition, which participants observed for 10 minutes each. At the end of the session, they discussed their experience with the museum curators while drinking coffee and enjoying views of the sea.
Participants looking slowly at photography in the exhibition.Group discussion for Slow Art Day.
At Slow Art Day HQ, we love that yoga, mediation, and mindfulness continue to be a part of our movement – such as the one held at the Swedish National Museum in 2023 or in Ireland in 2024 at West Cork Arts Center.
We also love the passionate participation of MOMus Thessaloniki in Slow Art Day and look forward to seeing what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2025.
-Johanna, Ashley, Phyl, Jessica Jane
P.S. Stay up to day with events at MOMus Thessaloniki via Facebook and Instagram.
For their first Slow Art Day, Cline House Gallery in Cornwall, (Ontario) Canada, invited the public to look slowly at art by Giuseppe Di Leo, who was in attendance at the event.
Slow Art Day poster.
On arrival, participants were given a handout with slow looking prompts that first instructed them not to read anything about the artworks before looking at them. We at Slow Art Day HQ love this instruction – and have even seen hosts hide all artwork info – because it really encourages the viewer to slow down and build their own personal relationship with the art first.
Participant looking slowly at art by Giuseppe Di Leo during the Slow Art Day event.Participants looking slowly at art by Giuseppe Di Leo during the Slow Art Day event.
Participants were instructed to find any work in the Gallery that they felt drawn to and look at it slowly, using the below prompts to guide them through their experience.
After the individual slow looking, gallery educator Sean George and the featured artist, Giuseppe Di Leo, led a discussion with participants about their slow looking experience. At Slow Art Day HQ, we love to see artists participating directly in the slow looking event, and believe it is just as rich of a discovery for them to see how their works are perceived by the viewers as it is for the slow lookers.
Artist Giuseppe Di Leo with one of his artworks.
Visual Arts Coordinator, Emily MacLeod, reported that the event was a success and the Gallery is already looking forward to hosting their second Slow Art Day in 2025. We are excited to see what they come up with next.
-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
P.S. Stay up to date with events at Cline House Gallery through Instagram.
Cliffe Castle Ballroom by Marie-Louise Roosevelt Pierrepont (no image was provided, but you can view similar works by the same artist).
Mistle Thrush by Liza Dracup
Image credit: Visit BradfordButterfield family stained glass window Image credit: Bradford Museums and GalleriesNapoleon III Image credit: Bradford Museums and Galleries
Castle curators guided Slow Art Day participants on a tour to see the selected works of art and castle features. Others who wanted to look on their own were provided with a map showcasing the location of each of the selected objects, as well as a list of prompts (see the map and prompts below). Lowri Jones, Curator of Collections at Bradford Museums, reported that participants left great feedback about the format.
Love this map. How fun to see our turtle spread across the museum.
We also love the inclusion of architecture, which, of course, makes sense with a castle. Having said that, we encourage other institutions to see if there is a way to incorporate parts of their building, architecture or landscape into their Slow Art Day events.
We look forward to whatever Cliffe Castle Museum and Bradford Museums and Galleries come up with for Slow Art Day 2025.
-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
P.S. Stay up to date with events at Bradford Museums and Galleries via their Facebook, Instagram and X profiles.
For their third Slow Art Day, the Gorgas House Museum, which is the oldest dwelling on the campus of the University of Alabama, hosted an event focused on a bohemian blue bead that was found behind the museum and is believed to have once belonged to an enslaved person.
Slow Art Day coordinator, Dr. Sharony Green, Associate Professor at the Department of History at the University of Alabama, asked her students to study the bead and slavery in advance of the event, then create art based on their study (some even created haikus). She then invited the campus and local community to slowly look at the bead and hear about the students’ work.
Visitors were also invited to use bead stations that were set up in the front parlor of Gorgas House to make a blue bead bracelet to commemorate the event.
Photo of one of Dr Green’s Students. Photo by Sharony Green.Photo of two UA anthropologists studying the blue bead. Photo by Sharony Green.
Above is a preview/link to the website they used to promote the project.
The bead station at Gorgas House before the event began. Photo by Sharony Green.
Dr. Green gave us some history about the bead:
The bead was found in an outdoor cooking area and was likely owned by an enslaved person. Some researchers believe it arrived via the Pacific Northwest and was brought to the Deep South via an indigenous trade network and that it was subsequently used as a protection amulet by an enslaved worker. While we speculate, we can also study the bead and sort through its significance during the antebellum period.
Dr. Sharony Green
Here’s a link to view some of the projects from Dr. Green’s students: Blue Bead Project Catalogue, and below you can scan a few of their photos and videos. All students took either an introductory level History class or an upper level History class taught by Dr. Green.
At Slow Art Day HQ we love how Dr. Green designed this whole Slow Art Day program – and that one small object, a bead, and its deep historical significance, became the point of inspiration for Slow Art Day. Thank you to Dr. Sharony Green, and her students, for such a unique event, and we look forward to whatever they come up with for Slow Art Day 2025.
-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
P.S. Stay up to date with future events at the Gorgas House via their social media @TheGorgasHouse
A friendship bracelet and student sewn piece. Photo by Rebecca Johnson.
For their 2024 Slow Art Day (their fifth!), the Art Gallery of St. Albert in Canada invited local sketch groups to visit the exhibition Threading Through Time by Jamaican visual artist Raneece Buddan. Director Leah Louden told us they chose to focus on Raneece’s exhibition, in part because her work “rewards the viewer with lots of fine details you only discover through careful observation.”
Slow Art Day participants sketching works by Raneece Buddan, Threading Through Time (exhibition view), 2024. Photo by Brenda Lakeman.
Slow Art Day participants sketching works by Raneece Buddan, Threading Through Time (exhibition view), 2024. Photo by Brenda Lakeman.
This year, the museum decided to partner with a series of local organizations who could bring in “sketch groups” including the Edmonton Art Club, The Federation of Canadian Artists Edmonton Chapter, Sketch Around YEG Club, and the St. Albert Visual Arts Council Guilds.
Upon arrival, the groups were offered both free refreshments and free drawing materials. In total, over 30 visitors joined. Some participants stayed for an extended period of time, spending 2 hours drawing and slowly appreciating the artwork.
All visitors were encouraged to choose a single artwork in the show, and then look and sketch slowly. The museum also provided prompts (see below – and feel free to copy!).
For Slow Art Day 2024 – their 5th Slow art Day, the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia invited visitors to look slowly at five artworks from their collection:
After looking slowly at these artworks, the many participants went to the Kean Family Classroom for an opportunity to talk together. This is the moment that Slow Art Day becomes community – a time to reflect, see through each other’s eyes, and create both intimacy and joy.
Led by Michael Williamson, Senior Instructor in Adult Education, the discussion among the participants was indeed so good – people felt so connected to the art and to each other – that it went way beyond the scheduled time allotted for it.
Giving expression to the exuberance that everyone felt, Williamson called the event a “resounding success.”
Below you will find a photo from the conversation – and their very cool handout (feel free to copy!).
Slow Art Day participants engaging in discussion in the Kean Family RoomThe Barnes Foundation Slow Art Day hand-out.
In terms of marketing, the Barnes Foundation promoted Slow Art Day on their website, Instagram, and Facebook.
At Slow Art Day HQ we get inspired by these reports that come in from around the world – from big museums, and small, to highly influential organizations like The Barnes.
The Barnes, which has a long history of fostering slow looking at art, has become a great leader in our global movement and we look forward to seeing what they come up with for 2025, which also happens to be their centennial year.
This year the city-wide Slow Art Day phenomenon continued in Bloomington, Illinois, with 20(!) participating museums and art galleries. And, for the third year running, Angel Ambrose Fine Art Studio participated.
For their contribution to the citywide Slow Art Day, Angel Ambrose featured “Tell Me Stories”, a painting that had been on long-term loan at Illinois State University’s Alumni Center on Michigan Avenue in Downtown Chicago.
Angel Ambrose, “Tell Me Stories”. Over 3 1/2’ x 4 1/2’.
On Slow Art Day, Angel invited visitors of all ages to the studio gallery to take a slow look and hear about the stories behind the painting between 10 AM – 2 PM.
Angel welcomed all participants and asked them to take 3-5 minutes or more to contemplate “Tell Me Stories” or another artwork using some of the following prompts for slow looking.
She came up with some good prompts, as you see below.
—- Prompts
For your head (objective thought/intellect) you can consider any of the following:
What did you see?
What decisions did you notice that Angel made in her painting—line, color, texture, form, repetition, contrast, etc?
Was there a color scheme/theme apparent?
Notice the paint—can you see individual brushstrokes, or a smooth surface, or perhaps another tool was used to apply the paint?
How was movement used in the artwork?
Was the piece representational, abstracted, or somewhere between? Why do you think Angel chose this format?
For your heart (feelings/emotions), consider the following:
How did you feel when you looked at the work?
Did the colors evoke any emotions?
What did these feelings make you think about?
Did your mood change after looking at the artwork?
Did you experience any personal significance to the piece?
Artist Angel Ambrose and her “Management of Time” triptych at Angel Ambrose Fine Art Studio.
During the day, visitors could also visit any of the 20 Bloomington Slow Art Day locations free of charge. The day concluded with a closing reception at The Hangar Art Co. from 2 – 4 PM for participants from all venues.
The Eaton Gallery was the first to host a Slow Art Day in Bloomington. In 2020 at the height of the pandemic, they organized a walk up/drive by exhibition. Then in 2022 Eaton and other Bloomington galleries pioneered hosting a city-wide Slow Art Day – and Angel Ambrose was in that original group.
At Slow Art Day HQ we have eagerly followed the growth of Slow Art Day in Bloomington along Route 66. We (unsurprisingly) like to take things slow, but the fast spread of the citywide movement in Bloomington (and now around the world) both calms and excites us.
We can’t wait to see what Angel Ambrose Fine Art Studio comes up with for Bloomington’s citywide Slow Art Day in 2025.
-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
P.S. Stay up to date with events at Angel Ambrose Fine Art Studio via their Facebook page.
P.P.S. We are hearing rumors that the state of Illinois might host a *statewide* Slow Art Day in 2025. Stay tuned.
