Tag Archives: in-person

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 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.

Ready, Set, Slow… Art Weekend with the McLean

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For their first Slow Art Day – Slow Art Weekend, actually – the McLean County Museum of History, along with eight other downtown Bloomington, Illinois partners, held a Ready, Set, SLOW! event.

Hosted by Hannah Johnson, Education Program Coordinator at McLean, this Slow Art Day, organized with nine participating locations, was a true citywide event.

Including the McLean County Museum of History, the other participants were: Angel Ambrose Fine Art Studio, Art Vortex Studio & Gallery, Eaton Studio Gallery, Inside-Out Accessible Art, Joann Goetzinger Studio Gallery, Main Gallery 404, The Hangar Art Co., and Threshold to Hope, Inc.

Photo credit: Hannah Johnson

Inspired by the Downtown’s First Friday theme, visitors were invited to engage in an evening of egg hunting and art viewing at the Museum. Two posters were created for the event, including prompts for the attendees to consider, and small cards for each image were handed out. Literal and figurative Easter eggs were hidden in reproduction art works from the Museum’s collection for a Slow Art and egg hunt inspired seek-and-find.

We love the playful nature of their event design.

Below you can find examples of the various poster formats they used. Educators and curators around the world should feel free to copy elements of what they have done with their event (and posters).

Photo credit: Hannah Johnson

Original works from the Museum’s collection complete with Slow Art appropriate prompts were on display the entire weekend, along with an annual installation of the Clothesline Project in partnership with YWCA McLean County Stepping Stones.

Emily Aminta Howard, Painting of Grapes and Apples, Oil on Canvas, c. 1890/1900
Rupert Kilgore, Abstract Portrait, Oil on Canvas, c. 1955/65
Takashi Ode, Mountain Scene, Watercolor, c. 1980/90

T-shirts decorated by local sexual assault survivors were also displayed as testimony to their survival and the chronic problem of violence against women in recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

The McLean County Museum of History traces its roots back to 1892, and is a nationally-accredited award-winning museum with five permanent exhibit galleries and two rotating galleries.

Photo credit: Hannah Johnson

We look forward to what innovative approach McLean County Museum of History comes up with for next year’s Slow Art Day.

Best,

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

P.S. Find out more about the McLean County Museum of History on one of its social media channels: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, History Pin, or Flickr

Ur Mara Museoa Shows All of Us How to Celebrate Art

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Ur Mara Museoa, located in Gipuzkoa, Spain, held its seventh Slow Art Day this year.

This Basque museum has been a real leader in the slow looking movement showing all of us how to celebrate via daylong events that combine art, food, music, and dance (below is a video from 2019 showing one of their events).

This year’s hosts Koldobika Jauregi and Elena Cajaraville featured work from six artists including Aitor Irulegi, Aihnoa Goenaga, Koldobika Juaregi, Juan Chillida, Julia Leigh, and Maria Giró.

During the event, each artist was given a chance to discuss their work with the attendees (see below for photos of the art as well as photos of participants).

Juan Chillida, Constelaciones
Juan Kruz Igerabide and Koldobika Jauregi, Anaforak
Maria Giró and Julia Leight, La memòria dels dits
Aitor Irulegi, Euria
Ainhoa Goenaga, Isilune

Afterwords food was shared at a community table.

We can’t wait to see what this wonderful and creative group comes up with for next year.

– Robin, Ashley, Phyl, Johanna, Jessica Jane

P.S. Ur Mara Museoa can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Vimeo.

GAMA Presents Seven Works, Five Artists, and Food

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The Gregory Allicar Museum of Art (GAMA), located at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, held their first Slow Art Day this year, which was hosted by GAMA Administrative Staff Members Madeleine Boyson, Theresa McLaren, and Lynn Boland. They chose seven works by five artists exemplifying a range of styles and media.

Kara Walker, Boo Hoo, 2000, linoleum cut on paper, Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, Colorado State University, gift of Polly & Mark Addison, 2009.2.21. [A black and white silhouette linoleum cut by Kara Walker titled “Boo Hoo,” illustrating a crying woman holding a snake in her left hand and a whip in her right].
Anna Bogatin Ott, Juliet, 2017, acrylic on canvas, Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, Colorado State University, gift of the artist in memory of Gregory Belim, 2018.15. [A square, pink painting by Anna Bogatin Ott with small hatch marks against a white wall, underneath a sign that reads “Scott Family Lobby.”]
After Claude Lorrain, Le Sacrifice au Temple d’Apollon dans I’lle de Delos (View of Delphi with a Procession), ca. 1648-1650, oil on canvas, Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, Colorado State University, gift of Larry Hartford & Torleif Tandstad, 2016.1.16. [A view of a large, gold-framed painting against a green wall, featuring a large tree in the center, many small figures in the foreground, and a temple in the background.]
Unidentified Tibetan Artist, Vestment Cabinet, ca. 1840 (Qing Dynasty), paint on pine, Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, Colorado State University, gift of Larry Hartford & Torleif Tandstad, 2016.1.126. [An ornate, multicolored vestment cabinet by an unidentified Tibetan artist from the 19th century, traditionally used to store liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion.]
Enrique Chagoya, Linda maestra!, Ni mas ni menos, and Se repulen from The Return to Goya’s Caprichos, 1999, etching and aquatint on paper, Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, Colorado State University, gift of Polly & Mark Addison, 2005.144.8, 2005.144.3 and 2005.144.7 [A view of three framed works from Enrique Chagoya’s series “A Return to Goya’s Caprichos” against a red wall.]

Museum staff approached visitors with a short handout (see below) detailing instructions on how to find the works, prompts for slow looking, and an invitation to discuss amongst themselves, with a staff member, or in larger, more “formal” discussions at 11:30am & 3pm.

Note: Educators or curators might want to copy this simple flyer for their own slow looking events.

After participants finished their slow looking sessions, the museum provided bottled water and light refreshments in the lobby (nice touch!).

We look forward to seeing what they come up with for next year.

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

P.S. The Gregory Allicar Museum of Art can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, and Vimeo.

Second year for Slow Art at the Bowers Museum

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The Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California ran their second Slow Art Day, where they invited museum visitors to join them in the galleries of California Bounty. 

Opened in 2016, this permanent exhibit takes visitors through a “rambling journey” of California’s visual history – a “history shaped by a unique mixture of Mexican and Anglo traditions as well as the state’s position on the Pacific Rim.” 

Photo credit: Bowers Museum Instagram page for Slow Art Day

For Slow Art Day, The Bowers Museum replaced their normal public tours with two special Slow Art tours and advertised them as being held in conjunction with Slow Art Day; including links and an explanation about the day. Docents guided visitors in closer looking at select paintings from the historic California collection.

VP of External Affairs Kelly Bishop hosted Slow Art Day. We’ll note that Bishop previously worked at SF MoMA, which has been a longtime participant in Slow Art Day.

We can’t wait to see what Bishop and this important California museum come up with for Slow Art Day 2023.

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

P.S. The Bowers Museum can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Cloudless Slow Looking with TarraWarra

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For their third Slow Art Day, the TarraWarra Museum of Art in Melbourne, Australia, invited the public to a mindful slow looking session and group reflection featuring work by David Noonan from the exhibition David Noonan: Only when it’s cloudless . The event was led by Sarah Metzner, museum educator at TarraWarra and a visual, collaborative, and public artist who has been working with different community groups for 30 years.

On Slow Art Day, participants followed a 20-20-20 ratio of time during the hour. They were first welcomed and then invited to look at David Noonan’s artwork “Only when it’s cloudless” for 20 minutes.

David Noonan: Only when it’s cloudless’, installation view, TarraWarra Museum of Art, 2022. Courtesy of the artist, Anna Schwartz Gallery, and Modern Art, London. Photo by Christian Capurro.

The group then spent 20 minutes slowly watching David Noonan’s 20 minute film: Mnemosyne, which has a focus on evoking memories (a link to the trailer is included in the picture below) before the session was rounded up with shared reflections for the final 20 minutes.

Note: We recommend you watch the trailer. We found it beautiful, eerie, and a little ominous.

Still from David Noonan’s 20 minute film: Mnemosyne.

The event was well received, with one participant saying that the experience “enhanced my love of art and mindfulness and reminded me to slow down and be present with myself and my practice.”

We look forward to what the TarraWarra Museum of Art comes up with for Slow Art Day 2023.

– Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, Robin and Phyl

P.S. You can find TarraWarra on Facebook and Instagram.

Slow Art Day at the Museum of Gloucester

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For their first Slow Art Day, the Museum of Gloucester, UK, organized an in-person event where participants were invited to explore paintings from their exhibition “Two Millennia of Changing Faces: Gloucester’s Architecture. Fifth century to twentieth century“: a collection that encapsulates the architecture and built heritage of the city of Gloucester.

Flyer of the exhibition “Two Millenia of Changing Faces: Gloucester’s Architecture.”

For the event, visitors were encouraged to slow down and look closely at each piece for 5-10 minutes so that they could ponder how architecture has inspired and shaped stories of Gloucester’s people, culture and industry.

At Slow Art Day HQ we look forward to their next year’s event!

P.S. You can follow them on their Facebook and Instagram accounts.

JJ, Ashley, Johanna, Robin, and Phyl