Tag Archives: music

Multi-sensory Slow Art Day in New Brunswick

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AX, the Arts and Culture Centre of Sussex in New Brunswick, Canada, held a multi-sensory Slow Art Day 2019 led by artist Deanna Musgrave, who had recently researched and written her Master’s thesis on multi-sensory art experiences.

Musgrave, whose own art was being shown, began by guiding the participants through a relaxation exercise, using sound and voice commands to invite the audience to achieve a trance-like state. She then focused on three pieces of work and encouraged viewers to experience tastes (wine, chocolate, peaches), smell (wine and peppermint), and sounds (recorded instruments) paired with each piece.

According to AX, audience members, ranging in age from 8 to 70, said that the slow multi-sensory session really enhanced their experience.

In other good news, Bonny Hill, Exhibitions Committee Chair at AX said they recently applied for and were awarded a grant to curate and host an exhibition of artists who work in the “slow art” style, using outdated technology and painstaking methods to create contemporary work. That exhibition will launch in early 2020, and perhaps be the focus of their Slow Art Day 2020.

Phil

Oceanside – Multi-Sensory Slow Art Day

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The Oceanside Museum of Art in California reports that they had a “wonderful” multi-sensory Slow Art Day 2019.

The museum developed three self-guided stations aimed at slowly engaging multiple senses – designing multi-sensory experiences is a growing trend in the slow art movement (see the webinar we hosted in January 2019).

Slow looking and pairing music with painting

The three self-guided stations they created were:

  1. Partner blind-drawing station in their watercolor exhibition
  2. Storytelling station based around Matthew Barnes: Painter of the Night exhibition
  3. Pairing music with paintings in their surrealism exhibition (photo to the left).

They ran Slow Art Day through the weekend and had many more people participate as a result. In fact, Slow Art Day and the self-guided stations were so successful – led to so much visitor participation – that the curatorial staff has asked that stations remain up longer.

The variety of activities – and the multi-sensory element – really allowed visitors to participate in ways that worked for them and that also added a sense of fun.

Andrea Hart, Director of Education and Public Programs at the Oceanside Museum of Art

Phil

P.S. I’m particularly pleased with this report given that my mother lived in Oceanside for years and ran a clandestine Slow Art Day at this museum with a few friends when we launched a decade ago.

Slow Art Day in Rural Basque Country

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Slow Art Day 2019 this year was celebrated in hundreds of museums and galleries from The Rubin Museum in NYC, to the Tate Modern in London, to a small museum in the rural Basque countryside, the Ur Mara Museoa.

Ur Mara Museoa Slow Art Day 2019

Elena Cajaraville sent us this lovely 60 second video, which shows the Ur Mara’s slow and long day filled with art, food, music, and dance.

Watch it.

I guarantee it will put you in a good mood and show you some of the magic of this global/local Slow Art Day phenomenon.

Phil