Slow Art Day Annual Report – 2024

Posted on March 26, 2025 by Phyl Terry

The 15th Anniversary Slow Art Day is coming up Saturday, April 5, 2025 and I’m happy to announce today the publication of our 2024 Annual Report, which details many of the events held last year.

Read it and get inspired to plan your 15th Anniversary Slow Art Day 2025 events (register your museum, gallery, church, sculpture park or movie theater for 2025, if you have not yet done so).

More than 180 museums and galleries participated in 2024 (plus many more that ran Slow Art Day sessions but did not register with us). The Slow Art Day volunteer team spent hundreds of hours throughout 2024 and early 2025 researching, writing, and publishing individual reports from 45 of these museums and galleries, all so that curators and educators like you can take inspiration from each other.

Read the report and you will see the impressive citywide event held in Bloomington, Illinois (more than 20 galleries, museums, libraries and other sites participated in 2024). This is the same event that has now inspired Mexico City to host a 33-venue Slow Art Day in 2025.

You’ll see how The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Met Cloisters hosted again while Mass MoCA in North Adams celebrated Slow Art Day for the 10th time or so. The beautiful and wonderful Athenaeum in Boston hosted for the first time while Philadelphia’s The Barnes Foundation, Glenn Foerd, and the Magic Gardens all hosted Slow Art Day events.

In Washington D.C., the National Museum of Women in the Arts hosted yet again (they are one the founding museums for Slow Art Day) while Florida hosted 7 different venues including the Frost Art Museum and the Lowe Art Museum both in Miami.

Antwerp’s church-based Slow Art movement grew to four churches – and we hope will grow into a global movement of churches, synagogues, mosques, and other religious organizations.

St. Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne continued to innovate the art and patient experience (hint: they designed six “slow art cards” with photos of works from their St Vincent’s Art Collection) and in 2025 are reaching out to more hospitals to get them involved.

The Ur Mara Museo in Spain’s Basque country held its 9th Slow Art Day with another full day of slow looking, cooking, eating, and dancing (though we don’t have a report from them this year).

While Ur Mara Museo has been celebrating Slow Art Day for nine years in the Basque country, The Altes Museum (English: Old Museum), a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the heart of Berlin’s museum island, held their Slow Art Day. And check this – the “prerequisite” for participation in this workshop was “curiosity and goodwill towards yourself.”

The Goulandris Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens held the first Slow Art Day in the Greek capital (other Greek cities have hosted – but this year is a first for Athens) while The AGO in Toronto, one of the largest museums in North America, hosted their 9th Slow Art Day.

Europe held three citywide Slow Art Days – Antwerp, Belgium (8 locations), Reims, France (4 locations), Rome, Italy (3 museums).

Belgium hosted 11 locations, Sweden 8, Italy 7, England 6, Germany 5. Read on to get inspired about all the various events around the world.

I want to give special thanks to the Slow Art Day Annual Report team led by Ashley Moran, Editor, and writers Johanna Bokedal, and Jessica Jane Nocella. They work tirelessly to produce this Annual Report and volunteer weekends, mornings, evenings throughout the year.

They fit this in between their full-time job (Ashley Moran at Comcast in the United States), full-time job/PhD student (Johanna Bokedal in Norway), and full-time post-doc work (Jessica Jane in Italy).

And while we are at it, let’s celebrate volunteer Maggie Freeman who is the global director and registrar for Slow Art Day. Maggie started volunteering 10 years ago when she was a sophomore at Mills College. Today, she is finishing her PhD in Islamic Art and Architecture at MIT and somehow, like the others, still finds time to volunteer.

They all do this amazing work for one reason: to grow the Slow Art Day movement around the world so that more people can learn to look at and love art.

Please join me in giving thanks and appreciation to them. They deserve all the kudos we can give them and more.

And have a great 15th anniversary Slow Art Day coming up April 5.

Best,

Phyl and the Slow Art Day team

P.S. Again, if you have not yet registered your 2025 Slow Art Day with us, please do so.

Glen Foerd Hosts 4th Slow Art Day

Posted on March 18, 2025 by Jessica Nocella

For Slow Art Day 2024, Glen Foerd in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania invited participants to look slowly at four selected works of art, led by Executive Director Ross Mitchell.

Glen Foerd itself is a beautiful mansion and grounds on the banks of the Delaware River (learn more about the venue and its history on their website).

Their collection is an eclectic mix of works from the Renaissance to the twentieth century, where Italian masterpieces sit next to works by local Philadelphia artists. The beauty of slow-looking is that it brings deep observation and appreciation to all works of art no matter the provenance.

*Exterior of Glen Foerd. Photo by Ashley Moran.*

For the event, participants were invited to spend at least 10 minutes with each
of the following selected pieces:

Luigi Setanni (American, 1908–1984). Village and Calvary, c. mid-1930s. Oil on canvas
Thomas Sully (Attributed) (American, 1783 – 1872). Head of a Young woman in a Black Feathered Hat. Oil on Panel
Edith Emerson (American, 1888–1981). A Florentine Garden. Oil on canvas
Talia Eve Greene (American, 1976). Threadbare and Tarnished: Tales from a Gilded Age, 2017. Mixed Media

Luigi Setanni (American, 1908–1984). Village and Calvary, c. mid-1930s. Oil on canvas

Thomas Sully (Attributed) (American, 1783 – 1872). Head of a Young woman in a Black Feathered Hat. Oil on Panel

Edith Emerson (American, 1888–1981). A Florentine Garden. Oil on canvas

Talia Eve Greene (American, 1976). Threadbare and Tarnished: Tales from a Gilded Age, 2017. Mixed Media

Afterwards, Ross led the group through a discussion about each work.

*Executive Director Ross Mitchell leading the discussion in front of three of the works.*

Participants looking slowly at the selected works.

Participant taking in the mixed media work in a separate room, by Talia Eve Greene – Threadbare and Tarnished: Tales from a Gilded Age.

Participants were also given a flyer with a series of prompts (download the flier).

Flyer of the event Download

Ashley Moran, volunteer at Slow Art Day HQ, visited Glen Foerd for their fourth Slow Art Day in 2024, and very much appreciated their selection of art and the lively discussion facilitated by Executive Director Ross Mitchell.

We are excited to see what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2025.

– Ashley, Jessica Jane, Johanna, and Phyl

P.S. Slow Art Day 2025 is coming up on April 5. If you have not done so, please register your museum, gallery, church, hospital, sculpture park or movie theater here: https://www.slowartday.com/be-a-host/

MelonRouge and Artichoke Gallery in South Africa Hosts 7th Slow Art Day

Posted on March 17, 2025 by Johanna Bokedal

For their Slow Art Day 2024, the MelonRouge and Artichoke Gallery in Magaliesburg, South Africa, invited visitors to slowly experience the exhibition ‘POP Art – is it ISM or is it ART?’, listen to music, and eat food.

Richard Scott, ‘Candy. Touch Me.’ (unknown date). Photo by Hannelie Sanders

Lighters with pop-art prints on display for Slow Art Day

Slow Art Day participants (and a dog vistor!) and Hannelie Sanders. Photo by Hannelie Sanders

Food served as part of the event. Photo by Hannelie Sanders

On Slow Art Day, visitors gathered at the Gallery to explore the art of Richard Scott and listen to the
music of Niki Daly. The gallery also displayed various practical items adorned with Pop Art, such as lighters, vinyl covers, and magazines, integrating art into everyday life.

Hannelie Sanders, the event host, led a lively and informative discussion. The central question during the event was whether Pop Art qualifies as an art form or merely an “ism.” The conversation was inspired by Niki Daly’s song, whose lyrics playfully questioned the distinction between artistic movements and true art:

Lyrics Excerpt:
Maholy-Nagy, Maholy-Nagy
I love his ism, but is it art?
Tell me my Bauhaus baby
Is it art?
Is it an ism or is it an art?
…

The song set the tone for the day’s theme, blending humor with a critical examination of art
history and theory.

Richard Scott, a prominent British artist based in Cape Town, was a key feature of the event. Scott’s art often combines vivid Pop Art elements with everyday objects, making his work accessible and engaging. His art was displayed alongside practical items, emphasizing Pop Art’s integration into daily life.

As most readers know, Pop Art emerged in the mid-20th century, characterized by its use of popular culture imagery and mass media techniques. Artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein drew inspiration from advertising, comic books, and consumer products, challenging traditional notions of art. This movement blurred the lines between high art and mass culture, making art more accessible to the general public.

At Slow Art Day HQ we are looking forward to whatever MelonRouge Artichoke Gallery designs for Slow Art Day 2025.

-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. Stay up to date with events at the MelonRouge Artichoke Gallery via their Facebook

Here you can also see some videos produced in connection with the Slow Art Day event and shared to Facebook:

Italian Slow Art Club Visits Venice

Posted on March 14, 2025 by Jessica Nocella

For their second Slow Art Day, Piero Consolati’s Slow Art Club, an independent group of slow looking art lovers in Italy, decided to focus on the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy.

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is packed with amazing 20th-century European and North American art, all thanks to Peggy Guggenheim‘s passion for collecting art and running galleries. The museum itself, once Peggy’s home, is in the stunning Palazzo Venier dei Leoni on the Grand Canal.

For the event, the Slow Art Club decided to focus on five works that they had selected from the museum’s website (below you can see the images of three of them).

Willem de Kooning, Nude-Woman on the Beach, 1963, Oil on paper mounted on canvas

René Magritte, The Empire of Light, 1953-54, Oil on canvas

Yves Tanguy, The Sun in His Jewellery Box, 1937, Oil on canvas

After slow looking at the selected artworks, participants shared their thoughts and rated the pieces using a subjective scoring system. Participants were thrilled to see the wide range of emotions and aesthetic opinions that slow looking brings out in everyone engaging with art. They really enjoyed discussing what they had observed, but what they appreciated the most was museum visitors joining their discussions and wanting to share their thoughts too.

Over the past 18 months, Piero Consolati’s Slow Art Club has visited nine different museums practicing the art of slow looking, and he reports that their membership is steadily growing.

At Slow Art Day HQ, we celebrate Piero and his Slow Art Club. We love what they are doing not just on Slow Art Day but throughout the year. Amazing!

– Jessica Jane, Johanna, Ashley and Phyl

P.S. Slow Art Day 2025 is coming up on April 5. If you have not done so, please register your museum, gallery, church, sculpture park or movie theater here: https://www.slowartday.com/be-a-host/

Haliburton’s Rails End Gallery Hosts Again in 2024

Posted on March 12, 2025 by Johanna Bokedal

For their 4th Slow Art Day, held in 2024, Rails End Gallery and Arts Center in Haliburton, Canada, invited visitors to look slowly at art from their annual local artist exhibition and then vote for their favorite.

Voting station at the Slow Art Day event

Wendy Wood, Not all dreams are happy ones, acrylic on canvas, 2024

David Douglas, Eurydice Hunting Antlers, found art assemblage, 2024

Gregor Gillespie, Unscheduled Departure, wood and stone, 2024

Slow Art Day coincided with the final day of their annual exhibition, making the Slow Art Day event their finale.

For Slow Art Day 2024, staff at the Gallery prepared cards with leading questions that visitors could reference while they looked.

A magnifying glass was also provided to visitors to take a (literal) close look at the art. Ahead of time, each artist had been asked to write a statement which was placed in a binder. Much to the surprise of the Gallery staff, one mother who took part in the event even read aloud from the binder for her children.

Note that Rails End Gallery is a registered nonprofit with an active and arts-minded volunteer community.

Many large museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Art Gallery of Toronto (Canada’s largest museum) lead the Slow Art Day movement, but we also have a growing number of smaller locations like Rails End Gallery.

We look forward to seeing whatever Rails End Gallery and Arts Center come up with for Slow Art Day this year.

-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. Stay up to date with events at Rails End Gallery and Arts Center through their Instagram

Slow Looking and Dance at the University of Navarra’s Museum

Posted on March 11, 2025 by Johanna Bokedal

For their second Slow Art Day, the University of Navarra’s Museum located in Pamplona, Spain invited visitors to look slowly at “De este paraíso” (“Of this paradise”), 1969, by Manolo Millares. Present at the event were also a professional dancer and a choreographer for a body expression session.

Visitors looking slowly at De este paraíso” (“Of this paradise”), by Manolo Millares. Photo by Manuel Castells.

De este paraíso” (“Of this paradise”), by Manolo Millares. Photo by Manuel Castells.

Ahead of Slow Art Day, the event was published to the Museum’s website, and an invitation newsletter was sent to subscribers.

The Slow Art Day session on April 13 took place from 5 to 7 p.m. It was free and there were 20 places available. Between 5 to 6 pm, all participants first looked slowly at the artwork together, followed by a discussion.

From 6 to 7 pm the group moved into another room for the body expression workshop. It was led by the dancer and choreographer Itsaso Álvarez Cano, and visitors were invited to respond to the artwork through dance (Unfortunately there are no pictures from this part of the event).

At Slow Art Day HQ we love the inclusion of the body expression session. We experience art with several of the senses, and moving our bodies seems like a perfect way to extend slow looking into an embodied response.

We can’t wait to see what the Museum at the University of Navarra comes up with for Slow Art Day this year.

-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. Slow Art Day 2025 is coming up on April 5. If you have not done so, please register your museum, gallery, church, sculpture park or movie theater here: https://www.slowartday.com/be-a-host/

P.P.S. Stay up to date with the Museum at the University of Navarra through their Instagram or Facebook.

Bloomington Citywide Slow Art Day

Posted on March 10, 2025 by Johanna Bokedal

For their 5th Slow Art Day, Eaton Studio Gallery in Bloomington, IL., spearhead another citywide Slow Art Day in 2024, and as one of the *18* locations, invited participants to a sip-n-view followed by a conversation with artist Herb Eaton.

Participants slow looking and engaging with artist Herb Eaton

Herb Eaton with Slow Art Day participants

“Scribbler’s Memorial” Bronze & Stainless by Herb Eaton

Slow Art Day has become a prominent force across Bloomington during the past few years, and Pamela Eaton, who has spearheaded the citywide Slow Art Day, told us that the whole multi-venue celebration has been transformative for art in Bloomington.

“Collaborating with the other artists and galleries in our community for Slow Art Day has given our local art scene more visibility and we are now attracting more local and out of town visitors to our art locations.”

Pamela Eaton

The citywide event received a promotion grant to help cover the cost of printing promotional materials, and Eaton Gallery itself received an Illinois Tourism grant to promote the Art Trail on Route 66 for Slow Art Day.

To conclude the festivities, all Slow Art Day goers across the 18-venue city-wide Slow Art Day event were invited to a closing reception with a prize giveaway at The Hangar Art Company from 2 to 4 p.m. in Downtown Bloomington.

At Slow Art Day HQ we have been delighted to follow the events by Eaton Studio Gallery since they joined the Slow Art Day movement during the Covid19 Pandemic. From designing a drive-by exhibition in 2020 to now leading a city-wide phenomenon — we can’t wait to see how Slow Art Day grows in Bloomington during the years to come.

-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

Mason City, IL, Hosts City-Wide Slow Art Day

Posted on March 8, 2025 by Johanna Bokedal

For their first city-wide Slow Art Day, the town of Mason City, Illinois lined up three venues to host artwork events for Slow Art Day: the public library, Reimagine Mason City Foundation, and the Arlee Theater.

All three are local nonprofits who are actively involved in youth services and the arts. Even though Mason City is not large enough to need a stop light (with a population of 2500), they still make sure to celebrate local artists. This year’s featured works included pieces from local artists who have passed on, as well as works from four other Central Illinois artists with various ties to Mason City. Most of the entries were paintings, with one sculpture.

This year’s local artworks were:

Unknown titled piece by Andrea Maxson
“Colorful Flowers” by the late Helen Kim
Two untitled pieces by Anastasia Neumann
“Protection” and “Old Warrior” by Rick Kehl
Unknown titled piece by the late Mary Price
Unknown titled piece by the late Mary K. Mangold
“Arcturian Landscape Study in Aluminum” by Paige Price

“Arcturian Landscape Study in Aluminum” by Paige Price

On Slow Art Day, the artworks were divided across the three selected locations, and tips for looking at art slowly were provided at each venue.

The public library showed their pieces in a special exhibit.
The Reimagine Mason City Foundation hosted a pop-up coffee shop where their works were displayed.
And lastly, the Arlee Theater projected digital versions of all of the works onto the big screen prior to the evening’s show (we have seen several theaters participate over the years, and love this type of venue for slow looking!).

At Slow Art Day HQ, we love to see citywide events – and especially appreciate smaller towns who come together to celebrate the day. We also hope to see more movie theaters join the Slow Art Day movement.

We look forward to seeing what Mason City comes up with for Slow Art Day in 2025.

-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. Slow Art Day 2025 is coming up on April 5. If you have not done so, please register your museum, gallery, church, sculpture park or movie theater here: https://www.slowartday.com/be-a-host/

Mindful Slow Looking at The Foster Museum

Posted on March 7, 2025 by Johanna Bokedal

For their first Slow Art Day, The Foster Museum in Palo Alto, California, invited participants to engage with works by Tony Foster, a plein air watercolor artist who creates series of paintings he calls “Journeys.” Per their website, “Foster’s unique art form is a series of paintings with accompanying notes and symbolic objects or “souvenirs” made with the intention to reveal wild places or explore a specific idea or theme.”

The free Slow Art Day event was advertised in the museum lobby and in their newsletter for a few months before the event on Saturday, April 13. The event started with an introduction by Anne Baxter, co-Director of The Foster Museum, and was followed by an hour of mindful slow looking at 5 of Tony’s artworks. The event ended with a closing discussion and light refreshments.

Slow Art Day participants engaging with artworks by Tony Foster (Ph: Anne Baxter).

Anne told us that she learned about Slow Art Day through Alan Petersen, Fine Art Curator at the Museum of Northern Arizona, a longtime Slow Art Day museum. Last year when Alan was in California teaching a drawing workshop and researching the whereabouts of Gunnar Widforss’ paintings in the area, Anne asked him for programming ideas that seem like a great fit with The Foster Museum. Alan immediately suggested Slow Art Day. Love that. Word-of-mouth is how we have built this movement.

And we are happy to welcome The Foster Museum to Slow Art Day and look forward to what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2025.

– Jessica Jane, Johanna, Ashley and Phyl

P.S. Slow Art Day 2025 is coming up on April 5. If you have not done so, please register your museum, gallery, church, sculpture park here: https://www.slowartday.com/be-a-host/

P.S.S. You can follow The Foster Museum on Instagram, FB and X.

McMichael Canadian Art Collection Hosts First Slow Art Day

Posted on March 6, 2025 by Johanna Bokedal

For their first Slow Art Day, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Canada, organized a slow looking and sketching event.

Visitors were encouraged to walk around the museum and look slowly at their chosen works of art. Guided tours were canceled for Slow Art Day in order for participants to experience the art slowly and on their own terms – excellent!

McMichael Collection Slow Art Day image from their social media post, advertising the event.

Slow looking participants listening to the introduction in the Founder’s Lounge.

To introduce the concept of slow looking, visitors were also invited to a short explanation followed by a 15 minute self-guided sketching activity in front of an artwork of their choice. The sessions were held in the Founder’s Lounge at the top of the hour during three time-slots. All sketching materials were provided, and visitors were given stools to place in front of their chosen artwork.

Images of participants slow looking and sketching were shared to social media.

Participant sketching in front of their chosen artwork.

We love this simple, creative design and encourage other museums to consider copying some of what the McMichael Canadian Art Collection did for 2024.

And we look forward to what they come up with for April 2025!

-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. Slow Art Day 2025 is coming up on April 5. If you have not done so, please register your museum, gallery, church, sculpture park here: https://www.slowartday.com/be-a-host/

P.P.S. Stay up to date with other events at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection through their Instagram and Facebook.