Tag Archives: video

From STEM to STEAM

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The STEM acronym has become familiar to many since its introduction in 2001. Now, it is evolving, with the most recent term, ‘STEAM’, also incorporating art. In this post, we profile Dr. Koshi Dhingra, a forefront pioneer in linking STEM subjects with art, and her non-profit: talkSTEM.

With over 30 years of experience in STEM research and education, Dhingra is passionate about letting every child — especially girls and underrepresented youth — access STEM resources. This directly inspired her to found talkSTEM in 2015, which has since become a powerhouse of free material for educators.

As part of talkSTEM, children and students get the chance to have “outside the textbook” STEM mindset experiences with the walkSTEM project, often in connection with art.

Developed by Dr. Dhingra and her partner Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics, walkSTEM is a framework for place- or concept-based tours with the aim of seeing the world through the lens of STEM. The talkSTEM and walkSTEM resources are easily accessible and adaptable for a range of ages, places and interests.

In the following video, Dr. Dhingra introduces the talkSTEM YouTube channel, where participants can find hundreds of videos focused on STEM topics.

In the video below, you can view the introduction to a walkSTEM tour by Dr. Whitney in the Dallas Arts District.

The inclusion of art with science, technology, engineering, and math is an exciting development, evident across talkSTEM resources such as:

  • This video playlist containing 26 short videos focused on art and math using walkSTEM methods. 
  • This page containing the Create Your Own walkSTEM framework (click on the appropriate colorful tile for museums).

At Slow Art Day HQ we recently took part in a video call together with Drs. Koshi Dhingra and Paul Fishwick, Distinguished University Chair of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication; Professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas, both of whom have great STEAM projects in store for the Dallas area. We are excited to be in discussion with these great minds on the connection between STEM and art, and see clear links to the Slow Art Day aim of getting more people discover the joy of looking at art in new ways.

We have loved learning more about art through a STEM lens, and will keep following talkSTEM’s development.

– Johanna and Phil

Further links: local and state-wide press releases about talkSTEM.

Slow Looking Meditations with the National Gallery

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During the spring 2020 Covid19 lockdown, the National Gallery in London began releasing 5-minute long art meditation videos on YouTube in order to promote mental wellbeing among the public.

5-minute Meditation: Bonington’s ‘An Estuary in Northern France’, The National Gallery, YouTube

Written by Christina Bradstreet, Courses and Events Programmer at the National Gallery, the meditation videos were produced at home by members of the gallery’s digital team and promoted across social media platforms.

So far, the slow looking video-series has included meditations on:

Turner’s ‘Rain, Steam, and Speed’

Redon’s ‘Ophelia among the Flowers‘

Rosa Bonheur’s ‘The Horse Fair’

Bonington’s ‘An Estuary in Northern France’

Zurbarán’s ‘A Cup of Water and a Rose’

A true slow looking pioneer, Bradstreet is a powerful advocate at the National Gallery for slow programming throughout the year. When we asked her how she first became aware of the power of slow looking, she recalled how she felt as she walked home after attending her first mindfulness class:

“I felt acutely aware of the crunch of my footsteps on the gravel, the air on my skin, the bird song – and I thought, “wow! maybe mindfulness can really help us to savour the sensory details of paintings.”

Christina Bradstreet

Her positive experience inspired her to design a range of events at the gallery, such as finding wonder in familiar paintings like Van Gogh’s ‘The Sunflowers’, mindful looking, drawing sessions, and, during the lockdown, the above meditation videos.

National Gallery visitors enjoying a slow looking activity (pre-lockdown).
Picture courtesy of the National Gallery.

The first two slow looking videos have been an enormous success, with an average of 16,000 hits each on Youtube, and a total of 260k hits and counting across the gallery’s social media platforms.

Viewers have also given strongly positive feedback:

“Well done. Please do more.”  

“*Delightful*”

“Fabulous meditation! Thank you so much for these slow looks.” 

“Soul touching and relaxing with a new breath of freshness.”

“I’ve seen this painting many times but I never saw the hare, or the people at the side of the river [in Turner’s ‘Rain, Steam, and Speed’]. Thank you so much!” 

Participant Quotes

Bradstreet also shared with us some thoughts on the design of these 5-minute videos:

Rather than simply offering a slow looking experience, I’m interested in choosing meditation techniques that connect with the paintings content or how it was painted, so that the art and the meditation enhance one another. For example, in the video on Rosa Bonheur’s The Horse Fair, I explore the theme of the commotion of the busy horse fair as a metaphor for the busy mind, and think about how we might stay mindful when the world is chaotic around us. Clearly, these themes can be taken much further in a longer meditation. However, we have kept these short, partly because many of our audience will be beginners at meditation, and partly because we don’t want to add to online fatigue!

Christina Bradstreet

The National Gallery has truly captured the essence of slow looking within these meditation videos, and I have loved incorporating the short art meditations into my own workday as a way to relax. I recommend that you do the same.

I and the whole Slow Art Day HQ team hope that these videos inspire more slow looking around the world. We can’t wait to see what Christina Bradstreet and the National Gallery in the UK design for Slow Art Day 2021.

– Johanna

Slow looking with the Frye Art Museum

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For their third Slow Art Day the Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA, shared slow-panning videos of two artworks from the Museum’s Founding Collection:

  • Friedrich August von Kaulbach (German, 1850-1920), ‘Rosario Guerrero,’ ca. 1908
  • In the manner of Edouard Manet, ‘Landscape with Figures,’ not dated.

Friedrich August von Kaulbach (German, 1850-1920), Rosario Guerrero, ca. 1908.
Oil on canvas, 49 1/2 x 37 3/8 in. Founding Collection, Gift of Charles and Emma Frye, 1952.082
In the manner of Edouard Manet, ‘Landscape with Figures,’ n.d.
Oil on canvas, 18 x 15 in. Founding Collection, Gift of Charles and Emma Frye, 1952.109

Slow looking prompts were included in the video descriptions and on the Frye Slow Art Day website. After viewing the artworks, participants were encouraged to share their thoughts by commenting on the posts.

The event was promoted via social media posts and stories on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Compared to other posts by the Museum, the Slow Art Day event had a higher than average reach on Facebook and more engagement across all social media platforms.

Feedback from participants was also positive and showed that the Slow Art Day ethos was passed on. One viewer even wanted to use the exercise in their teaching:

“Thank you! You gave me an assignment for my students to do in our new online art class.”

Participant Quote

At Slow Art Day HQ we loved the Frye’s art choices. The panning in ‘Landscape with Figures‘, which integrated movement in different directions, was especially innovative. We also extend special thanks to Caroline Byrd, Education Coordinator, for sharing details about the Frye’s event with us.

We look forward to what the Frye Art Museum comes up with for Slow Art Day 2021.

– Johanna and Ashley

Impressionist Interiors at The Bendigo Art Gallery

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Art by Australian Impressionist Bessie Davidson was at the heart of the third Slow Art Day hosted this year by The Bendigo Art Gallery in Victoria, Australia.

On April 4, slow-panned videos of three paintings from the exhibition ‘Bessie Davidson & Sally Smart – Two artists and the Parisian avant-garde’ were shared on the gallery’s website (still images below):

  • Lecture au jardin (reading in the garden), 1930s.
  • Fillette au perrouquet (Little girl with parrot), 1913.
  • An interior, c. 1920.
Bessie Davidson, Lecture au jardin (reading in the garden), 1930s, oil on plywood 94 x 114 cm. Collection of Max Tegel, New South Wales.
Bessie Davidson, Fillette au perrouquet (Little girl with parrot), 1913, oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm.
Collection of Carmel Dyer and Allen Hunter. Image courtesy of Bonhams.
Bessie Davidson, An interior, c. 1920, oil on composition board  73.1 x 59.7 cm.
Gift of Mrs C Glanville, 1968, Art Gallery of South Australia.

Staggered images of the paintings were also shared on the gallery’s Facebook page via three posts before, during and after April 4th. Participants were invited to respond by posting comments, thoughts and images of their own works inspired by the slow-looking.

Each Facebook post got more likes than the previous, with the last post receiving 1.2k likes. Several people also sent in beautiful paintings of their own children and interiors.

Suzie Luke, Public Programs and Learning Officer at the Bendigo Art Gallery, said that many participants had “tremendously positive feedback” about the artist, artworks and the gallery itself:

Love that you’re doing this. This is the sort of thing I need to lift my spirits, just like every visit to your gallery has always done. Thank you!

This idea is so great, please keep doing it even when the emergency is over.

Jan Deane; Papageno Ragdoll

Slow Art Day at Bendigo Art Gallery usually consists of slow-looking guided tours by their wonderful volunteers, followed by discussions of the paintings and afternoon tea. This year, it has been inspiring to see the gallery make such a beautiful transition to virtual platforms.

We hope that The Bendigo Art Gallery will host another innovative Slow Art Day in 2021.

– Johanna and Ashley

Latvia’s Riga Bourse Joins Slow Art Day

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The Art Museum Riga Bourse in Riga, Latvia, hosted their first Slow Art Day this year as a virtual event, like many art institutions across the world, due to Covid19.

Participants were invited to slowly view five works for 5-10 minutes each from the museum’s permanent collection using their Google Arts & Culture platform:

Portrait of William II, Prince of Orange-Nassau by the workshop of Anthony van Dyck, 1632 (the most viewed painting of the event, pictured below)
Musical Society by Niccolo Renieri, 17th century
Banks of the Tiber near Acqua Acetosa by Ludwig Richter, 1835
Christ on the Cross by Pieter Pietersz Aertsen, late 16th- early 17th century
Fisher Girl by Eugène Isabey, 1850

Workshop of Anthony van Dyck, Portrait of William II, Prince of Orange-Nassau, 1632, oil on canvas. Collection of the Latvian National Museum of Art. Used with permission.

The Google Arts platform allowed participants to zoom in on the 5 selected artworks to closely study brushstrokes and textures. Participants were then encouraged to consider the wider social context of each work and provide their commentary via the museum’s Facebook and Twitter accounts — which reached more than 4000 people during the event. The museum produced a video (in Latvian) about Google Arts and slow looking that is still available to download.

Sandra Kempele, Curator of Education at Riga Bourse, reflected on how “encouraging [it is] to be part of this global community” of Slow Art Day especially now in the face of changing and trying circumstances.

At Slow Art Day HQ, we heartily echo this sentiment. Despite still advocating for the special experience of viewing art in museums, we are continually encouraged by the creativity and adaptability showcased by art institutions such as the Riga Bourse during this pandemic.

We look forward to the Riga Bourse’s continued participation in 2021 –hopefully in their actual museum.

– Johanna

Slow Art Day Makes You Happy

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How great is this Slow Art Day promotional video created by host Karolina Fabelova at Kunstzeichnen? Check it out on YouTube and tell us what you think below!