For their first Slow Art Day, the 1 UV Gallery Studio in Saratoga, CA, invited visitors to a slow looking and discussion session with Larissa Dahroug, artist, Reiki Master teacher, and owner of 1 UV Gallery Studio.
View of 1 UV Gallery Studio, Slow Art Day 2023. Photo: Larissa Dahroug
Larissa promoted her Slow Art Day event by reaching out to local artists, government officials, and local museum employees in advance of the day.
Flier for Slow Art Day 2023 at 1 UV Gallery Studio
She had a small audience for the day, but it was a good start.
And in June of 2023, Larissa hosted a Saratoga Chamber of Commerce event at her Gallery where she introduced the concept of slow business, the Slow Movement, and in particular Slow Art Day to the attendees.
She is also in touch with the leader of the Bloomington, Illinois Slow Art Day, Pamala Eaton, who has developed a 15+ gallery event in that city – which Larissa hopes to replicate in Saratoga.
At Slow Art Day HQ, we are excited to see another citywide movement develop, this time in Saratoga.
We look forward to whatever Larissa and the city of Saratoga come up with for Slow Art Day 2024.
On April 2, 2022, the El Nido Art Space presented by VC Projects in Los Angeles, CA hosted their first Slow Art Day, which focused on a two-person exhibition titled “War and Peace” (Ukrainian Voices) by Denys Kushnarov, a Kyiv-based filmmaker, and Yuri Boyko, an LA-based Ukranian-American photographer and artist.
The in-person event featured six short films about Ukraine, which Kushnarov is associated with:
“Make Music Not War!” (made after the Donbas region and Crimea Peninsula were annexed by Russia)
“Rocketman”
“United System”
“There is a Place” (dedicated to the Chernobyl tragedy)
“Annihilation”
Memorial Choir “Ukraina”
Kushnarov also wrote “A Message from Ukraine,” a letter to the world based on the current Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The exhibition also featured the photography series, “Departure and Arrival”, by Boyko, which presented written prose and a visual exploration of the LA-based Ukranian-American artist’s grandmother’s home in Ukraine. Boyko visited the home after 30 years of absence, and found that all family rituals and traditions were still intact. His photographs capture a past that has now been destroyed.
Yuri Boyko, “Departure and Arrival (X)”, photography, pigment print on canvas, 8.5 x 11 in. single editionYuri Boyko, “Departure and Arrival (I)”, photography, pigment print on canvas, 8.5 x 11 in. single editionYuri Boyko, “Departure and Arrival (IV)”, photography, pigment print on canvas, 8.5 x 11 in. single edition
Victoria Chapman, Founder and Director of VC Projects, curated the exhibition by contacting the two artists in the wake of the Russian invasion. She writes, “What could be more relevant for Slow Art Day … taking pause to reflect on art and humanity.”
The event was attended by 50 guests, and was promoted on their website, where you can find links to the videos and view more of the photography. You can also check out more from VC Projects and the El Nido Art Space on Instagram at VC Projects and El Nido Art Space. Below is a flyer used to promote the event:
We at Slow Art Day HQ are deeply saddened by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and are glad to see communities come together to reflect on art and humanity.
ArtemisSF in San Francisco, California hosted its second Slow Art Day as a virtual event with a focus on the sense of taste (with some drinks to add a little zest).
Their eventEkphrastic Edibles, designed by Ammala Lacroix, re-interpreted two artworks by Maritza Ruiz-Kim as drinks that participants could make at home:
1 – Progress#15 interpreted as Matcha Lemonade: ‘Misterios con Matcha’
2 – Warmer interpreted as Hibiscus Ginger Mocktail: ‘Jamaica Haven’
Participants were provided with written explanations to illustrate the connection between the art and drinks, and were guided through each recipe to make the drinks themselves.
In her description of Progress #15, Ammala Lacroix writes that Ruiz-Kim’s juxtapositioning of coloured triangles highlights “the irony of differentiation”.
Maritza Ruiz-Kim, Progress #15, 6” x 6”, acrylic on panel, 2017, courtesy of the artist.
This theme was reflected in the different states of the lemon in the ‘Misterios con Matcha’ drink (liquid, solid and frozen). “Despite being presented in differing states,” Lacroix writes, “at the end of the day, a lemon remains a lemon”.
‘Misterios con Matcha’ (Matcha Lemonade), Response to Maritza Ruiz-Kim’s Progress #15, ArtemisSF, Photo: Ammala Lacroix
On the other hand, Ruiz-Kim’s Warmer explores the theme of reconciling the divide between past and present through an edited collage of digitally layered pictures taken by the artist’s paternal grandfather in New Mexico. Lacroix writes, “Maritza Ruiz-Kim tells the story of her family by creating soft pink landscapes informed by the past but seen through new eyes.”
Maritza Ruiz-Kim, Warmer, 14” x 16”, Digital C-print, 2019, courtesy the artist.
The ‘Jamaica Haven’ drink connects to the artwork Warmer through its colors and inclusion of traditional Mexican ingredients like hibiscus.
The event had 25 participants on Slow Art Day itself and received strongly positive feedback. It has since been viewed by over 60 participants asynchronously.
Participant Torange Yeghiazarian, Founding Artistic Director at Golden Thread Productions, said that she “loved the drink recipes” and appreciated learning about their inspiration from Ruiz-Kim’s art. Patty Tsai, Senior Associate Director at Columbia Alumni Association Arts Access also loved it and hoped to promote it to her group.
On April 26th, ArtemisSF also hosted additional virtual ‘see’ and ‘hear’ events involving activities such as a Zoom poetry reading in connection with the ‘taste’ event for Slow Art Day. Invitations for all events were designed by Ruiz-Kim.
At Slow Art Day HQ we love seeing such a beautiful focus on the senses in connection with virtual art, and very much look forward to ArtemisSF’s continued creativity and participation next year.
The Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, CA, a long-time participant in Slow Art Day, saw great success again this year by helping participants slow down to enjoy the single painting GoGo Days Are Over. Enjoy The Party While It Lasts by Juan Carlos Quintana.
GoGo Days Are Over. Enjoy The Party While It Lasts by Juan Carlos Quintana
Nancy Hampton, Slow Art Day docent, led an open-ended discussion with a group of 10 visitors. Nancy reported that two of the participants, who lead a program for incarcerated women, had deep revelations about art and slowing down. “They saw how art can have a positive effect…[and] were excited about the Slow Art Day approach and how they might delve into looking and wondering.”
We love to hear how Slow Art Day has such applicability for a wide variety of audiences, including the incarcerated. In fact, several years ago an artist in Rome led a Slow Art Day in a prison there, which was reported to be a very powerful experience.
We look forward to Crocker Art Museum’s participation in 2020 – and to more ways to bring slow looking to more people in more settings all over the world.
For Slow Art Day 2019, Michelle Nye, Manager of Gallery Programs at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, brought in Claudia L’Amoreaux of Mindful Digital Life to lead the day.
Participants looked for 10 minutes at each artwork and then had a group discussion about the experience (and a light lunch). The museum sold special tickets for Slow Art Day at $10 each (including the food) and sold out the event.
L’Amoreaux wrote about a common part of the Slow Art Day experience – the surprising nature of slow time and of focused looking.
When everyone started, I think we were all thinking 10 minutes was an impossible eternity to look at one piece of art. But afterwards, many of us shared how quickly the 10 minutes passed and how surprised we were by what we noticed, especially with pieces we weren’t especially attracted to.
Claudia L’Amoreaux
Phil
P.S. We are planning a webinar with Nye and L’Amoreaux to discuss the design of their event. More on that soon.
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:
Partner blind-drawing station in their watercolor exhibition
Storytelling station based around Matthew Barnes: Painter of the Night exhibition
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.
The Clock Tower Studio/Gallery at Oakland, California’s historic Cotton Mill Studios is honored to be participating again this year in Slow Art Day.
Currently on display (through the end of April) is an exhibition of underwater photography by David Horwich called The California Kelp Forests: an under water survey. a percentage of proceeds from this exhibit benefit Reef Check California.
For more information about The Clock Tower Studio/Gallery visit our website.
