The annual event celebrating art.
Slow Art Day is Saturday, April 5, 2025 Join Us!
Photo by Greg Neville
Slow Art Day 2025 coming April 5!
February 11th, 2025Slow Art Day 2025 is just around the corner.
For museums, galleries, churches, hospitals, sculpture parks and others participating this year, please register your event with us here:
In the meantime, we are finalizing the 2024 Annual Report and expect to publish that within the month (that report provides details from many of the 2024 events and is a great source of inspiration for the design of your 2025 Slow Art Day).
You can also review earlier Annual Reports here:
Thank you!
Ashley, Jessica Jane, Johanna, Maggie, and Phyl
“Empty Space” Slow Looking at PKULTRA in Seattle
February 9th, 2025For their third Slow Art Day, the art gallery PKULTRA, in Seattle, WA, invited visitors to experience an installation by gallery owner, Paul Kuniholm, titled “Project Urban Penthouse.”
The installation was an empty space above an exhibition venue for the specific purpose of, in Paul Kuniholm’s words, “void intervention: an encapsulation of nothingness for nothingness’ sake.” Said another way, it’s an intentional use of space for nothing.
Kuniholm is a fourth-generation Seattle-based public artist of Swedish descent who works in sculpture, video, mural art, time-based work, as well as digital and binary art (which was the focus of PKULTRA’s Slow Art Day event last year).
Visitors to the gallery were invited to look slowly at Project Urban Penthouse.
To look at “nothing”, in a fast-paced, tech-based, and materialistic culture, is an interesting provocation to the idea that everything must have a purpose.
At its radical core, slow looking, like art in general, is also purposeless in the sense that it’s best when it’s not a transaction, but rather seen as something valuable in and of itself, without recourse to justification.
Thus, we at Slow Art Day HQ like Kuniholm’s provocation and look forward to what interesting exhibit he creates for Slow Art Day 2025.
– Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
P.S. for other installation artworks by Kuniholm, you can view his installation artwork exhibition with Julian Weber Architects. You can also check out the Instagram accounts for artist Paul Kuniholm as well as Art Gallery PKULTRA.
Seventh Slow Art Day in Belmont, NC
February 4th, 2025While Slow Art Day is often held in large or regional museums, we also love to celebrate when smaller towns and studios join together to host slow looking.
As such, we’re happy to report that Belmont, NC, a small city of about 10,000 people, held their 7th Slow Art Day in April 2024.
To make it happen The Downtown Belmont Development Association in Belmont, NC, partnered with longtime host and local art center, Art by J Studios, which designed an event to focus on four local artists:
- Kathi Graves
- Bae Hart
- Carol Stowe
- James Norman
Below is their innovative and fun flyer (feel free to copy).
Both the morning and afternoon sessions were held at Art by J, a children’s art school, which is housed in an old mill down the hall from renowned artist Juan Logan.
On Slow Art Day, guests were greeted by Jeaniene Dibble, the owner of Art by J, who gave them a Slow Art Day pin (we don’t have a photo of the pin – though we are sure we’d want it!) to wear that she had designed, and handed them a clipboard with paper and a pencil. Normally a chaotic environment with students and classes running, on Slow Art Day the school was serene and contemplative.
Guests looked slowly at each artwork for 10 minutes and used their clipboards to write down inspirations and answers to prompts that they were given. Next, they engaged in a discussion with three of the artists, Kathi Graves, Carol Stowe, and James Norman, who answered questions and discussed the participants’ thoughts and impressions. Pastries, donuts, and water were also provided.
Amy Bossard, the Design Committee Chair at the Downtown Belmont Development Association, reported that guests and artists were so engaged with each other they could have gone on talking all day long (we hear this all the time and witness it ourselves when we run slow looking events).
Both sessions were very well received, and the Downtown Belmont Development Association and Art by J already look forward to Slow Art Day 2025.
– Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
BYU Museum of Art Engages All Ages for their 4th Slow Art Day
January 27th, 2025For their fourth Slow Art Day, Brigham Young University (BYU) Museum of Art invited visitors to look slowly at the following four artworks from the temporary exhibition Spain and the Hispanic World: Treasures from the Hispanic Society Museum & Library:
- Miguel Alcañiz, “Ascension Panel from the Altarpiece of St. Vincent and St. Giles,” 1422-30
- Unknown Colombian Artist, “Portable Writing Desk,” ca. 1684
- Fray Alonso López de Herrera, “Virgin of the Immaculate Conception,” 1640
Painted on an engraved copper plate and displayed in a free-standing manner, allowing the visitor to explore the back of the painting.
- Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, Sketch for “Visions of Spain,” 1912-13
Adjacent to a television monitor showing a slow-moving panoramic view of the finished painting.
Visitors were greeted at the entrance of the exhibition by a museum educator who explained the premise of Slow Art Day, and invited them to look slowly at the four works (which were chosen by staff for their visual complexity). Each piece was accompanied by a temporary label with slow-looking prompts that were intended to help viewers be more intentional in their experience with each artwork (see example below). At the end of the visit, the museum educator prompted participants to share something they noticed or experienced by slowing down with the artworks.
In total, there were 118 participants, and the hosts gave each of them a small gift as a thank you: kaleidoscopes were offered to children, and adults had the choice between a museum pin or sticker.
The event was a success, and several participants left positive feedback:
“I liked looking at the works from different angles. I wouldn’t have realized there was something on the back of the painting (Virgin of the Immaculate Conception) if I hadn’t moved around it.” (Adult visitor)
“I really liked the box (Portable Writing Desk). It had a lot of interesting designs on it.” (7 year-old child)
“It was so cool to see the big sketch (Sorolla) next to the finished painting on the TV.” (12 year-old visitor)
“I loved the idea of slowing down and appreciating the beauty around you – not just in the museum, but in life.” (Adult visitor with children)
At Slow Art Day HQ, we love that participants got a small gift for taking part in slowing down. It is also great to see Slow Art Day events being made available to children as well as adults.
We can’t wait to see what BYU Museum of Art comes up with for Slow Art Day in 2025.
-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
P.S. Stay up to date with events at the BYU Museum of Art through their social media platforms on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, X, or YouTube by using the handle @byumoa.