Author Archives: Jessica Nocella

An Ecological Journey of Artistic Discovery at Europos Parkas

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For their fourth Slow Art Day, the Open-Air Museum Europos Parkas, in Vilnius, Lithuania, organized a plein-air slow looking session with their participants.

Europos Parkas is a 55 hectare (136 acre) open-air museum situated in the center of Europe that began as a relaxing place in the forest where artists, sculptors, and people around the world could meet, and eventually transformed into an open-air museum with modern sculptures and landscape art.

Slow Art Day at Europos Parkas

On the 15th of April, participants where invited to slowly experience three different sculptures:

  • “Gintarė/electricity” by Evaldas Pauza (Lithuania)
  • “Conjuror” by Magdalena Abakanowicz (Poland)
  • “Space of Unknown Growth” by Magdalena Abakanowicz (Poland)
“Gintarė/electricity” by Evaldas Pauza
“Conjuror” by Magdalena Abakanowicz
“Space of Unknown Growth” by Magdalena Abakanowicz

Participants were encouraged to pay close attention to their breathing, all while taking note of the colors, sounds, and smells surrounding them – and even being blindfolded so they could focus on touch.

After the slow viewing, art facilitator Karen Vanhercke led a discussion encouraging participants to make mindful connections between themselves and the surrounding nature, art, and other participants. To make the event more inclusive, discussions were conducted in English with Lithuanian translation. Tea and biscuits were also served.

Participants engaging with sculptures and nature on Slow Art Day

At Slow Art Day HQ, we love the creativity of the Europos Parkas team and look forward to seeing what they come up with in 2024.

– Jessica Jane, Johanna, Ashley and Phyl

P.S. Here you can find their Instagram and Facebook accounts.

Third Slow Art Day at Grounds for Sculpture in New Jersey

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For their third Slow Art Day, educators and docents at Grounds for Sculpture (GFS) in Hamilton, New Jersey, invited visitors to slow down and look at any four different sculptures.

Torqueri XIII. Grounds for Sculpture.
Staff in front of Arch II. Grounds for Sculpture.
Participants in front of Eolith. Grounds for Sculpture.
Participants engaging with Dorian. Grounds for Sculptures.

While looking slowly, participants were asked to consider the following prompts:

  • Observe:
    Take a deep breath, walk around the sculpture and let your eyes move slowly around the artwork – from where it touches the ground all the way up to the sky. What do you notice? Make three observations based on what you noticed.
  • Share:
    Think of a story or experience this sculpture reminds you of – anything that comes to mind. Think of a friend that you want to share this sculpture with; why does this person come to mind?
  • Reflect:
    What do you notice about the sculpture now that you did not see at first glance? How does this change your impression of the sculpture? If you’re with others, share your responses. Did they have similar or different thoughts on the sculpture?
  • Repeat:
    If you are up for the Slow Art Day challenge, then repeat this excercise with three other sculptures. What new question might you pose for slow looking? Add it to your next slow look.

Here are a few of the visitor observations while slow looking at the sculpture Dorian, which proved to be one of the most popular pieces for Slow Art Day according to GFS docent Adria Sherman:

A child noticed the triangles, diamonds and octagons. Another thought it was a spaceship. A
young woman visiting from California saw a hummingbird sipping water and appreciated the
effect of clouds on the reflections. The most touching and personal interaction I had was with a couple holding hands. They viewed the sculpture as a living person and its reflection on the surrounding water as the memory of the deceased individual that lives on in the mind of loved ones.

Adria Sherman

Sherman also mentioned that Slow Art Day 2023 created one of the best visitor experiences she has witnessed in her long tenure at Grounds For Sculpture.

At Slow Art Day HQ, we always love reading about what the team at GFS designs for their annual event, and we look forward to seeing what they come up with for their fourth Slow Art Day in 2024.

– Jessica Jane, Ashley, Johanna, and Phyl

P.S. Stay up to date with events at GFS via their Facebook and Instagram pages.

Slow Art Day at the Museum of Gloucester

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For their first Slow Art Day, the Museum of Gloucester, UK, organized an in-person event where participants were invited to explore paintings from their exhibition “Two Millennia of Changing Faces: Gloucester’s Architecture. Fifth century to twentieth century“: a collection that encapsulates the architecture and built heritage of the city of Gloucester.

Flyer of the exhibition “Two Millenia of Changing Faces: Gloucester’s Architecture.”

For the event, visitors were encouraged to slow down and look closely at each piece for 5-10 minutes so that they could ponder how architecture has inspired and shaped stories of Gloucester’s people, culture and industry.

At Slow Art Day HQ we look forward to their next year’s event!

P.S. You can follow them on their Facebook and Instagram accounts.

JJ, Ashley, Johanna, Robin, and Phyl

Art Gallery of St. Albert Creates a Simple Guide for Slow Looking

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For their third Slow Art Day, the Art Gallery of St. Albert, Canada, organized an in-person slow looking event focused on their current exhibitions, which were promoted on their Facebook & Instagram.

St. Albert’s Slow Art Day Flyer

For the event, the museum prepared a slow looking guide with prompts and questions (see below).

We at Slow Art Day HQ like the simplicity and clarity of their guide and recommend that educators and curators around the world take a look at this and consider copying their approach for future slow looking events.

slowartday-Leah-LoudenDownload

And we look forward to what St. Albert’s comes up with for Slow Art Day 2023.

– Jessica Jane, Ashley, Johanna, Robin, Phyl

Drawing and Coloring at MAM in Montana

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For their third Slow Art Day, the Missoula Art Museum (MAM) in Montana organized an in-person event encouraging participants to focus on Nancy Erickson’s (1935-2022) Hall of Memory #10: Guard Bear.

Nancy Erickson. 1999. Hall of Memory #10: Guard Bear.

Interestingly, to help guests slowly engage with this one work of art, they set up a small “maker station” in the gallery space with a 5-minute timer, worksheet, prompts, and materials for guests to create their own artworks.

Below is an explanatory video they put together for guests.

We recommend that educators and curators throughout the slow looking movement take a look at this video and think about how to integrate art making into their 2023 Slow Art Day.

MAM Slow Art Day 2022 explanatory video

We at Slow Art Day HQ, are excited to see art making brought into slow looking and would like to thank Educator & Outreach Specialist Cameron Decker and his team for organizing this event.

We look forward to what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2023.

Jessica Jane, Ashley, Johanna, Robin, and Phyl

P.S. MAM can be found on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube

Silence and Connections in the heart of Berlin

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For their second Slow Art Day, the Museum der Stille, in Berlin, Germany, organized an in-person event where participants were invited to look slowly in silence and peace.

The Museum der Stille, literally the “museum of stillness”, is a quiet and safe space in the heart of Berlin where visitors can find a moment for contemplation and deep spiritual connection. It is literally a slow – and slow – art museum.

Visitors engaging with a work of art by Nikolai Marakov. Photo credit: Steve Nietz.

For Slow Art Day, the organizers, Steve Nietz, Alexander Aleksander, asked participants to look silently at two works (one in each room) by fellow organizer and artist Nikolai Marakov (see photo above).

While they did not answer questions in the galleries, the organizers did make themselves available in the lobby in case participants had questions or comments.

Perhaps, due to the lingering effects of looking slowly in noiseless rooms with dimmed lighting, participants did not ask questions afterwords – but some did leave comments about the power and impact of this experience.

“If I had more time, I would have sat down in the room forever. It was exactly what I needed: silence.”

Slow Art Day participant

“The dense atmosphere, the absence of sound, and the minimal exhibition has put me in a state of calm.”

Slow Art Day participant

“The room of silence left me speechless.”

Slow Art Day Participant

“Soft tones, forms and figures of every kind, evoking transcendence and the urge to let go. A place of utter calmness in the middle of busy Berlin/Mitte.”

Slow Art Day Participant

The event was a success with 25-30 participants coming to silently look at the art slowly.

At Slow Art Day HQ, we are impressed with the merging of silence and slow that the team at Museum Der Stille created – especially given how afraid many are of silence (think about how many of us walk around with headphones, or how loud many museums can be).

But silence, like slow, is powerful and we encourage more museums to consider using silence as a key design element of their future Slow Art Day events.

And we look forward to seeing what this creative museum in Berlin develops for their Slow Art Day 2023.

Best,

– Jessica Jane, Johanna, Robin, Ashley, and Phyl

Día del Arte Lento in Oaxaca

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On April 2, Anfibia Gráfica in Oaxaca, Mexico, organized their first in-person Slow Art Day event. Together with Taller-Galería La Máquina, they selected four engravings by four artists from Oaxaca: Guillermo Olguín, George Mead Mood, Raúl Herrera, and Ros Santos.

Anfibia Gráfica’s Slow Art Day poster

The event was divided in two parts.

The first part was called “the moment of contemplation”, where participants were invited to follow three key moments:

  • Contemplate each work for one minute.
  • Observe each work for two minutes.
  • Choose the work they liked the most and look at it for another two minutes.

Below you can see the four engravings that were selected for the event:

George Mead Moore, Blue pelvis, printed on metal

Guillermo Olguín, Motel, lithography

Raúl Herrera, El retorno de los pájaros, lithography.

Ros Santos, Mareños, printed on metal

For the second part of the event, aesthetics and art expert Susanne Brass led an open dialogue among all participants.

Participant engaging with a work of art.

The event was a real success and participants loved focussing on details and discovering new things.

At Slow Art Day HQ we are happy to welcome Anfibia Gráfica to our movement, and very much look forward to seeing what they come up with for their second Slow Art Day in 2023

– Jessica Jane, Johanna, Ashley, Robin, and Phyl

P.S. Anfibia Gráfica can be found on Instagram.

Slow Art Day at Nashville Parthenon

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On the 2nd of April, the Nashville Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee, celebrated their first Slow Art Day with a variety of in-person activities.

For the event, they organized four art talks with Acting Curator Jennifer Richardson who helped participants look slowly and explore paintings while also facilitating discussions using Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS).

Acting Curator Jennifer Richardson in the Cowan Gallery – Picture taken from website

Richardson alternated talks/slow looking with other activities.

For example, docents encouraged participants to take part in their Cowan Challenge: a slow looking, detail-finding game with paintings from their Cowan Collection, which includes art works that range from the 18th-20th centuries, to contemporary pieces from their Red Arrow – Show Up! past exhibition.

They also held an Achitecture Tour to look slowly at the building and, separately, organized a Kidsville event, where children, families, and adults could read a book with Imagination Library and create art inspired by it. To make everything even more inclusive, they also set up a Quiet Area for participants to enjoy art books in their specific designated area.

The event was a success, with 1,867 visitors and 242 recorded contacts many of whom admitted to being surprised by discovering how much they could really see thanks to the art of slowing down.

At Slow Art Day HQ we are glad to welcome Nashville Parthenon to our movement and look forward to what they come up with in April 2023!

– Jessica Jane, Phyl, Ashley, Johanna, and Robin

Aesthetics and Emotions at MART

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For their second Slow Art Day, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Rovereto and Trento (MART), Italy, organized both an online and an in-person event.

For the online session, which took place on April 1, the eight participants received three artworks by email the day before of the event so that they could look slowly on their own and then come and present their thoughts during the session.

For the in-person event, organizers presented the three artworks at the beginning of the session, then they left the 20 participants to look slowly for 45 minutes.

Participants were given some prompts to think about while looking:

  • Which elements strike you the most?
  • Which positive or/and negative emotions do you feel looking at this artwork?
  • Do you like this artwork asethetically?
  • Does it evoke you memories? If so, which ones?

They also asked participants to do the following:

  • Rate their emotional and aesthetic responses with a scale of of 0 to 5 points.
  • Assign a title for each work of art (we recommend other educators consider adding this fun element).
  • Think of a common thread connecting the three artworks.

Once their slow looking was done, the museum then divided the participants into small discussion groups of four people each.

Photos from the in-person session can be viewed below.

Gino Severini, Cannoni in azione, 1915 oil on canvas, 50 x 61,5 cm, Mart, Collezione VAF-Stiftung
On the left: Participants engaging with a piece of art. In the middle and on the right: participants working in groups.

Organizers collected the participants feedback and shared with us a few snippets (translated from Italian).

Admiring, observing and talking in a group about the individual and personal sensations that the works made on us was very beautiful, instructive and formative. Feeling how each participant had his own point of view and his impression and how the various impressions intertwined with each other was very welcome and was appreciated by all.

Renzo – Slow Art Day participant

I think we all had a great desire to live this moment, in which physical closeness, looks, voice, were finally used as “normal” means of communication and expression simply belonging to our human race. After these two years of restrictions [for Covid] I think we all felt happy to get to know and re-know each other in a close way and to make a group. Looking together, exchanging opinions and impressions, sharing the different possibilities of reading and interpreting the works was an enriching experience and, let me say, at least for me, even moving.”

Maddalena – Slow Art Day participant

We’d like to add that Denise Bernabè, Membership Coordinator at MART, and Piero Consolati, MART member for several years, have been organizing Slow Art monthly meetings in addition to the annual events. And, due to the pandemic, April 2 was the first time they ran an in-person slow looking session – and they did great!

We very much look forward to what they come up with for 2023.

– Jessica Jane, Phyl, Johanna, and Ashley

Dutch Art at the Holland Museum

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For their first Slow Art Day, the Holland Museum in Holland, Michigan, organized an in-person event inviting participants to engage with their Dutch art collection.

Beach Scene with Men on Horseback, n.d., Johannes Koekkoek (1840-1912), oil on canvas

Participants were divided in four small groups and were encouraged to look at the selected paintings for five minutes each, then to share their thoughts with a friend or another participant from the event. Education & Community Programs Manager Michelle Stempien provided them with a short brochure with images from the Dutch art collection.

Holland Museum’s Slow Art Day brochure.

The brochure contained different open-ended questions and prompts for each painting, to encourage more in-depth looking:

Elegant Company Making Music, 1660, Jacob Duck (1600-1667), oil on panel

Prompts for “Elegant Company Making Music” by Jacob Duck :

  • What do you think the woman on the left is thinking about?
  • Why is she looking at us?
  • How does the artist show us her importance?
  • What seems unusual about this scene?

Other prompts included the comparison between these two paintings:

Portraits of Cornelius Van Beresteyn and
Janntje Berckel, 1617, Pieter Jacobsz
(1608-1677), oil on panel

A docent was also available to discuss the paintings. Participants were playfully encouraged to copy some of the poses in paintings, and post photos of their poses to social media.

We encourage educators and curators to consider copying their joyful slow looking design — including their brochure.

And we at Slow Art Day HQ are happy to welcome the Holland Museum to Slow Art Day, and look forward to what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2023.

Jessica Jane, Johanna, Ashley, and Phyl