Philadelphia, PA – Glen Foerd
Chiusi, Italy – Museo della Cattedrale di Chiusi
Gothenburg, Sweden – Gothenburg Museum of Art
Philadelphia, PA – Corridor Contemporary
Gothenburg Museum of Art hosts Slow Art Day Meditation
For their third Slow Art Day, Sweden’s Gothenburg Museum of Art hosted a meditation session in their exhibition Barbro Östlihn. New York Imprint, featuring renowned post-war Swedish artist, Barbro Östlihn, who was friends with several US-based artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, Claes Oldenburg, and Roy Lichtenstein.
Linda Noreen, program coordinator, organized the event, while the meditation was lead by Lars Hain, who has 25 years of leading meditation workshops.
Once they arrived at the museum, participants were taken to the Barbro Östlihn exhibit, invited to sit down on chairs and cushions, and then led through a meditative slow looking experience.
We’ll note that mixing meditation and slow looking is not new to Gothenburg Museum of Art.
In fact, as part of Slow Art Day 2021, they created a meditative video guide on how to slow down with art (in Swedish), while the museum was forced to close due to the pandemic. If you are a speaker of a Scandinavian language, we recommend viewing the video below for inspiration.
We at Slow Art Day HQ love the mixing of meditation and slow looking and especially appreciate that Gothenburg Museum of Art provided soft chairs and cushions (sounds really comfortable – every museum needs to do this!).
We look forward to seeing what Gothenburg Museum of Art comes up with for their 4th Slow Art Day in 2023.
– Johanna, Ashley, Jessica, Phyl and Robin
P.S. You can find the Gothenburg Museum of Art on Facebook and Instagram.
Harn Museum Mixes Cookies and Tea with Slow Looking
For their 7th Slow Art day, the Harn Museum of Art, located on the campus of The University of Florida in Gainsville, featured 5 artworks from their collection, including:
– Dogon Couple, by Kehinde Wiley
– Northeast Gorge at Appledore, by Childe Hassam
– Pli Selon Pli, by Akiyama Yo
– Waiting for the Signal, by Robert Fichter
– Horizontal Mask (korubla), by a Senufo artist
Host Allysa Peyton, Curator and Student Engagement Manager, and a group of University of Florida student ambassadors greeted participants with a flier that spelled out instructions, featured art works, and space to draw or take notes (see below).
The Harn instructed attendees to spend 10-12 minutes with each of the five featured artworks and encouraged them to not only draw or make notes, but also to reflect on the experience of looking slowly – and how what they see in the art may change over time.
After the slow looking session, everyone then gathered for tea, cookies, and discussion.
Educators and curators in the slow looking movement should take a look at their simple flyer (attached above) and consider copying elements of their approach for future sessions.
The Harn Museum of Art has also launched a year-round program Art & Mindfulness, which incorporates slow looking and guided meditations in 40-minute workshops.
We at Slow Art Day HQ like the incorporation of drawing and notes – and especially appreciate the cookies and tea (yum, yum) at the end – and we look forward to seeing what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2023.
Best,
– Robin, Ashley, Phyl, Jessica Jane, and Johanna
P.S. The Harn Museum of Art can be found on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.
Art Gallery of St. Albert Creates a Simple Guide for Slow Looking
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.
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.
And we look forward to what St. Albert’s comes up with for Slow Art Day 2023.
– Jessica Jane, Ashley, Johanna, Robin, Phyl
Light and Movement at Wanås Konst’s Fifth Slow Art Day
For their fifth Slow Art Day, Wanås Konst, a sculpture park located in southern Sweden, offered a hybrid in-person and online experience focused on artist Katarina Löfström’s outdoor installation Open Source (Cinemaskope).
View Open Source (Cinemaskope) in motion.
Katarina Löfström sees her works as paintings of light and movement. Open Source (Cinemaskope) consists of a screen made from sequins on a tall metal frame. This screen “reflects the surrounding nature and creates a continuous, transforming abstract film”. Read more about Katarina on Wanas Konst’s website.
Over a hundred visitors slowly looked at Löfström’s work, and host Erika Alm shared elements of the exhibit via Instagram, allowing for remote participation.
We at Slow Art Day HQ are really glad to have this museum, whose mission is to produce and communicate art that challenges and changes ways of seeing, involved in our global movement.
We can’t wait to see what they come up with for next year!
– Robin, Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
Drawing and Coloring at MAM in Montana
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.
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.
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