Platteville, WI – Rountree Gallery
Toronto, Canada – Gardiner Museum
Somerton, England – ACEarts
Cloudless Slow Looking with TarraWarra
For their third Slow Art Day, the TarraWarra Museum of Art in Melbourne, Australia, invited the public to a mindful slow looking session and group reflection featuring work by David Noonan from the exhibition David Noonan: Only when it’s cloudless . The event was led by Sarah Metzner, museum educator at TarraWarra and a visual, collaborative, and public artist who has been working with different community groups for 30 years.
On Slow Art Day, participants followed a 20-20-20 ratio of time during the hour. They were first welcomed and then invited to look at David Noonan’s artwork “Only when it’s cloudless” for 20 minutes.
The group then spent 20 minutes slowly watching David Noonan’s 20 minute film: Mnemosyne, which has a focus on evoking memories (a link to the trailer is included in the picture below) before the session was rounded up with shared reflections for the final 20 minutes.
Note: We recommend you watch the trailer. We found it beautiful, eerie, and a little ominous.
The event was well received, with one participant saying that the experience “enhanced my love of art and mindfulness and reminded me to slow down and be present with myself and my practice.”
We look forward to what the TarraWarra Museum of Art comes up with for Slow Art Day 2023.
– Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, Robin and Phyl
Slow Down, Live Long, and Live Well at the Sociedade Das Artes in Serra Negra, Brazil
For their third year, the Sociedade Das Artes in Serra Negra, Brazil held a hybrid Slow Art Week, hosted by artist Henrique Vieira Filho. The Sociedade Das Artes features works by contemporary artists, along with artistic services and products.
Exploring the theme of “Slow Down, Live Long, and Live Well,” the gallery allowed for four visitors at a time and each visitor chose which works of art they wanted to appreciate slowly (note: the gallery asked that visitors RSVP ahead of their visit to secure a time to attend).
Henrique Vieira Filho wrote, as part of the day, “Living at a fast pace certainly has a certain charm (“live fast, die young”), however, I think the alternative is much more interesting: slow down, live a lot, and live well! The Slow Art Movement advocates the experience of time with greater QUALITY for everything and everyone.”
We couldn’t agree more.
The event was advertised online (see above) and there was also an article written in the local press (also see above).
Visit Google Drive or Facebook to view a video that was created to allow people to explore the exhibit virtually.
We love their focus for 2022 and look forward to seeing what they come up with for next year.
Best,
– Robin, Ashley, Phyl, Johanna, and Jessica Jane
P.S. The Sociedade Das Artes can be found on Instagram and Facebook.
Open-Air Slow Art at Europos Parkas
For their third Slow Art Day, Europos Parkas, or the “Open-air Museum of the Center of Europe”, held an in-person event hosted by Lina Karosienė of the European Park, and Karen Vanhercke and Justina Kaminskaite of Easel World, an agency focused on connecting people through art.
Located in the geographical center of Europe, near Vilnius, Lithuania, the European Park is an outdoor museum of modern and contemporary art that has been operating since 1991.
Their Slow Art Day featured sculptural works by Marius Zavadskis and Adomas Jacovskis, seen below.
We love sculpture parks and would have enjoyed slowly walking around and inside some of these sculptures.
Participants of the Slow Art Day seemed to love it too – and reported that slowing down changed their relationship to the park and to the art. “Earlier I just saw this park as the place full of objects, and now I see the artworks in a whole new light,” said one. Yes!
The team at European Park also produces year-round Slow Art programming and has created a special route through the park that encourages participants to look at art (and nature) slowly.
This beautiful video in Lithuanian (below) on their YouTube channel gives an idea of how they have done this.
It’s great to have this central European art park participating, especially during this difficult time for the region. We look forward to seeing what they come up with for their fourth Slow Art Day.
– Robin, Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
P.S. You can visit European Park’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.
Slow Art Day at the Museum of Gloucester
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.
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