Category Archives: slowartday

Freer Gallery of Art at the Smithsonian Hosts First Slow Art Day with Forest Bathing and Qigong

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For their first Slow Art Day, the Freer Gallery of Art, part of the Smithsonian Asian Art Museum in Washington, D.C., hosted a day-long celebration focused on slowing the mind, body, and spirit.

Visitors were invited to participate in a series of immersive activities held in the Freer’s galleries and courtyard, designed to deepen observation and foster mindfulness through art and nature. The day offered both guided and self-guided experiences, welcoming adults and families alike.

Featured activities included:

  • Guided Slow Looking sessions in Gallery 5, focusing on Japanese screens (11:30 a.m. family session; 1:30 p.m. adults-only session)
  • Forest Bathing mindfulness walks in the courtyard led by naturalist and certified forest therapy guide Ana Ka’ahanui from Capital Nature (1 p.m. family session; 2 p.m. adults-only session)
  • Qigong practice in the courtyard, or Gallery 17 in case of rain (12–1 p.m.)
  • Self-Guided Slow Looking with sketching, writing, and conversational prompts available to encourage personal exploration at one’s own pace
A group of people doing yoga in an art gallery.
Image courtesy of Create Calm

Each session offered participants an opportunity to slow down, open their senses, and form a deeper, more personal connection with the art and environment around them.

Throughout the day, participants could be seen sketching quietly before the intricate screens, breathing mindfully in the courtyard, and moving gracefully through Qigong sequences that mirrored the flow of nature. The museum’s thoughtful integration of art, nature, and mindfulness—including the leadership of Ana Ka’ahanui in the forest bathing sessions—beautifully embodied the spirit of Slow Art Day.

We at Slow Art Day HQ love how the Freer Gallery of Art created such a great mix of events and wish we had been there to participate. We can’t wait to see what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2026.

– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. You can learn more about the Freer Gallery’s events and exhibits by visiting their website. You can also follow them on:

RiverBrink Art Museum Deepens Reflection Through Slow Looking

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For their third Slow Art Day, RiverBrink Art Museum, located in Queenston, Ontario (Canada), invited visitors to slow down and deepen their connection with three selected artworks from their permanent collection. Guests were welcomed into the gallery and encouraged to sit quietly with each artwork, observing closely for five minutes before joining a facilitated group discussion led by Programming and Curatorial Assistant Moyu Chen.

Featured works included:

  • “Effet de Pluie, Pont Aven” by Gustave Loiseau (n.d.)
  • “Portrait of Frances Davis” by Francis Cotes (c. 1760)
  • “Settlers’ Cabin in the Foothills [Early Canadian Settler]” by Cornelius Krieghoff (1859)

“Effet de Pluie, Pont Aven” by Gustave Loiseau. (Photo courtesy of RiverBrink Art Museum)
“Portrait of Frances Davis” by Francis Cotes. (Photo courtesy of RiverBrink Art Museum)
“Settlers’ Cabin in the Foothills [Early Canadian Settler]” by Cornelius Krieghoff. (Photo courtesy of RiverBrink Art Museum)

Participants reflected on visual details, brushwork, subject matter, and emotional tone. The museum provided extra seating to ensure an accessible and comfortable environment for slow looking, and a helpful handout (featured below) with observation questions created by the museum team.

Slow Art Day April 5Download
Gallery setup for Slow Art Day at RiverBrink Art Museum, featuring “Effet de Pluie, Pont Aven” by Gustave Loiseau.* (Photo courtesy of RiverBrink Art Museum)

We at Slow Art Day HQ love the art, the simple design and the ongoing partnership with RiverBrink. We look forward to what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2026.

– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. You can follow RiverBrink Art Museum on Instagram: @riverbrinkartmuseum

Meditation and Slow Art at Moderna Museet Malmö

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For their second year participating in Slow Art Day, Moderna Museet Malmö once again hosted a deeply reflective and engaging event that beautifully combined meditation with slow looking.

In the vibrant exhibition Vivian Suter – I Am Godzilla, participants gathered for a guided meditation session led by Ana María Bermeo, an artist, museologist, and certified meditation teacher. Through simple breathing and mindfulness exercises, Bermeo encouraged participants to slow their pace, immerse themselves in Suter’s rich visual world, and reconnect with their own inner experiences.

Slow looking and meditation surrounded by expressive, immersive works in the Vivian Suter exhibition.
(Photo: Susanne Lindblad/Moderna Museet Malmö)

No prior experience with meditation was required — only a willingness to pause, breathe, and look slowly.

Attendees reported embracing the moment of silence and reflection, letting go of performance and expectation, and allowing themselves to experience both the art and their sensory impressions in a deeper, more contemplative way.

Participants meditating amidst the colorful canvases of the Vivian Suter exhibition at Moderna Museet Malmö. (Photo: Susanne Lindblad/Moderna Museet Malmö)

The bold, colorful canvases of Vivian Suter’s exhibition created a powerful backdrop for the session. For us at Slow Art Day HQ, it is particularly striking to witness participants seated quietly in a circle around these vibrant works, each deeply absorbed in silent meditation and reflection.

We are so grateful to Moderna Museet Malmö and to host Susanne Lindblad for continuing to be a valued part of the Slow Art Day movement. We can’t wait to see what they create for Slow Art Day 2026!

– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. You can follow Moderna Museet Malmö on:

Slow Art Day at the Boston Athenaeum: Honoring Allan Rohan Crite and Polly Thayer Star

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For their second year participating in Slow Art Day, the Boston Athenaeum hosted a full day of slow looking and community reflection centered around the works of Boston artists Allan Rohan Crite (1910 – 2007) and Polly Thayer Starr (1904 – 2006).

Visitors were invited to explore the Athenaeum’s first floor galleries freely throughout the day or join one of four scheduled guided sessions at 11 am, 1 pm, 2 pm (a family session), and 3 pm. Each session began with 10 minutes of slow, close looking at a selected work, followed by a docent-led conversation encouraging participants to share their observations and experiences.

Featured works included:

Visitors participating in a slow looking session inside the historic Boston Athenaeum during Slow Art Day 2025. (Photo courtesy of the Boston Athenaeum)

Self-guided visitors were encouraged to select their own piece of art and use a printed Slow Art Day handout (below) featuring guiding questions for deeper reflection.

Slow Art Day handout (3)Download
Screenshot of the Boston Athenaeum’s social media post for the event. (Photo courtesy of the Boston Athenaeum)

On the day, the United States witnessed the largest coordinated protest since President Trump’s return to office, and the Athenaeum provided a space for contemplation and connection. The choice to highlight the works of Crite, an African American artist, and Starr, a female artist, resonated deeply on a day when issues of representation, equity, and justice were at the forefront of national discourse.

We at Slow Art Day HQ extend our gratitude to the Boston Athenaeum, and to all Slow Art Day hosts, this year for providing a sanctuary for reflection and dialogue during a pivotal moment in the world’s political discourse.

We look forward to seeing what the Boston Athenaeum designs for 2026!

– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. You can follow the Boston Athenaeum on:

ArtWrite on Slow Art

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I’m always looking for thoughtful, interesting, accessible and jargon-free writing about art and the power of slow art.

Thus, when Maggie Levine, who runs the ArtWrite Substack, published a lovely essay on slow art and Slow Art Day, I wanted to bring it to the Slow Art Day community.

Take a moment and enjoy her writing (and photography). I particularly like her description of her trip to Naoshima, an “art island” in the Seto Inland Sea.

ARTWRITE #26: SLOW ART

Yayoi Kusama Pumpkin, 2022

Maggie is a teacher and writer who works at the intersection of writing, art, and the creative process. She studied English and art history at Barnard and received her MFA in Fiction from the University of Arizona.

– Phyl

P.S. We are beginning to write up the reports from Slow Art Day 2025. More soon!

15th Annual Slow Art Day Tomorrow

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The 15th Annual Slow Art Day – with 210+ museums, galleries, churches, and hospitals are – begins tomorrow Saturday, April 5, 2025 (see full list of venues around the world and register yours if you have not yet done so)‬.

New York, Berlin, Mexico City, Paris, Hong Kong, Brussels, Athens, Budapest, Washington, DC, Toronto, Rome, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney, Melbourne, Stockholm, Seoul, Antwerp, Los Angeles, London, Barcelona, Stockholm, Johannesburg, Brazil, Singapore, and many, many other places are participating in Slow Art Day.

We are proud that in this topsy-turvy time, Slow Art Day is a model of global cooperation.

So, yes, while trade barriers, tariffs, and acrimony fill the global political debate, thousands of people across every continent will celebrate the power of art to bring us together.

Here are some highlights from this year’s festival of slowing down to look at and love art.

Mexico City is hosting its first citywide Slow Art Day with more than **40** museums and galleries participating. Read these two articles from CDMX – Ad Magazine and Milenio – to learn more. I also encourage you to check out the Instagram for the Mexico City Slow Art Day – there are a lot of great resources, images, and stories there. Constanza Ontiveros Valdés, writer and cultural projects organizer, has done an amazing job.

Bloomington, Illinois, which started the citywide movement, is now hosting 20+ museums and galleries and a big party to boot. Read this article to learn more or see our post.

Here are two posters from these two citywide events.

Mass‬ MoCA‬‭ is celebrating again as is the beautiful and wonderful‬‭ Athenaeum‬‭ in Boston while the Morgan Library is hosting in New York, and The Barnes Foundation‬‭ ,‭ Glenn Foerd‬‭, and the‬‭ Magic‬‭ Gardens‬‭ are all hosting in Philadelphia.

In Washington D.C., the‬‭ National Museum of Women in‬‭ the Arts‬‭ is hosting yet again while the National Museum of Asian Art is joining us for the first time.

Antwerp’s church-based Slow Art movement continues to grow while St. Vincent’s Hospital‬‭ in Melbourne has become a leader in hospital-based Slow Art.

‭The‬‭ Ur Mara Museo‬‭ in Spain’s Basque country holds its‬‭ 10th Slow Art Day with another full day of‬ slow looking, cooking, eating, and dancing.‬ While Ur Mara Museo has been celebrating Slow Art Day for a decade in the Basque country, The‬ Altes Museum‬‭ (English: Old Museum), a UNESCO World‬‭ Heritage Site in the heart of Berlin’s‬‭ museum island, holds their second Slow Art Day tomorrow.

The‬‭ Goulandris Museum of Contemporary Art‬‭ in Athens‬‭ also holds their second Slow Art Day while‬‭ The AGO‬ in Toronto‬‭ , one of the largest museums in North America,‬‭ hosts their‬‭ 10th‬‭ Slow Art Day.‬

Australia has 11 participating museums, galleries and hospitals. The first Slow Art Day is being hosted at the De Young Museum in San Francisco (hosted by Slow Art Day pioneer, Carol Rossi).

There is so much happening all over the world, it’s impossible to summarize effectively.

But you can check out our 2024 Annual Report to get a sense of the range of activities from last year (and get inspired for this year).

Have a great 15th Annual Slow Art Day.

This is certainly a year we all really need to slow down, look at and love art, and love each other.

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


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Slow Art Day en Plein Air in Cheshire, England

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The 15th anniversary Slow Art Day is coming up this Saturday, April 5 – with hundreds of museums, galleries, churches, sculpture parks and other venues (be sure to register your museum, gallery, church, hospital, sculpture garden or other venue).

One location this year will be en plein air so to speak – in a hectic shopping center – hosted by the West Cheshire Museums in England.

They are bringing art outside to the heart of the city center and thereby making both the art and the art of slow looking more accessible.

Museum staff and community groups (including their dementia-inclusive Meet and Make group) have set questions for the public to encourage a slower look at the images.

They have chosen three art works out of their multiple galleries to bring to the Grosvenor Shopping Centre in Chester. The art they have chosen depict the city in different eras of its development – early 18th century (first image below), the Victorian era (second image below), and 2017.

The West Cheshire Museums are a diverse group of museums, which includes Grovesnor Museum, and other locations like a working watermill and a restored salt production site. Their collections cover a large slice of Cheshire’s history and tell the stories of the area’s people and places, from prehistoric times to the present day.

The West Cheshire Museums have been celebrating Slow Art Day since 2017 and we are happy to welcome them back for our 15th anniversary year – especially with their program to bring art out to the people.

– Phyl

P.S. We are proud this is now the 15th anniversary of Slow Art Day – the movement has grown and we continue to be delighted by the creative and innovative ways that museums, galleries, churches, hospitals and other venues choose to celebrate this day dedicated to looking at and loving art.

House of European History Slow Art Day 2025

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Slow Art Day 2025 is coming up April 5 – with hundreds of museums, galleries, churches, sculpture parks and other venues (be sure to register your museum, gallery, church, hospital, sculpture garden or other venue).

One of these locations this year will be The House of European History in Brussels, which is focusing on “Our Family Garden” by Smirna Kulenović, a citizen-led photographic project designed to heal collective trauma from the Bosnian War.

And we are happy to report that their Slow Art Day event will launch Slow Looking Saturday, a monthly guided experience that will focus on a different image from the exhibition, examining topics such as commemorations, historical re-enactments, and personal legacies.

These sessions will continue monthly through the end of the exhibit in November 2026.

We at Slow Art Day love seeing this.

Our goal since day one has been to inspire museums and other venues not only to participate in the annual event, but to create year-round programming that helps visitors slow down.

We’ll note that The House of European History worked with Claire Bown to develop this program. Claire is author of The Art Engager: Reimagining Guided Experiences in Museums.

We are glad to see the House of European History’s year-round commitment to Slow Art Day and look forward to getting updates on their progress.

Have a great Slow Art Day 2025.

Best,

– Phyl

P.S. Slow Art Day 2025 is coming up – be sure to register your museum, gallery, church, hospital, sculpture garden or other venue.

Slow Art Day Annual Report – 2024

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The 15th Anniversary Slow Art Day is coming up Saturday, April 5, 2025 and I’m happy to announce today the publication of our 2024 Annual Report, which details many of the events held last year.

Read it and get inspired to plan your 15th Anniversary Slow Art Day 2025 events (register your museum, gallery, church, sculpture park or movie theater for 2025, if you have not yet done so).

More than 180 museums and galleries participated in 2024 (plus many more that ran Slow Art Day sessions but did not register with us). The Slow Art Day volunteer team spent hundreds of hours throughout 2024 and early 2025 researching, writing, and publishing individual reports from 45 of these museums and galleries, all so that curators and educators like you can take inspiration from each other.

Read the report and you will see the impressive citywide event held in Bloomington, Illinois (more than 20 galleries, museums, libraries and other sites participated in 2024). This is the same event that has now inspired Mexico City to host a 33-venue Slow Art Day in 2025.

You’ll see how The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Met Cloisters hosted again while Mass MoCA in North Adams celebrated Slow Art Day for the 10th time or so. The beautiful and wonderful Athenaeum in Boston hosted for the first time while Philadelphia’s The Barnes Foundation, Glenn Foerd, and the Magic Gardens all hosted Slow Art Day events.

In Washington D.C., the National Museum of Women in the Arts hosted yet again (they are one the founding museums for Slow Art Day) while Florida hosted 7 different venues including the Frost Art Museum and the Lowe Art Museum both in Miami.

Antwerp’s church-based Slow Art movement grew to four churches – and we hope will grow into a global movement of churches, synagogues, mosques, and other religious organizations.

St. Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne continued to innovate the art and patient experience (hint: they designed six “slow art cards” with photos of works from their St Vincent’s Art Collection) and in 2025 are reaching out to more hospitals to get them involved.

The Ur Mara Museo in Spain’s Basque country held its 9th Slow Art Day with another full day of slow looking, cooking, eating, and dancing (though we don’t have a report from them this year).

While Ur Mara Museo has been celebrating Slow Art Day for nine years in the Basque country, The Altes Museum (English: Old Museum), a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the heart of Berlin’s museum island, held their Slow Art Day. And check this – the “prerequisite” for participation in this workshop was “curiosity and goodwill towards yourself.”

The Goulandris Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens held the first Slow Art Day in the Greek capital (other Greek cities have hosted – but this year is a first for Athens) while The AGO in Toronto, one of the largest museums in North America, hosted their 9th Slow Art Day.

Europe held three citywide Slow Art Days – Antwerp, Belgium (8 locations), Reims, France (4 locations), Rome, Italy (3 museums).

Belgium hosted 11 locations, Sweden 8, Italy 7, England 6, Germany 5. Read on to get inspired about all the various events around the world.

I want to give special thanks to the Slow Art Day Annual Report team led by Ashley Moran, Editor, and writers Johanna Bokedal, and Jessica Jane Nocella. They work tirelessly to produce this Annual Report and volunteer weekends, mornings, evenings throughout the year.

They fit this in between their full-time job (Ashley Moran at Comcast in the United States), full-time job/PhD student (Johanna Bokedal in Norway), and full-time post-doc work (Jessica Jane in Italy).

And while we are at it, let’s celebrate volunteer Maggie Freeman who is the global director and registrar for Slow Art Day. Maggie started volunteering 10 years ago when she was a sophomore at Mills College. Today, she is finishing her PhD in Islamic Art and Architecture at MIT and somehow, like the others, still finds time to volunteer.

They all do this amazing work for one reason: to grow the Slow Art Day movement around the world so that more people can learn to look at and love art.

Please join me in giving thanks and appreciation to them. They deserve all the kudos we can give them and more.

And have a great 15th anniversary Slow Art Day coming up April 5.

Best,

Phyl and the Slow Art Day team

P.S. Again, if you have not yet registered your 2025 Slow Art Day with us, please do so.

Route 66 Citywide Slow Art Day Planned

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The fourth annual citywide Slow Art Day on Route 66 is being hosted by the twin cities of Bloomington-Normal, Illinois this year.

** 20 ** local arts organizations are coming together for their citywide Slow Art Day, led by BN Artists, the grassroots, artist-led coalition of small business owners, nonprofit workers, and other culturally engaged citizens working collaboratively to promote the vibrant art scene in Bloomington-Normal.

Led by Pamala Eaton and others, BN Artists pioneered citywide events and have inspired other cities around the world to do it, including Rome and Mexico City (Mexico City is also their first citywide this year and bringing together 20 galleries and museums and they specifically cited Bloomington-Normal).

In Bloomington-Normal, guests will have a chance to explore the art studios and galleries of Downtown Bloomington artists, enter a world built of discarded machinery and scrap parts at 410 Sculpture Park and the House on Garling, and experience art viewing and artmaking in Normal at Illinois Art Station, the Children’s Discovery Museum, and Ryburn Place at Sprague’s Super Service.

See the wonderful poster below –

Santino Lamancusa, owner of The Hangar Art Company (who also designed the poster) explained his passion for Slow Art Day: “You don’t have to know anything about art to be able to enjoy it. Slow Art Day’s purpose is to allow you the time to look and make your own discoveries about what you see and how art makes you feel. It’s all about your interaction with the artist and what your experience is with their art. It’s not about anyone else’s opinion but your own. Slow Art Day is an opportunity to experience art for yourself.”

Pamala Eaton, gallerist and owner of Herb Eaton Studio and Gallery said Slow Art Day has helped to build the local art scene, “Collaborating with the other artists and galleries in our community for Slow Art Day has given our local art scene more visibility and we are now attracting more local and out of town visitors to our art locations.”

We at Slow Art Day love what Pamala, Santino, and others have done to get the whole city involved.

They are truly an inspiration for the world!

– Phyl and the Slow Art Day team

P.S. Slow Art Day 2025 is coming up on April 5. If you have not done so, please register your museum, gallery, church, sculpture park or movie theater here: https://www.slowartday.com/be-a-host/