Category Archives: Blog

Slowing Down at Museo MARCO

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[Slow Art Day has asked its 2013 hosts and volunteers to write short summaries of their own experiences looking slowly at artworks of their choosing.]

After looking around the Museo Marco, I chose the artwork The Fuck Off Project by Daniel Ruanova to examine patiently as part of the initiative of Slow Art Day. There were, no doubt, other pieces that called my attention, but the idea of examining this particular piece interested me the most. This artwork consists of a series of metallic rods that are assembled into a set of pointy extrusions. It almost looks like a “wire frame” (like those seen in animation programs) of the back of a porcupine.


Daniel Ruanova. The Fuck Off Project. 1976

At first glance the work certainly seemed aggressive. Although not insulting (at least until you read the title), I initially did not want to get near it. Each of the protrusions appear to be directed toward the viewer, independent of the viewing angle. Judging by the name, I thought that this was precisely the motive of the artist – i.e. to portray aggression.  That made me think of similar shaped things in nature that convey the exact same defensive idea, like pufferfish or the porcupine, and I concluded that the artist may have been inspired by such animals.

Despite my apprehension, I decided to slowly approach the piece. As I got nearer, I noticed that the feeling of aggression became stronger.  I decided to actually walk into it and that changed my experience of the piece completely. There, inside it, I felt protected. The metallic arms were no longer pointed towards me but towards everyone else. It’s as if now their sole purpose was my defense. I sat down to be able to immerse myself deeper, and, as expected, the sense of security was intensified. There, in the midst of all those metal rods, I felt comfortable.

The next thing I noticed was the facial expressions of the people in the museum when they noticed me there. Assuming they shared the feeling I had felt while looking at the sculpture from the outside, I could understand why. I sat there for awhile, watching people pass looking bewildered.

I now understand the Slow Art Day initiative in a better way and can see how slow looking can really transform the experience.  Looking slowly and taking the time to move in and around this artwork completely changed my perception – and – this insightful episode reaffirmed my decision to be a host during the Slow Art Day for Museo Marco in Monterrey on April 27.

– David Zambrano Reyes, Volunteer at MARCO

[Make sure to check out Museo MARCO’s Slow Art Day event in Monterrey, Mexico.]

Take a Slow Look, Canada

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Slow Art Day has asked its 2013 hosts and volunteers to write short summaries of their own experiences looking slowly at artworks of their choosing.

The day of my assignment, I strode into the gallery with purpose; J.E.H. MacDonald’s October Shower Gleam, 1922, was the only work I was going to spend time with that day.  This work did not initially outwardly appeal to me – I felt like I was up for a challenge to see what it would be like to look at it slowly.

J.E.H. MacDonald, October Shower Gleam, 1922. Image courtesy of WikiPaintings.

I set my alarm for the proscribed 10 minutes, and set my eyes (and mind) to work. What initially made the painting unattractive to me, the garish 70s mix of close-to-neon colours with earthy greens and browns, I set my eye to first. Looking closely at what I read as autumnal trees and brush, I soon discovered a graceful patterning of organic shapes in the entirely unnatural colours of bright pink and teal, outlined in ultramarine blue, with a ground of gessoed and textured canvas showing through. As my eye traveled downwards, towards the reflection of the landscape in the still lake, I realized that MacDonald’s depiction of water consisted solely of a reflection of the patterning I had been closely studying.

What I read as “water”, in fact, didn’t contain something normally characteristic in depictions of water; namely the colour blue. MacDonald actually had painted a ground of light orange onto which he had then transcribed his reflected scenery. Sandwiching this mirrored landscape was a mass of roiling clouds, done in wavy lines of lavender and deep purple, as well as a rocky outcropping of land containing a few windswept trees in the foreground. They squished me into the landscape in such a way that I felt like my only escape was forward, toward the rolling hills and the two small “V’s” of clear sky – away from the October shower that was imminent, seen in the shiny wetness of the purple clouds.

My “introduction” to the work lasted a mere minute or two. After that, I was lost in the landscape, its patterns, shapes, colours, and texture, until my alarm rudely interrupted. Ten minutes felt like two; I could have easily spent another ten or twenty minutes immersed in the work.

Though not initially appealing to me, I grew, through this exercise, to appreciate aspects of the work that weren’t immediately apparent. Practicing slow looking with a work I wasn’t immediately attracted to in a positive way helped me remember that to “like” and “dislike” are fluid categories (and don’t always include “appreciate”). I was also reminded not to always take other people’s word for it – it is always more rewarding to see for yourself.

-Tori McNish, Slow Art Day volunteer

Slow Art Day with Natalie Iturbe at the Melrose Trading Post

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[In this series, we interview hosts for Slow Art Day and get their thoughts on hosting, the art of looking, and the slow art community. Today we interview Natalie Iturbe, who is hosting a Slow Art Day event at the Melrose Trading Post in Los Angeles.]

Slow Art Day: Tell us about yourself and your passion, Natalie.

Natalie: My passion is art! I am a visual artist and somewhat of a curator. I express my passion through my job and through my artwork. At my job I bring in various local vendors to sell in our weekly community market. It is a particular selection process, and I aim to keep a good balance of original artwork, vintage and antique items, fun collectibles and fashion-related items. Through my art I am able to release my inner thought processes and energies onto a canvas or a piece of paper. It is absolutely necessary for me to create art in order to maintain a balanced and happy life.

Slow Art Day: And what is Melrose Trading Post?

Natalie: The Melrose Trading Post is the weekly nonprofit community market I manage every Sunday. We are located in the heart of Los Angeles at Fairfax and Melrose Avenues in the parking lot of Fairfax High School. We are sandwiched between two of LA’s artistic communities, Fairfax Village and the Street Art District. The vendors that come in range from local artists, craftspeople, entrepreneurs, collectors, antique buffs, historians and more. The money raised through our $2 admission fee and the vendor booth rentals benefit programs for Fairfax High School students. These programs include club fulfillment requests, Greenway Arts Education Programs, teacher supply requests, school beautification projects and more.

Slow Art Day: You have hosted Slow Art Day before. How’d you first hear about it?

Natalie: I saw an article about it online last year. I volunteer at the county museum (LACMA) and I noticed that many people only look at individual pieces of art for a few seconds. The artist may have taken years to create the piece, but it only gets a few seconds of a patron’s time. By bringing Slow Art Day to the Melrose Trading Post, I saw it as a way to slow Angelenos’ hasty life pace down long enough to look at the local artists’ work that we feature.

Slow Art Day: At your Slow Art Day – the artists are there to interact directly with the public, yes?

Natalie: Yes – the Melrose Trading Post is a very interactive experience. We have over 240 artists and vendors who you can talk to, haggle with, and pick their minds about their various topics of expertise. Our Slow Art Day is unique because you can actually speak with the artist. You can ask them questions, make a direct purchase and follow their creative journey. We like Slow Art Day here because it is yet another way to bring patrons and local artists together to engage and inspire each other.

Slow Art Day: What is one of your favorite art works?

Natalie: I love the work of Remedios Varo. Her paintings are so mystical and haunting. I also love Henri Matisse’s artwork, especially his more colorful pieces before World War 1.

[Make sure to check out Natalie’s Slow Art Day event at the Melrose Trading Post in Los Angeles, California.]

‘Face’ to Face with Dorian Gray

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Martin Kline, Dorian Gray, 2011. Image Courtesy of the Harvard Art Museums.

Slow Art Day has asked its 2013 college interns to write short summaries of their own experiences looking slowly at artworks of their choosing.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can feel Dorian Gray digging into the back of my neck, his carbonized tendrils reaching outward with a foreboding aura.

Martin Kline’s Dorian Gray (2011) is currently situated on the fourth floor of the Sackler Museum (one of the Harvard Art Museums). The encaustic on panel work resides in a tucked-away enclave to the left, and I might have passed it by, if not for the incredible breathtaking presence of the piece quickly enveloping me. The odd fact that this very contemporary work is being displayed on a floor usually reserved for historical European works from Middle Ages to Modern Art is jarring. And yet, it seems completely appropriate.  Its uniqueness demands its own votive-like shrine. It shouts loudly for your attention in order to simmer to a boil before your stolen attention.

This ‘portrait’ does not portray the Oscar Wilde character in his eternal youth. Instead, the spellbinding work showcases the blistering and decaying remains of the bewitched painting. Miraculously the work still carries the same devilish, enigmatic force that you would expect from a depiction of Dorian’s debaucherous descent in his perpetual youth.

As I gaze at Kline’s work, however, I temporarily forget all literary references. Regardless of intent or allusion, this piece literally feels timeless. From all directions and perspectives it becomes reminiscent of so many worldly forms. I feel as if I need to mentally map the pulsating topography of the piece inch by inch. A gigantic festering blister at direct view morphs slowly into a singed old growth forest to bubbling, oozing lava, to a hearty crop of stalagmites as my gaze traverses the panel. I am able to visually trace the peaks and valleys, following them down into the crevasses created by the dripped wax terrain. The technique used by Kline, curiously one of addition and growth instead of the destruction that you would assume of the corrupted portrait, adds to the oddly lively artwork.

Martin Kline, Dorian Gray (detail), 2011.

Martin Kline, Dorian Gray (detail), 2011.

I realize something while looking horizontally from the right at the Martian landscape (after exhausting all of my other viewing options, museum etiquette-wise). Stepping back a few feet, I see that the wax used is a variety of colors, not the monotone mound it appears to be. Light gray, dark gray, even a sickly shade of green is intermixed to add depth and shading to the work. I was so close and drawn into the work that I didn’t realize this core component. What else did I miss?

I draw back, not in retreat, but in pursuit. The optical feat created both by the layers of wax and its pigmentation is still enchanting and intoxicating. As I’m across the gallery, however, I realize that I’ve made a crucial mistake in my original viewing of the work. This is not a remnant of past events, or a passively brewing force.

This work has a life of its own and it’s still spreading.

-Karen Trop, Bennington College.

Martin Kline’s Dorian Gray among other great works is available to view at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum in Cambridge, MA. The Harvard Art Museums are not currently hosting a Slow Art Day event. Inspired? Sign up as a host today!

Slow Art Day Interviews Sarah Bluvas of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

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Slow Art Day, recently spoke with Slow Art Day host Sarah Bluvas who works in the education department at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri. The Nelson-Atkins has been a participating Slow Art Day venue for three years now, though this is Sarah’s first time as a host.

Slow Art Day: What are your thoughts about Slow Art Day?

Sarah Bluvas (SB): I think Slow Art Day is a phenomenal idea. I love the concept of just stopping and looking. One thing I’m curious about is the conversation aspect after the viewing time. I think it’s one thing to encourage people to come and look at a piece of artwork, but it’s a whole other challenge to get them to sit down and talk about it.

Slow Art Day: That’s a good question. We find that once people look at art slowly that they are bursting with enthusiasm to talk. We always tell hosts that they just need to be prepared to get out of the way because attendees – especially first-time museum goers and other novices – are very excited to talk.

SB: I’m glad to hear it. Not only do we want people to come to our programs, we also want them to be more active participants and encourage conversation. So for the discussion after the Slow looking event, I am really hoping that people will be willing to share their experience. Even if it’s as simple as them saying, “I liked that work” or “I didn’t like that work”, and why—I think it further achieves the purpose of art.

Slow Art Day:  So in other words, it solidifies the experience?

SB: Yeah. I mean, first and foremost, it’s about getting people to stop and look at art. But then for me, the question of “Why is it important, why do we want people to stop and look” is brought up.

Slow Art Day: Absolutely.

SB: I just think Slow Art Day is a great program to get people to stop and look at art and to think how it fits into their lives. I’m really excited to be a part of this movement!

Slow Art Day: Great. Shifting gears – have you chosen your artwork yet for Slow Art Day? If so, what are you thinking?

SB: We try to choose works from a variety of areas in the museum’s collection. I’m still trying to narrow down my choices for this year’s Slow Art Day, but I know there will be a nice mix of pieces. Some highlights will include Ritual Disc with Dragon Motifs (Bi), from our Chinese collection, and Memento # 5 by Kerry James Marshall, from our Modern + Contemporary collection. We also have the beautiful Kansas City Sculpture Park, so, depending on the weather, I would love to include a sculpture in the park and send people outside to look!

Slow Art Day: And, what is one of your favorite works of art?

SB: In the museum’s collection, I love all of our works by Thomas Hart Benton, a Kansas City-native and one of the three great artists of the Regionalism movement. However, my all-time favorite work of art is Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, on view at the Art Institute of Chicago. One of the reasons I like it so much is because of the idea of prolonged looking, actually! The narrative, or lack of a narrative, in Nighthawks is so complicated and fascinating to me. You can look at it for hours without really knowing what’s going on!

Slow Art Day: Finally, tell us a little bit about yourself? What do you do – and why do you do it?

SB: I am the Coordinator for Public Programs at the Nelson-Atkins. I assist with planning, implementing and facilitating more than 120 public programs per year, mostly for adult and family audiences. I think museums are really important resources for the communities they are located in, but I also think museums can be a little intimidating for people. So I plan programs for and with the community to help the public realize that this is their museum and that they can find themselves here, too. It’s nothing to be scared of!

The Art of Looking with Vermeer’s “Girl”

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Slow Art Day has asked its 2013 college interns to write short summaries of their own experiences looking slowly at artworks of their choosing.

Few paintings possess the same level of fame as Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. Who was the enigmatic girl in the painting? What was her relationship to the artist? Why did he paint her wearing such a large and distinctive pearl earring? Art historians have speculated tirelessly on the answers to the questions, and the level of mystery surrounding the Girl has led her to be labelled “the Dutch Mona Lisa.”

Given all this, it’s next to impossible to not be aware of Girl with a Pearl Earring. The last time I did a slow art viewing experiment, with Jay DeFeo’s piece The Rose, I had only a passing familiarity with DeFeo and her work. But Girl is an inescapable piece, so when I viewed the painting at the de Young Museum’s special exhibition Girl with a Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings from the Mauritshuis, it turned out be a completely different viewing experience.

Girl is obviously the star of the exhibition. She appears on all of the de Young’s promotional material for the exhibition, and her face is currently plastered on the side of every bus in San Francisco. Before I even walked into the exhibition I’d seen her face many times over the past few weeks, and was, frankly, a little sick of her. But as any art lover will tell you, seeing a reproduction of a work pales in comparison to seeing the work in person.

Jan Vermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring (detail), 1665. Image courtesy of the de Young Museum.

The painting’s placement in the exhibition reinforces its central importance. The exhibition spans five rooms of the gallery, all of which are densely packed with paintings, with the notable exception being the room that houses Girl with a Pearl Earring. The room’s only occupant, the Girl confronts you head-on, visible even from the preceding gallery. The painting’s dimensions are rather underwhelming in person, something that the curators and installers cleverly disguised by shining bright lights on the painting and shrouding the rest of the room in darkness. An otherworldly glow seems to emanate the canvas.

When conducting slow art viewings, I like to view the artwork from as many different angles as possible – far away, up close, from the sides. However, I quickly discovered that this is difficult with a painting as diminutive as Girl with a Pearl Earring. I could barely see it when trying to view it from across the gallery; I just got an impression of large blocks of bright colors, an impression that was validated when I moved closer. One of the things that struck me was how sparingly Vermeer used different shades of pigment. Although the painting seems rich in color, and it certainly is, relatively few different shades of color are used in the painting. It seems almost minimalistic – although this isn’t something we generally associate with the Dutch Golden Age, I was reminded of the sparsity of different color shades used in abstract paintings by Mondrian or Rothko.

However, after spending several minutes in front of the piece, I did start to notice several subtle but startling uses of color. There is a small dot of white paint at the corner of the Girl’s mouth that echoes the white dots in her pupils. Her lips appear at first glance to have been painted bright red, but upon closer examination actually contain traces of black, gray, white, and even blue pigment. Even though her pearl earring is the painting’s brightest focal point, it is actually painted almost entirely in black and gray, with just one small white brushstroke that lends it a luminous, glowing quality amidst the darkness of the surrounding canvas.

I realized at the end of my slow viewing experience that the work, which seemed so diminutive at first glance, seemed to have taken on greater proportions. After looking at each individual detail of the painting at great length, the whole of the painting had become much larger than the sum of its parts. The work is only one and a half feet high, but it feels monumental and, at the same time, intimate, as if she is looking at you alone. If you are in San Francisco, I highly recommend that you make the effort to go see this painting (and the rest of the exhibition). You may think you’ve seen it already, on postcards, book covers, and other reproductions, but when you see it in person you will realize that until that moment you’ve been mistaken.

– Maggie Freeman, Mills College

Jan Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring (ca. 1665) was viewed at the special exhibition Girl with a Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings from the Mauritshuis at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, CA]

Public Art and Slow Art Day in Orlando

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[In this series, we interview hosts for Slow Art Day and get their thoughts on hosting, the art of looking, and the slow art community. Today we interview Terry Olson, host of Orlando Public Art Slow Art Day.]

Slow Art Day: Tell us about yourself, Terry.

Terry Olson: I’m the Director of Arts & Cultural Affairs for Orange County Florida – which includes Orlando and a dozen other municipalities, Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort, Sea World, etc.  I call myself an “arts instigator.”  I’m out at arts events all the time and oversee funding, public art and our Arts Learning for Life program.  I love bringing people together for new experiences and for building relationships.

Slow Art Day: Tell us a bit more about Orange County Arts & Cultural Affairs. It sounds like a government agency that’s doing a great job.

Terry Olson: Twelve years ago Orange County decided to take a pro-active approach to supporting arts and culture befitting our world class community.  Our office administers the County’s investment in the arts through several different review programs (general operating, cultural tourism, facilities).

Slow Art Day: And you seem to be quite passionate about public art. Public art does remove the intimidation that some people feel when entering a museum – something we are trying to counteract with Slow Art Day.

Terry Olson: Although my background was in the theatre, I have concentrated more on the visual arts and especially public art since we formed this office.  I love to be out in various communities and love to be delighted by some art or other aesthetic feature in a public space.  I have become the president of the Florida Association of Public Art Professionals.  I’ve always been a “populist” kind of guy, and Public Art is probably the easiest entry point for appreciation of art for many people.

Slow Art Day: How did you hear about Slow Art Day?

Terry Olson: One of the FAPAP Board members suggested that we all host a Slow Art Day related to public art in our city.

Slow Art Day: You have been promoting Slow Art Day to other public arts professionals. Why?

Terry Olson: I sent a notice to all the public arts professionals in our state because I think it would be very exciting if public art were being looked at this way all over the state.

Slow Art Day: Tell us about the design of your Slow Art Day event there in Orlando.

Terry Olson: There about 10 sculptures, murals, and media installations within a few blocks of the restaurant where our Slow Art Day will take place.  I can provide a map so that people can spend time that morning walking to any/all of those sculptures and taking time to really look at them.  I also have an exercise about “How to Look At Art” that is a series of 5 questions.  It is best to do that while the person is looking at the art, but it might be interesting to explore those questions after people have looked at the art and met at the restaurant, answering from memory.

Slow Art Day: That sounds like a great design. You have been really thoughtful about what people need – including a map.  Tell us in your “How to Look at Art” exercise – what are the five questions you are asking people to consider?

Terry Olson: First, just stand/sit quietly – and I mean without your mind whirring – and let the art make an emotional impression on you. What feeling do you have (not related to intellectual analysis or cognizant of content, but of the more subjective overall feeling)? Second, describe what it actually is – dimensions, materials, i.e. a 4’X4’ canvas with acrylic paint applied in big globs and bits of organic matter stuck into it. Third, now, finally, you can describe what it “depicts”. Even if it is abstract you can talk about what shapes you see and any associations that it brings to mind. Fourthly, describe how your eye moves about the space. Does the composition bring you around in a circle, or are there lines, triangles, divisions, etc. Lastly, how does this relate to you and what you are thinking about or what you are going through in life? Does it bring up a theme or idea that resonates with you or with which you disagree?

Slow Art Day: Anything else we should have asked about?

Terry Olson: We might see if there could be some pop-up performances around the city that morning to add extra surprise to any participants.

If you’re going to be in the Orlando area, join Terry in his exciting Slow Art Day event.

Lost in the Galapagos: Looking Slowly with Michael Bogin

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Slow Art Day has asked its 2013 college interns to write short summaries of their own experiences looking slowly at artworks of their choosing.

Last week I decided to spend some time looking at the work of Michael Bogin at the Davis Gallery here on my school campus.

After wandering the rooms of the gallery, scanning the walls in search of one of Bogin’s pieces that speaks to me, I notice a pattern. While at first seeming overtly simplistic, upon closer inspection his pieces start to formulate individual stories. Scanning the room, I am immediately struck by the stunning color schemes that run across the walls. His use of color varies in each piece despite their overall similar structure and as the works progress, a tale forms.

Upon closely looking at Galapagos #157, its shapes come to life and a story emerges. A koi fish whizzes past with a mermaid trailing behind; an underwater flower opens its blossom to say a few words; fish of every size decide to come investigate the scene; a coral reef arises from the abyss; bubbles float to the surface like fizz; and light begins to reflect off the ocean’s crystalline surface.

As I continue looking, I realize that I have just reached the Ecuador archipelago. As I gaze into the depths of the Pacific, I see something dart by. With the face of a woman and the tail of a fish I deem her a mermaid. Here things get strange. I fall into a kind of dreamlike state and the creatures gain the gift of gab. The koi fish tells me of the mermaid’s high status amongst the sea creatures as the mermaid playfully chases him away. The coral reef begins to tell me of her tremendous beauty and suddenly the fish that reside in the reef come out to confirm her allure. The sudden commotion causes water bubbles to lift to the surface and as the bright reflection of the water hits my eyes, I snap out of my delusion and once again I am standing in the gallery.

The process of slowly looking at Bogin’s painting proved a surprising experience. The more I look, the more I see. I now notice Bogin’s use of color and forms. The piece now opens up to me in a different way and I begin to see the intricacies of what Bogin has created.

Done in gouache, watercolor, and colored pencil, the multi-medium quality gives the piece a depth that mimics that of the ocean. Looking at the center of the painting, it becomes difficult to tell if the water sits in the foreground or background. The sea creatures seem to remain in limbo undulating back and forth between the different layers of the painting and it is this confusion that leads to my intrigue. The more I look at the painting, the less sure I am of where all the shapes sit in space. The reds and oranges seem to float to the surface in some areas while they seem to recede into the cloudy blue expanse in other sections. After a while I begin to see the intentionality behind Bogin’s every mark. I can see, upon closer inspection, where he has laid down a block of color, taken most of it away, and then put down more paint in order to achieve the illusion of depth. The blues overlap the greens in the top portion and leave behind a shadow of what once was, thereby furthering the magic of his artifice. It is this ambiguity that endows the painting with such power.

There seems to be an extreme intentionality that lies behind every mark in the painting. Simple shapes are transformed into sea life with Bogin’s poignant mark making and the scene comes alive with his innovative use of overlapping color. While there is a broad expanse of green and purple shapes conglomerated on the right side of the painting, this mass is offset with the smaller blocks of reds and greens that sit at the center of the scene. A large stretch of blue evolves into ocean in the areas where the watercolor pools into dark waves of indigo. Color merges and submerges in a playful coalition of paint and story. Just as your eye begins to follow a stream of red, you are pushed into a puddle of green; and just as you begin to circle around the green, your eye is slung into the neighboring pool of purple. This diversity of shape and color employed by Bogin is what gives the painting such life and allowed me to conjure up a story while exploring the piece’s nuances.

Had I left the gallery after a brief browse, I would not have taken notice of the intention that lies within Bogin’s work. I would not have formed the connection to the painting that still remains. The practice of looking slowly at art requires no expert nor expertise; art speaks and I learned again that if I am willing to slow down and listen, then I will hear its story in all its dimensions.

Mary Nyiri, Hobart and William Smith

[Michael Bogin’s Galapagos #157 (2009) was viewed at the Davis Gallery at Hobart and William Smith in Geneva, NY]

Slow Art Lunch and Learn – Interview with Rika Nelson

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Rika Nelson runs Slow Art Day and Lunch and Learn, among other programs, at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento and recently agreed to sit down with us and talk about her passion for art and helping the public learn how to look at and love art.

Slow Art Day: Tell us about yourself, Rika.

Rika Nelson: I am the Manager of Public Programs at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, CA. It’s my job to plan and present all of our adult educational programming including concerts, lectures, films, dance, tours and more. We present an average of 8-10 Public Programs for adults each month. The programs range in size from a 10-20 person gallery program like Lunch and Learn, which we’ll talk about in a moment, to an 800 person museum-wide evening event we call Art Mix.

Slow Art Day: It sounds like a great job.

Rika: I love my job. I sometimes tell people that I feel like I hit the job lottery. We have 10 or so exhibitions per year in addition to our permanent collection and I get to work with our curators to pull out the themes and deeper meaning from each exhibition and translate it into programming that is educational, meaningful and entertaining for our visitors. I like when attendees at our programs see an exhibition from a new perspective; I also love it when our programs cause them to connect with each other.

I have wanted to work in museums since I was a kid. I studied History and American Indian Studies at the University of Washington and went on to get an MA in Museum Studies and an MBA in Non-profit Administration from John F. Kennedy University in Berkeley. I started at the Crocker three years ago right as I was finishing grad school. It was an exciting time to be working here as we were just months away from opening our new 125,000 sq. ft. Teel Family Pavilion on 10.10.2010.

Slow Art Day: Tell us about the Lunch and Learn program. How did it start?

Rika: Lunch and Learn was started through a collaboration between our museum docents and our education department. The Docents went through a VTS (visual thinking strategies) training as part of their continuing education. There were a particular group of docents who really developed a passion for this touring style and we worked with them to design a monthly tour where visitors would examine one work of art over a 30 minute period and then were invited to have lunch in the café following the program. We started with 3 or 4 visitors that would come on the tour, now we are up to about 20 or 30 per tour!

Slow Art Day: Say more – it’s monthly and has regular attendees? What is the design of the event and how does it work?

Rika: My favorite thing about the Crocker Lunch and Learn are the regular attendees we’ve started to notice. There are even a group of City Employees who come over to the Museum to spend a half hour with a work of art in our collection on their lunch breaks.  The regular attendees have gotten to the point where they are familiar with each other and give encouragement to each other during the discussions.

Lunch and Learn starts with about 3-5 minutes of silent looking.  We then ask the visitors in the group to talk about specific things they are seeing within the work.  Next we ask people to tell us what they think the things they are seeing might mean and we ask them what they wonder.  I have seen some incredible meanings pulled out of paintings by our visitors; things that never would have occurred to me.  The other fascinating thing is the diverse backgrounds our visitors bring to the discussion and how that gets the whole group to have a broader understanding of the work of art we are seeing.

Slow Art Day: What do you think helps make the program work so well?

Rika: I think the program works well because it is consistent. It happens the first Tuesday of every month and people have made it a routine. I can’t think of a better routine than setting aside 30 minutes on a weekday for Art, can you?

Slow Art Day: No – we couldn’t agree more. What do you see as the relationship between your Slow Art Day event and Lunch & Learn?

Rika: I like to think that Slow Art is a way for us to introduce people to the concept so that they can join in on our ongoing Lunch and Learn series. We get a lot of visitors who hear about the Slow Art Movement and come for Slow Art at the Crocker, but they had no clue that we do a Slow Art style format every month.

Slow Art Day: The Crocker has been hosting Slow Art Day for more than four years. Can you tell us more about why the museum has been a supporter since the beginning?

Rika: I can’t take the credit for that, my predecessor at the Crocker, Christian Adame, who is now at the Phoenix Art Museum, was the early adopter. I think, however, that it is a no-brainer for us to be involved with Slow Art. All art museums should get on board.  Slow Art is a way of teaching people how to look at works of art in your galleries, it gives them a tool to get more out of their visit. That kind of engagement is what keeps art museum’s relevant to their communities and that’s why we think it’s important.

Slow Art Day: We agree! Thanks for hosting Slow Art Day and for your time today and for your longtime commitment to helping more people learn how to look at and love art.
Next time you are in Sacramento near a first Tuesday, drop by a Lunch and Learn. You can also sign-up here for Slow Art Day 2013 at the Crocker Art Museum.

Lisa Jameson on art education, Henri Matisse, and discovering Slow Art Day through google

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[In this series, we interview hosts for Slow Art Day and get their thoughts on hosting, the art of looking, and the slow art community.]

Lisa Jameson, an Associate Professor of Art Education in the Department of Visual Arts at Northern Kentucky University, recently signed up to host a Slow Art Day event at the Cincinnati Art Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio. After she sent a great introductory note to the host community, we got in touch to find out more about her thoughts on art, art education and of course, Slow Art Day.

Slow Art Day: First, tell us a little more about what you do – how are you involved in the arts?

Lisa: I teach Art Education at Northern Kentucky University, near Cincinnati, OH. There I train future art educators and teach classes in art integration to Elementary Education majors who will be general classroom teachers. I am also a visual artist with an MFA in Drawing as well as a Certified Zentangle Teacher.

I taught children’s art classes for many years and continue to do so. It intrigues me that children are naturally curious and eager to delve into art making at least until they reach about 11. At that point they stop, either because their interests turn to other things, or because they become self critical.

Many of my Elementary Education students have not taken art since that age. And it has been through these non-art majors that I have learned how satisfying it is to enable adults who think they “can’t” make art re-discover the joys of the creative process. I hope in turn they will give their students the same opportunities.

Slow Art Day: What is one of your favorite artworks? What do you enjoy about it?

Lisa: One of my all-time favorites works of art is “The Red Studio” by Henri Matisse. There is something so engaging about how he plays with space, line and color-all enveloped in that gorgeous red.

Henri Matisse, The Red Studio, 1911. Oil on canvas, 71 1/4″ x 7′ 2 1/4″ (181 x 219.1 cm). Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund. © 2013 Succession H. Matisse, Paris / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Image courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Slow Art Day: How did you first hear of Slow Art Day?

Lisa: I found out about Slow Art Day by chance. I was thinking one day, out of the blue,  that there must be a “slow art” movement akin to the slow food movement. I did a Google search for “slow art” and found Slow Art Day! Very exciting!

Slow Art Day: Why did you decide to become a host?

Lisa: Cincinnati did not have anyone hosting, which surprised me. I signed up immediately. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of an international art event that encourages taking one’s time while viewing works of art and shares my passion for helping adults discover that they can relate to and understand (and make) art.

How often do we really get to be part of something like that?

Slow Art Day: Have you started thinking yet about the design of your Slow Art Day event?

Lisa: I have been thinking about it but have not yet made my choices. They will likely be some of the “hidden gems” vs. the “greatest hits” of the collection.

Slow Art Day: Thank you, Lisa, for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk to us – and for being one of 150+ volunteer hosts around the world.

If you’re in the Cincinnati area, make sure to check out her Slow Art Day event at the Cincinnati Art Museum.