The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas is participating again this year in Slow Art Day. The museum, opened in 2011, celebrates the American spirit in a setting that “unites the power of art with the beauty of nature.”
Consistent with their mission, they have designed a special combination event for this year’s Slow Art Day: Slow and Savory Tea.
Here’s how it works is:
First visitors start with tea and treats The goal is to put participants in a “calm, meditative mindset” before entering the galleries.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Then, special in-gallery activities Once visitors are calm and ready to go, they then head in to the galleries ready to “slow down and savor” the art
This Slow Art Day event is free for Crystal Bridges members (although registration is required). Members can register here or by calling 479.418.5728.
The National Museum of Women in the Arts is a longtime leader in the Slow Art Day movement, and they are hosting again this year. Based in Washington, DC, this wonderful institution takes seriously how to help its audience learn how to slow down and really see art by women.
On their Slow Art Day page, they begin by quoting the wonderful Georgia O’Keeffe:
“…to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time”
—Georgia O’Keeffe
We couldn’t agree more. Good friendships require time and so does the art of looking at art.
The museum also suggests several other reasons people should participate in Slow Art Day:
To break out of your typical “go, go, go” routine.
To learn about yourself, fellow participants, and the creative expressions of women artists.
To make discoveries about and forge connections with artwork.
For Slow Art Day, their staff will make artwork suggestions and provide questions to consider as you slow down and look.
So, if you are based in DC, or traveling there on Slow Art Day 2018, we hope you will consider going to the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
You can register here for their event, which is free with museum admission.
The Rubin understands how hard it is for most people to slow down. “It’s not easy for most people to sit with one piece of art for more than a few moments.”
They emphasize that this activity, if practiced continuously, will bring great joy for decades. “…the deep looking encouraged during Slow Art Day is a lifelong skill that will continue to provide rewarding experiences in museums and galleries for years to come.”
We couldn’t agree more.
We think this simple concept is important – especially in this age of multi-tasking where the emphasis is placed on speed. We started Slow Art Day in 2009 to provoke a new way of seeing in the midst of the blindness that this screen-based world is creating.
The Rubin Museum is hosting Slow Art Day again this year – if you’re in the New York area, we hope you’ll join them!
We are happy to welcome the Waikato Museum in Hamilton, New Zealand to Slow Art Day 2018.
One of the things we love the most about Slow Art Day is that it brings together hundreds of museums and thousands of people from institutions like the Tate Modern (they are a longtime participant) in London to museums like the Waikato in New Zealand.
On the banks of the Waikato River in the heart of Hamilton’s south-end cultural precinct, the Waikato features 13 galleries and more than 25 new exhibitions and 100 public events annually.
On April 14, people all over the world – now including Hamilton, New Zealand – will be coming together to learn how to slow down and discover how to really see art.
We think this simple concept is important – especially in this age of multi-tasking where the emphasis is placed on speed.
We started Slow Art Day in 2009 to challenge the blindness that this screen-based world is creating.
In most cases, we have multiple museums, galleries, sculpture parks, libraries, or other cultural institutions in each country.
Current continents include Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, South and North America. Just missing Antarctica this year (have had events at McMurdo Station in the past).
We hope you’re as excited for Slow Art Day 2018 (just three months away!) as we are! One of this year’s hosts, Karolina Fabelova of Kunstzeichnen in Germany, certainly is – check out the great video she made all about Slow Art Day!
Listen to the Slow Art Day live podcast recorded Tuesday, September 12, 2017 with Slow Art Day hosts around the world and our special guest Christian Adame, longtime Slow Art Day host and Assistant Education Director at the Phoenix Art Museum. Christian designed and piloted the Slow Art & Mindfulness Summer Series at the Phoenix Art Museum this summer.
He talked us about this pilot program and what they learned and answered questions from listeners.
He was one of Jacques Derrida’s first American graduate students. Trained in comparative literature, Reed authored a prize-winning study of Coleridge and Baudelaire (mentioned above). His career as a scholar of literature was interrupted in 1984, when he experienced a conversion. An encounter with Max Beckmann’s triptych The Actors at the Fogg Museum pivoted Reed’s field of study to the visual arts. His Manet book mentioned above has been translated into French and Spanish.
His forthcoming book
Professor Reed’s latest book Slow Art: The Experience of Looking, Sacred Images to James Turrell (University of California Press, to be published late June 2017) is about attending to visual images in a culture of distraction, specifically extending the six to 10 seconds that Americans, on average, spend looking at individual works on museums walls and why that matters.
The research and writing of his latest book was supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, and residencies at the Rockefeller Foundation Study Center at Bellagio, the Clark Art Institute, and the American Academy in Rome. Reed has given presentations on slow art, among other venues, at the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, King’s College Cambridge University, the Chicago Humanities Festival, and the École normale supérieure in Paris.
Buy and read his book
Professor Reed’s newest book is a foundational book for the slow art movement and we highly recommend that all Slow Art Day hosts read it.
Listeners to the podcast can receive a 30% discount to the book if they order from the University of California press. To get the discount, order online via www.ucpress.edu. Just enter code 16V6526 at checkout.
Slow Art Day is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, June 13 at 11 AM EST for the slow art community and other interested participants featuring special guest Arden Reed.
Dr. Reed is a professor of English and Art History at Pomona College. His latest book Slow Art: The Experience of Looking, Sacred Images to James Turrell (University of California Press, French translation Editions Hermann) is about attending to visual images in a culture of distraction, specifically extending the six to 10 seconds that Americans, on average, spend looking at individual works on museums walls and why that matters.
Dr. Reed will discuss his new book (which will be published on the date of the webinar – June 13) and answer questions from participants.
Slow Art Day 2017, Kunsthalle Hamburg, Friederike Redlbacher
Host Friederike Redlbacher of Kunsthalle Hamburg, Germany writes of their Slow Art Day 2017 experience:
“We looked at three different works of art by Lorrain, Chagall and Böcklin. To connect deeper with the artwork and ourselves I guided the group with reflective questions like ‘What in the artwork is drawing your attention?’ or ‘How did this situation came about and how could it develop?’. This encouraged the participants to deeply engage with what they saw. After a silent period of looking we shared our thoughts and perceptions. Listening to what the others saw, opened a whole new perspective to the artwork but also to the way of looking at art. To look slowly and engage oneself with the art is a truly inspiring experience.”
