Category Archives: slowartday

Cameron Art Museum Hosts Second Slow Art Day

Posted on by
Reply

For Slow Art Day 2025, Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, North Carolina invited visitors to participate in a self-guided slow-looking experience designed to encourage careful observation and personal meaning-making. The museum emphasized that slow looking is not driven by curators or historians, but by individuals forming their own connections with artworks.

Visitors were encouraged to intentionally select three to four artworks and spend extended time with each, using a printed Guide to Slow Art that offered practical suggestions such as finding a comfortable place to sit, bringing a notebook and pencil, and building meaning through sustained observation and conversation with companions

Th guide suggested visitors spend time with artworks from the exhibition The Game Changers, which highlighted the Abstract Expressionist artists Helen Frankenthaler, Richard Diebenkorn, and Robert Rauschenberg. Suggested works included:

  • Girl Squatting (1960) by Richard Diebenkorn
  • Tiger’s Eye (1987) by Helen Frankenthaler
  • Autobiography (1968) by Robert Rauschenberg


From left to right: Helen Frankenthaler, Tiger’s Eye, 1987. Color etching, aquatint, lithograph, and
silkscreen. Collection of Cameron Art Museum, Belden Collection. Richard Diebenkorn, Girl Squatting, 1960. Oil on canvas. On loan from the Akron Art Museum, purchased with funds from the Phyllis Albrecht Memorial Fund. Bottom: Robert Rauschenberg, Autobiography 1968. Offset lithography on paper. On loan from Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Gift of Blake Byre, A.B. ‘57.


Slow Art Day participant viewing Robert Rauschenberg, Why You Can’t Tell #2, 1979. Lithograph and collage on paper. On loan from the Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina,
Greensboro, NC, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Dorsky.

Slow Art Day participants viewing Robert Rauschenberg, Autobiography 1968. Offset lithography on paper. On loan from Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Gift of Blake Byre, A.B. ‘57.

By offering a clear framework while leaving interpretation open, Cameron Art Museum created a Slow Art Day experience that supported independent exploration and reflection throughout the day.

Below is their front desk signage for the day, and you may download their Slow Art Day Flyer to see how they framed their instructions for the day. (PDF, 7.5 MB).

We thank Ashley Rowland, Education Assistant, and the Cameron Art Museum team for hosting Slow Art Day 2025 and look forward to seeing what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2026.

– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. – Follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

Citywide Slow Looking Along Route 66 in Bloomington, IL

Posted on by
Reply

For Slow Art Day 2025, Bloomington–Normal, Illinois once again led a citywide Slow Art Day – they were the first to pioneer citywide events several years ago. Led by Pamela Eaton of Eaton Studio Gallery, the citywide Slow Art Day has grown into a statewide collaboration with a number of sponsors and leaders coming together. See the beautiful poster below.

The collaborative citywide scope of the event was documented by the Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway. These photographs captured the range of venues and the conversations taking place across the city during the Slow Art Day weekend.

Here are a few reports we received from across the 2025 Citywide.

Eaton Studio Gallery
At the Eaton Gallery, their Slow Art Day event centered on Star Crossed Pollinators, a refurbished sculpture by artist Herb Eaton originally created in 2000 for Bloomington’s Sesquicentennial celebrations. The work was on view during Slow Art Day as part of its refurbishment process ahead of its planned move to a permanent location at the McLean County Museum of History.

Photos below are of artist Herb Eaton with the original sculpture in 2000 on the left, and the new version in 2025 on the right.

Inside Out Accessible Art (IOAA)
IOAA hosted artists demonstrating their techniques alongside other artists who brought individual works to discuss with patrons. The open format encouraged dialogue and allowed visitors to spend time with both artistic process and finished work. Photographs of the event below were taken by Shelley Schultz.

Red Raccoon Games
Red Racoon in downtown Bloomington hosted artist Gina LaMonica, whose works were shown via the table setup below.

The Bloomington–Normal Slow Art Day demonstrated how a coordinated, multi-site approach can support slow looking at scale while remaining grounded in local artists, studios, and shared civic spaces. We thank Pamela Eaton, Eaton Studio Gallery, Inside Out Accessible Art, and all participating organizations and artists for making this citywide Slow Art Day possible. We look forward to seeing what they come up with for their citywide Slow Art Day in 2026.

– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

Meditations on A.I. in Vänersborg, Sweden

Posted on by
Reply

For Slow Art Day 2025, Vänersborgs konsthall in Vänersborg, Sweden, hosted a guided slow-looking event centered on the exhibition A.I. vs Själen (A.I. vs the Soul). The program combined meditation, independent observation, and group dialogue in a focused gallery setting.

Participants engaging in slow looking and discussion during Slow Art Day at Vänersborgs konsthall. Photo courtesy of Vänersborgs konsthall.

Selected artworks were chosen by participants from two designated walls within the exhibition A.I. vs Själen (A.I vs the Soul)

Eleven participants took part in the free event. The session began with a short introduction to slow looking as a practice, followed by a guided meditation designed to help participants settle into the experience. From there, facilitators offered simple, structured prompts to support a 10-minute slow looking exercise. Participants then gathered to share reflections and discuss their thoughts. Conversations focused on perception, attention, and how the themes of technology, AI, and the human soul emerged through extended looking.

Following the discussion, the gallery invited participants to continue the conversation over a traditional Swedish fika, offering coffee and biscuits in a relaxed social setting.

Poster for the event.

We thank Hanna Tobiasson, Cultural Coordinator at Vänersborgs konsthall, for creating a Slow Art Day experience that thoughtfully engaged questions around technology and its growing influence on how art is created, perceived, and discussed today. We look forward to seeing what the team at Vänersborgs konsthall comes up with for Slow Art Day 2026.

– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. Follow Vänersborgs konsthall on Facebook.

Carol Rossi Hosts Community Slow Looking Experience at the de Young Museum in San Francisco

Posted on by
Reply

For Slow Art Day 2025, yoga-based movement instructor Carol Rossi of Lobey Movement returned to Slow Art Day – she was a pioneer who helped launch the movement back in 2010 – and hosted her own slow-looking session at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, California. Drawing from her background in yoga and mindfulness, Rossi designed a self-guided Slow Art Day experience.

In preparation for the day, Rossi created and shared a dedicated Slow Art Day webpage that outlined simple viewing tips and a short guide to the artworks she selected. Her materials encouraged participants to spend extended time with each work, notice physical details and emotional responses, and resist the urge to move quickly. Rather than formal facilitation, the structure supported personal pacing and reflection, allowing participants to engage with the museum in a focused yet flexible way.

Rossi documented and reflected on the experience through LinkedIn and Instagram, sharing photographs, excerpts from her viewing guide, and personal observations about hosting Slow Art Day. These posts are great practical examples for others interested in creating their own Slow Art Day experiences to follow. Her approach shows how hosting can begin with clear intentions, simple prompts, and a willingness to invite others to slow down together.

At Slow Art Day HQ, we actively encourage this kind of individual-led design. Slow Art Day is not limited to institutions; anyone can host a slow-looking experience, whether as a yoga instructor, educator, designer, or community member. Resources like Carol Rossi’s website and posts offer concrete inspiration for those considering hosting their own event, much like other community-driven Slow Art Day efforts we have seen in recent years.

We thank Carol Rossi for her pioneering support of Slow Art Day, and for returning to work with us again. We look forward to seeing what she comes up with for Slow Art Day 2026.

– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

Slow Walking Video at Gorgas House Museum

Posted on by
Reply

For Slow Art Day 2025, students at the University of Alabama participated in a project titled Walking In It, developed under the direction of Professor Sharony Green and presented in connection with the Gorgas House Museum in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The project focused on an experimental video that encouraged people to notice walking and to think about it as something shaped by history and circumstance, not a simple experience that everyone can take for granted.

As part of the project, students enrolled in Professor Green’s Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 history courses contributed 30-second long videos of themselves walking through campus and around Tuscaloosa. These clips were combined into a single “digital quilt” bringing together repeated movement across shared spaces.

Gorgas House Museum on Slow Art Day.

The completed video was featured online and projected onto the exterior of the Gorgas House Museum on April 4, 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The projection was designed as a come-and-go experience, allowing Slow Art Day participants and passersby to encounter the work throughout the day. The setting of the projection on Gorgas House, the campus’s oldest dwelling constructed in 1829, provided historical context for the project’s focus on movement and access.

Watch the video projection:

Additional components were coordinated by Sonya Harwood-Johnson, Director of the Gorgas House Museum. These included interpretive displays featuring nineteenth-century shoes and an interactive station where members of the campus community could decorate miniature boots produced with a 3D printer, inspired by a Mexican artist’s project.

In addition to the video projection, the Slow Art Day project included a campus-wide scavenger hunt. Participants were invited to move through campus using the scavenger hunt prompts, with a prize offered to those who completed the activity.

Students also created a short video previewing the event, offering viewers a sense of the site and project setup:

The project received coverage in The Crimson White – Gorgas House hosts The University of Alabama’s submission to global Slow Art Day – the University of Alabama’s student newspaper, which reported on the Gorgas House Museum’s participation in the global Slow Art Day initiative. Across digital platforms, the project reached a wide audience, with more than 1,100 views on Instagram and over 1,200 additional views and impressions across other social media channels.

Professory Sharony Green and students.

We thank Sharony Green, Sonya Harwood-Johnson, and the participating students for their innovative Slow Art Day events, and look forward to seeing what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2026.

– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. Read more about the project, Walking In It: An Experimental Video, on the Gorgas House Museum website. You can follow the Gorgas House Museum on Facebook and Instagram.

Meditation and Slow Making at Gothenburg Museum of Art

Posted on by
Reply

The Gothenburg Museum of Art in Gothenburg, Sweden, participated in Slow Art Day 2025 by offering two structured activities for adults and children. The program combined guided meditation, slow looking in the galleries, and hands-on making in the studio.

The group gathered in front of Oracle, a sculpture by Norwegian artist Jone Kvie, on view in the exhibition Apocalypse: From Last Judgement to Climate Threat.

Photo by Linda Noreen.

For adult participants, the museum hosted a guided meditation led by Pernilla Ljungkvist, artist and yoga teacher, around the sculpture. Through stillness and focused attention, participants were invited to engage with the sculpture more deliberately.

Participants practicing yoga. Photo by Linda Noreen.

For children ages 6–12, the museum offered a two-part workshop. The first part took place in the museum’s collection galleries, where participants practiced slow-looking exercises and completed a drawing activity based on careful observation.

The group then moved to the Museum Studio, where a selection of objects was presented. Participants chose one or more objects to reinterpret by painting with watercolors, drawing with colored pens, or shaping forms in clay. The emphasis throughout was on slowing down, observing closely, and working deliberately. Across both activities, the shared goal was to encourage sustained attention and mindful engagement through observation, reflection, and making.

Photo by Jonna Kihlsten.
Photo by Jonna Kihlsten.
Photo by Jonna Kihlsten.

We thank Jonna Kihlsten, Art Educator, and the Gothenburg Museum of Art team for designing inclusive Slow Art Day experiences, as well as Pernilla Ljungkvist for leading the meditation session. We look forward to seeing what Gothenburg comes up with for Slow Art Day 2026.

– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. Follow Gothenburg Museum of Art on Facebook and Instagram

Six Weeks of Slow Looking in Arizona Border Town

Posted on by
Reply

For their third Slow Art Day, Studio 917 Gallery in Douglas, Arizona, extended their event beyond a single day, transforming it into a six-week slow-looking experience. Located in the small town bordering Sonora where visitors often come to shop before discovering local art, the gallery intentionally selected a range of diverse works designed to appeal to audiences of different ages and backgrounds.


The exhibition opened with a busy first day, welcoming a steady flow of visitors from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. As the weeks progressed, word of mouth expanded the gallery’s reach. Visitors traveled from nearby communities including Tucson, Agua Prieta, Bisbee, and Willcox, while tourists from farther afield stopped in while visiting the U.S.–Mexico border, including guests from Kansas, Minnesota, Texas, and California.

Visitors engaging with artworks during the extended Slow Art Day exhibition. Photos by Allyson Armstrong.

Featured Works:

  • Untitled by Gabino Rivera (c. 1930)
  • Social by Conrado Massaguer (Havana, 1930)
  • Parenthesis by Peter Konsterlie (2017)
  • Untitled by Chloe Foster (wood-fired, salt-fired ceramic, 2025)

The selected artworks encouraged visitors to linger and look closely. Gabino Rivera’s early 20th-century work reflects the experience of immigration and labor in Douglas, where Rivera arrived as a young man to work in the local smelter. Conrado Massaguer’s Social, originally a magazine cover from Havana in 1930, offered a contrasting cultural perspective. Contemporary works by Peter Konsterlie and Chloe Foster added further range, from conceptual painting to ceramic practice, reinforcing the gallery’s goal of presenting varied entry points for slow looking.

Untitled. Gabino Rivera @1930. Sr. Rivera immigrated to Douglas, AZ as a young man to work in the smelter.
“Social” a magazine cover by Conrado Massager, Havana, 1930.
“Parenthesis”, Peter Konsterlie 2017.
Untitled,  Chloe Foster, Wood, Salt Fire, 2025.
Visitors engaging with artworks during the extended Slow Art Day exhibition. Photos by Allyson Armstrong.

By extending Slow Art Day across six weeks, Studio 917 Gallery created repeated opportunities for intentional looking and conversation, allowing both local residents and traveling visitors to encounter the artworks at their own pace. The approach reflected the rhythms of a small-town gallery while remaining connected to the global Slow Art Day movement.

We thank the team at Studio 917 Gallery for their continued commitment to slow looking and for sustaining this expanded Slow Art Day format year after year. We look forward to their next Slow Art Day.

– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. Follow Studio 917 Gallery on Instagram and visit their website at https://www.studio917.art.

Multiple Paths To Slow Looking at Wellcome Collection

Posted on by
Reply

For their fourth year participating in Slow Art Day, Wellcome Collection in London hosted a full day of guided and self-guided slow-looking experiences across the museum. Wellcome Collection is a free museum that explores human health through the intersections of art, medicine, and science. Building on the range of facilitated sessions introduced in previous years, the 2025 program offered visitors multiple ways to engage slowly with artworks, objects, and ideas.

The Wellcome Collection team led five guided slow-looking sessions, each facilitated by a different staff member and focused on a distinct body of work.

Isabelle Gapomo guided participants in close observation of a photograph by Marc Ferrez from the Hard Graft exhibition, titled ‘Escravos em terreiro de uma fazenda de café na região do Vale do Paraíba’ (c.1882), examining how plantation labor was depicted by early photographers and how those images are experienced today.

‘Escravos em terreiro de uma fazenda de café na região do Vale do Paraíba’ (c.1882). Marc Ferrez.

Griff Davies led a session centered on the dream-inspired paintings of Bryan Charnley, using the imagery to prompt discussion around mental health.

“The Stars Only Come Out at Night” by Bryan Charnley.
“Nail Schizophrene” by Bryan Charnley.

Sana Siddiqui reprised her popular session last year and used vintage food advertisements to evoke memory and sensory response.

In the Reading Room, Isabel Greenslade gathered participants around “Closing Neural Tube Dress,” a sculptural garment that encouraged reflection on abstraction.

Participants slow looking at the “Closing Neural Tube Dress“.

Jake Blackavar led a session that moved through multiple floors of the museum, selecting a sculpture, a video work, and a pair of paintings to explore how different media and gallery contexts shape the slow-looking experience.

“Washerwoman” by Shannon Alonzo.
“Orphans” (left) by Frederic Cayley Robinson.
“Orphans” (right) by Frederic Cayley Robinson.

In addition to the guided sessions, the museum designated a room as a Slow Art Day hub where tours began and visitors could drop in to learn more about the event. In this space, visitors were invited to practice slow looking independently using a rotating screen of images from Wellcome Collection’s holdings, which changed every ten minutes.

What a thoughtful and well-designed program. Wow.

We at Slow Art Day HQ thank Jake Blackavar and the entire Wellcome Collection team for continuing to lead the way in producing meaningful and multi-dimensional experiences.

We eagerly look forward to what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2026.

– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. Follow Wellcome Collection on their Instagram and Facebook

Photography in Thessaloniki, Greece

Posted on by

For Slow Art Day 2025, Pinakotheke Gallery in Thessaloniki, Greece hosted a slow looking event focused on the photographic exhibition “ABSORBED (Damn, I miss snowboarding)” by Theodoros Vranas.

The exhibition presented a series of photographic works in which the artist explores questions of self and psychology, placing moments of human deadlock within landscapes of overwhelming beauty. Visitors were invited to observe a limited number of works closely and reflect on their experience.

Pinakotheke is a creative project by photographer Stefanos Tsakiris, based in the center of Thessaloniki, and dedicated to promoting photographic work through exhibitions, printing techniques, workshops, and events.

We thank Stefanos and the team at Pinakotheke for participating in Slow Art Day 2025, and look forward to seeing what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2026.

– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. – Check out Pinakotheke on Instagram.

First Slow Art Day at The Museum of Book and Printing of Ukraine

Posted on by

For their first Slow Art Day, The Museum of Book and Printing of Ukraine in Kyiv organized a hybrid event. The Museum is housed in a former building of the Kyiv Cave Monastery Press that was built in the early 17th century and was then open to the public as a State Museum in the 1975. The Museum collection contains 58,000 exhibits – from manuscripts, to old printed books from the 16th century, to engravings, graphic works, paintings, and so on.

On the 15th of April, the Museum invited participants (online and in person) to spend an hour and a half focusing on one work by Heorhiy Tkachenko (1898 – 1993), a Ukrainian bard and bandurist (which is a person who plays the Ukrainian plucked string instrument known as the bandura).

Flyer of the event

Participants were encouraged to look at the artwork carefully and then discuss what they noticed and how it made them feel. They also read Heorhiy Tkachenko’s biography and discussed what linked the artwork to the artist’s life.

Positive notes (in Ukrainian) left by participants on the event

The event was advertised on their social media account (Facebook and Instagram).

We love the creativity of this event, and look forward to what the museum comes up with for Slow Art Day 2024.

– Jessica Jane, Johanna, Ashley, and Phyl