For their first Slow Art Day, the Creative Arts Workshop, a community art school in New Haven, Connecticut, hosted a slow-looking art swap – where the artists were the participants – facilitated by Dymin Ellis, poet, digital artist, musician, and community organizer. Artists ranging from youth to adults participated in the event, each contributing multiple original pieces including photography, altered books, digital art, and embossed prints.
Dymin Ellis led the group through a series of three exercises designed to deepen their engagement with one another’s artworks, and started by asking participants to share their names, artistic disciplines, and the titles of the works they brought. They were then asked to exchange their art work but keep them face down until the exercises began.
- First, each artist was asked to share their piece for 10-seconds only.
- Each participant was then asked to share a single word inspired by what they saw.
- They repeated the 10-second viewing a second time engaging all 5 senses, and were then asked: “What do you see? smell? feel? hear? taste?”
- Next, participants were asked to look at the same work for 1 minute. They were then asked if they had an emotional reaction to the art.
- Finally, Ellis facilitated a ten-minute slow-looking session, introducing the following prompts every two minutes. Participants were asked to write their responses and share in a group discussion afterwards.
- What if this artwork were a portal to a dream—whose dreamworld would it lead to, and what would greet you on the other side?
- Who do you imagine this artwork remembers? Whose hands, eyes, or stories does it carry forward?
- Put yourself in the place of the canvas and imagine what it must have endured to become what it is now.
- Imagine the canvas is living flesh—warm, breathing, wounded, or healed. What kind of creature wears this? Is the artwork a tattoo, a scar, a birthmark, or a disguise?
- Let your senses cross wires. What color does this artwork smell like? What texture does it sing in? What temperature does it speak with?
The session concluded with a collective reflection on the experience, where participants shared what stood out most and how they might apply slow-looking practices in the future.
Dymin reported that the discussion was “intimate, reflective, and at times, magical,” and highlighted how the art-swap format created deep reciprocal learning and such a collaborative spirit that some attendees chose to gift their artwork to others.
At Slow Art Day HQ, we are delighted to hear of the unique art-swap format that the Creative Arts Workshop introduced for their Slow Art Day event, and love hearing how it has helped build slow looking into the local artist community. We look forward to seeing how the Creative Arts Workshop continues to innovate for Slow Art Day 2026.
– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
P.S. Stay connected with Creative Arts Workshop on Facebook and Instagram.
