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Job Seekers and Art Converge in Seattle Art Museum

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Volunteers Ashley Christensen, Erinn Kruser and Forrest Corbett organized a group of 25+ job seekers to spend an evening together looking at art slowly at the Seattle Art Museum, Thursday, June 5, 2025. This is part of a growing partnership between Never Search Alone and Slow Art Day.

Below is Christensen’s write-up. And the team at Slow Art Day HQ agree – we couldn’t have described the impact of slow looking at art better.

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Slow Art Day at Seattle Art Museum – Recap

1. We all saw something different.
Despite looking at the same painting for 10 minutes, my group came away with wildly different takeaways. From metaphors and feelings to objective facts (sometimes one of us missed whole sections of the art pieces). I was honestly surprised. I thought the longer we looked, the more we’d converge. But the opposite happened, we diverged. The art unfolded differently for each of us.

It was such a clear reminder that our lived experiences shape what we notice, how we interpret, and what moves us.

2. People wanted to connect, with the art and each other.
More than 20 of the 26 attendees stayed after the art viewing, gathering at the MARKET to talk, laugh, and share takeaways. That blew me away. We moved up to Seattle two years ago and I’m still getting to know my new home but this felt deeply communal in a beautifully unexpected way. I assumed folks would drift off after the art-viewing but instead, the shared experience created something worth lingering for. People wanted to stay.

3. The vibe was genuinely kind.
Networking events are awkward but this was different. I could tell some folks felt anxious or uncertain but people showed up with open minds. 

There was something disarming about the format. No pitches. No small talk. Just attention, presence, and an invitation to be curious. It didn’t feel like a networking event. It felt human.

4. Slow looking really changed our state.
One person mentioned at the end that she couldn’t focus at first. Her mind was racing. She wanted to move on after a minute. But then she started to settle and by the end of the first painting, she was present.

Another person noticed that someone in our group was fidgety and tense at the start but was visibly relaxed by the end. I felt that too. Like my body had slowed to meet my gaze. The longer we looked, the more the art gave us back.

5. Our attention had ripple effects.
As our small groups paused in front of pieces of artwork, something unexpected happened: strangers began to gather near us. They looked from the painting to us and back again, curious about what had captured our attention for so long.

Our stillness seemed to signal that these pieces were worth an extra-long look. That quiet attention drew people in. It was a beautiful reminder that focus is contagious and that how we engage with the world can invite others to do the same.

Thanks again for the inspiration and for building such a powerful global movement. It was an honor to be part of it.

– Ashley Christensen

P.S. Here’s the Never Search Alone website.

Art, Community, and the Job Search: A New Movement Begins

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A new kind of partnership is taking shape — one that connects art and the job search in a powerful way.

Slow Art Day and Never Search Alone are working together to support both museums and job seekers.

Why this partnership matters:

  • For museums: It brings in new and more diverse visitors — something many are working hard to do.
  • For job seekers: It creates a space to pause, reflect, and feel connected during what can be a very isolating time.

On Monday, May 19, 2025, Never Search Alone members Stuart Ridgway and Caitlin Thistle hosted one of these special events at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Forty job seekers took part.

They started outside the museum (see photos below), then split into groups of four. Each group moved through the galleries together. One person at a time picked a piece of art. Everyone looked at it slowly — for ten minutes — then they talked about what they saw.

Afterward, everyone met back in the courtyard. They kept talking for hours — forming new friendships and reconnecting with something often lost in the job search: the simple, human experience of looking at art and being with others.

Caitlin, pictured in the left foreground of the group photo above, and Stuart both reported that the group left feeling energized and connected — lifted by the simple yet profound act of looking at art together.

Because the participants meet outside the museums, and break up into groups of four, and buy their own tickets, this is a scalable program that also doesn’t involve complicated group tour arrangements with museums. 50 or 100 job seekers just meet up, get divided into groups of 4, and go slow looking.

I hosted recent events as well at the Brooklyn Museum, with 50 participants, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art where more than 120 Never Search Alone members came together.

Below are photos from the Metropolitan Museum of Art outing.

Already, Never Search Alone members around the country are beginning to plan more events including one coming up at the Seattle Art Museum (more on that in a separate post).

Stay tuned. This is only the beginning.

– Phyl, Ashley, Johanna, and Jessica Jane

P.S. More information about Never Search Alone can be found at Phyl.org.