300 Attend The BIG Show in Rural Canada

For their first Slow Art Day, the Glengarry Artists’ Collective, a volunteer-driven organization of artists in eastern rural Ontario, Canada, designed “The BIG Show”, an event highlighting local art and artists.

The Collective’s mission is to create programs focused on community, and they encouraged visitors to slowly look at a selection of 149 artworks by 39 artists. About 300 participants attended the event.

Slow looking participants at the Glengarry Collective Slow Art Day event, 2023.

Ahead of Slow Art Day, the Collective posted a promo on their website and printed posters for the venue. 

On April 15th, they welcomed participants at the venue and encouraged them to use the following prompts when viewing the artworks:

  1. Look
    Take time (5 to 10 minutes) and slowly let your eyes wander all over the work. Look at it from different angles and distances.
  2. Observe
    Notice the colors, shapes, textures and markings on the surface of the artwork. Where does your eye focus?
  3. Feel
    What words come to mind about this art work? How do you feel looking at this art work? Does it evoke any memories?
  4. Share
    Share your experience of the work with someone or post an image of the work online with a word of reflection and #slowartday2023.

Slow looking participants at the Glengarry Collective Slow Art Day event, 2023.

Slow looking participant contemplating an image from a distance at the Glengarry Collective Slow Art Day event, 2023.

The hosts Alison Hall and Yvonne Callaway toured the venue, looking and talking with visitors. They agreed to let the audience choose the works they wanted to look at slowly, rather than imposing a selection on them. The photos above offer a sense of the engagement generated. They told us at Slow Art Day that, “There was lots of art talk, more than at most shows. People engaged with the works and each other.”

We love that the Glengarry Collective was able to bring out so many people in rural Canada and look forward to what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2024.

– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

PS. Stay up to date about events by the Glengarry Collective via their Facebook page

New Perspectives with the Art Gallery of Ontario

For their 8th Slow Art Day, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), one of the largest art museums in North America, invited participants to join one of two slow looking offerings with the AGO collection: either by designing their own slow looking tour, or by joining a guided tour.

Participants engaging with “Paysage du Midi et deux enfants” by Pierre Bonard (note the slow motion captured in each of the photos from AGO)

For the guided tour, one of the AGO’s art educators asked participants to look at three artworks:

Participants engaging with “Unearthed – Midnight” by Otobong Nkang

AGO curator Mellisa Smith reported that the post-looking conversation gained momentum through the tour as people became more comfortable sharing. This was a function of the trust participants built with each other as they experienced the act of looking at the art through each other’s eyes.

For the final session of the guided tour, the AGO hosts asked participants to wander slowly across the entire length of Tintoretto’s painting, “Christ Washing His Disciples’ Feet.” Specifically, they asked observers to pay attention to a trick with perspective that occurs with this painting. When viewed from the side as one slowly walks its length, Tintoretto’s painting seems to emphasize the gaze of the disciples towards Jesus, thus focusing the viewer on his status as the main subject. This is truly a painting which needs to be seen slowly.

Participants slow looking at (and moving around) “Christ Washing His Disciples’ Feet” by Tintoretto

When asked if they would do anything differently next year, the AGO told us two things:

  1. In the future, they hope to try a more densely curated space, and investigate how participants are able to center themselves in a more chaotic space.
  2. They would like to also avoid choosing artwork with in-depth wall texts, as visitors couldn’t help but
    to read the labels (understandable!)

We encourage art educators and curators to listen to an episode of the CBC Commotion podcast series hosted by Elamin Abdelmahmoud and featuring AGO curator Melissa Smith – Slow Art Day and the value of lingering. Smith mentions a point that we always like to reinforce about slow looking: it is about building your own meaning with a piece, and you don’t have to have any prior knowledge of art or the piece to do that. Yes! That indeed is the power of slow looking.

We really appreciate the Art Gallery of Ontario’s long-term commitment to Slow Art Day, and can’t wait to see what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2024.

– Jessica Jane, Johanna, Ashley, and Phyl

P.S. You can follow AGO on their Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts.

Miniature Art Captivates at the Gardiner Museum

People often ask us: what’s the best kind of art for people to look at slowly? And before we answer, they often offer what they think must be true – i.e., that only *large* scale art can maintain the attention of slow lookers. Our answer, however, (based on experience) has been that everything works *including* small-scale art.

We are glad to say that The Gardiner Museum in Toronto, Canada proved once again that tiny art captivates.

For their fourth Slow Art Day, The Gardiner featured Montreal-based self-taught artist Karine Giboulo’s “immersive reimagining” of her home, with over 500 *miniature* polymer clay figures arranged throughout the tiny rooms. The small figures are intended to invite viewers to reflect on societal challenges, such as connectedness and isolation during the recent pandemic, the impact of aging, the climate crisis, food insecurity, housing instability, and consumerism. And they are indeed captivating.

Karine Giboulo: Housewarming, Installation view, 2022, Gardiner Museum, Toronto.

On Slow Art Day itself, participants were given a worksheet with questions that lead them through the process of slow looking, and included a space to sketch. They were then encouraged to speak with two members of the Gardiner Museum team: Sofia Flores-Ledesma, Programs and Education Assistant, and Emma Wan, Victoria College, Material Culture Intern.

We invite you to discover the power of slow looking at miniature art by downloading their worksheet below, then lazily gazing at the images from their exhibition that follow (and maybe trying a few sketches).

Karine Giboulo: Housewarming, Installation view, 2022, Gardiner Museum, Toronto.
Karine Giboulo: Housewarming, Installation view, 2022, Gardiner Museum, Toronto.
Karine Giboulo: Housewarming, Installation view, 2022, Gardiner Museum, Toronto.
Karine Giboulo: Housewarming, Installation view, 2022, Gardiner Museum, Toronto.

Sofia Flores-Ledesma wrote to us and said that not only did the miniatures dazzle, but that the conversations on the day of the event were so engaging that they did not take any photos as planned. They were just too busy listening to the captivated participants talk about their experience.

Every year, The Gardiner does something interesting for Slow Art Day, and we love what they did for 2023: i.e, featuring Giboulo’s miniature scenes of ordinary life, which offer hidden surprises (this is another pitch for you to download their worksheet and do some slow looking yourself).

We can’t wait to see what the Gardiner Museum comes up with for Slow Art Day 2024.

-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl.

PS. Stay updated with events at the Gardiner Museum on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

Instagram “Slow Reveal” Hosted by McMaster

Because of Covid-19, the McMaster Museum of Art in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, hosted their seventh Slow Art Day as a virtual “slow reveal” event via their Instagram account @macmuseum.

Over a 90 minute period, nine detailed image fragments of Franklin Carmichael’s Spring Snow were published in 10-minute intervals on the museum’s Instagram feed, with the full artwork being revealed at the end.

Participants were invited to reflect on each of the detailed images as they were posted, and a discussion was facilitated in the caption to each post, and in the McMaster Instagram stories.

Franklin H. Carmichael (Canadian, 1890-1945), Spring Snow, c.1930, oil on plywood.  Gift of Mr. Roy G. Cole. McMaster Museum of Art collection.

The Instagram stories for the McMaster Slow Art Day event had almost 200 views, and the posts themselves were seen by 350 people. A recap of the event is available for anyone who would like to recreate it at home.

When we started Slow Art Day 10 years ago, we were adamant that all the sessions be *offline* in the museums. We Internet veterans were happy to use the Internet to promote and support Slow Art Day but we wanted to use the web in the service of sending more people into real spaces. This year, however, we had no choice and are delighted to see the creative ways museums like the McMaster hosted virtual events for our 10th anniversary Slow Art Day.

We look forward – we hope – to the eighth McMaster Museum of Art’s Slow Art Day in their actual museum in 2021.

– Johanna

Slow Art Day with Ceramics, Glass, and Mixed Media

The Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada participated in their first Slow Art Day in 2019 by inviting visitors to slow down with ceramics, glass and mixed media from Canadian artists. 

After one hour of slow looking, visitors gathered for 30 minutes to discuss their observations about the material and meaning of the works, including the hidden qualities and stories they discovered.

According to The Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, one participant said it was “exhilarating to meet new people and share so many diverse perspectives about the artwork.”

Photo Credit: Eleanor Zhang. Instagram: @eleanor.jing_zhang

We look forward to the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery’s participation again in 2020!

– Ashley

Notes from Hosts: Leanne Wright

notesfromhosts

Stick It To the TOM on Slow Art Day!

That which is not worth contemplating in life, is not worth recreating in art.  Ayn Rand, author

On April 12th“Stick it to the TOM on Slow Art Day” visitors will be provided with post it notes and pencils and we’ll be asking you to write down your responses to the works on view and let us know what you think of them. Following the model set up in the Convergence and Look What We Have! exhibitions, these responses will be posted on the walls next to the artworks so that other people can read and discover what moved/inspired/challenged/provoked someone else in their interaction with the art. 

We will also be offering a virtual platform for those who cannot physically visit the TOM on April 12th. On that day we will be posting images from our collection and inviting people to “Stick it to the TOM on Slow Art Day” by posting their responses to the images on our Facebook page.  We’ll be tweeting some of the post it note responses on our Twitter page with the hashtags #StickItToTheTOM and #SlowArtDay if you want to follow the dialogue there as well.

SlowArtDayThe TOM is a regional art centre and INTERNATIONAL cultural attraction dedicated to the innovative spirit of landscape artist and Canadian icon, Tom Thomson. The TOM celebrates excellence in the visual arts locally, nationally and internationally, through exhibitions of historical and contemporary art, education programs and the enrichment and interpretation of its significant permanent collection. We have one of the largest collections of Tom Thomson’s work (74 pieces including artifacts), over 90 pieces by the Group of Seven, 42 pieces by world renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky as well as work by Emily Carr, John Hartman and a substantial collection of work by women and First Nation artists. We look to engage our immediate and broader audience in meaningful ways through our exhibitions and onsite and offsite programs. The TOM is the region’s main disseminator of contemporary art.  Through excellent exhibitions, publications, and engaging social media platforms and education programs, the Gallery provides a unique experience for its audiences.

So on April 12, come down to the Gallery or visit us online and tell us what you think!

Admission to the TOM is by donation.
There’s always something going on at the TOM!

– Leanne Wright

Sign up for this event here.