Tag Archives: prompts

Third Slow Art Day at Grounds for Sculpture in New Jersey

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For their third Slow Art Day, educators and docents at Grounds for Sculpture (GFS) in Hamilton, New Jersey, invited visitors to slow down and look at any four different sculptures.

Torqueri XIII. Grounds for Sculpture.
Staff in front of Arch II. Grounds for Sculpture.
Participants in front of Eolith. Grounds for Sculpture.
Participants engaging with Dorian. Grounds for Sculptures.

While looking slowly, participants were asked to consider the following prompts:

  • Observe:
    Take a deep breath, walk around the sculpture and let your eyes move slowly around the artwork – from where it touches the ground all the way up to the sky. What do you notice? Make three observations based on what you noticed.
  • Share:
    Think of a story or experience this sculpture reminds you of – anything that comes to mind. Think of a friend that you want to share this sculpture with; why does this person come to mind?
  • Reflect:
    What do you notice about the sculpture now that you did not see at first glance? How does this change your impression of the sculpture? If you’re with others, share your responses. Did they have similar or different thoughts on the sculpture?
  • Repeat:
    If you are up for the Slow Art Day challenge, then repeat this excercise with three other sculptures. What new question might you pose for slow looking? Add it to your next slow look.

Here are a few of the visitor observations while slow looking at the sculpture Dorian, which proved to be one of the most popular pieces for Slow Art Day according to GFS docent Adria Sherman:

A child noticed the triangles, diamonds and octagons. Another thought it was a spaceship. A
young woman visiting from California saw a hummingbird sipping water and appreciated the
effect of clouds on the reflections. The most touching and personal interaction I had was with a couple holding hands. They viewed the sculpture as a living person and its reflection on the surrounding water as the memory of the deceased individual that lives on in the mind of loved ones.

Adria Sherman

Sherman also mentioned that Slow Art Day 2023 created one of the best visitor experiences she has witnessed in her long tenure at Grounds For Sculpture.

At Slow Art Day HQ, we always love reading about what the team at GFS designs for their annual event, and we look forward to seeing what they come up with for their fourth Slow Art Day in 2024.

– Jessica Jane, Ashley, Johanna, and Phyl

P.S. Stay up to date with events at GFS via their Facebook and Instagram pages.

Art Gallery of St. Albert Creates a Simple Guide for Slow Looking

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For their third Slow Art Day, the Art Gallery of St. Albert, Canada, organized an in-person slow looking event focused on their current exhibitions, which were promoted on their Facebook & Instagram.

St. Albert’s Slow Art Day Flyer

For the event, the museum prepared a slow looking guide with prompts and questions (see below).

We at Slow Art Day HQ like the simplicity and clarity of their guide and recommend that educators and curators around the world take a look at this and consider copying their approach for future slow looking events.

slowartday-Leah-LoudenDownload

And we look forward to what St. Albert’s comes up with for Slow Art Day 2023.

– Jessica Jane, Ashley, Johanna, Robin, Phyl

Drawing and Coloring at MAM in Montana

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For their third Slow Art Day, the Missoula Art Museum (MAM) in Montana organized an in-person event encouraging participants to focus on Nancy Erickson’s (1935-2022) Hall of Memory #10: Guard Bear.

Nancy Erickson. 1999. Hall of Memory #10: Guard Bear.

Interestingly, to help guests slowly engage with this one work of art, they set up a small “maker station” in the gallery space with a 5-minute timer, worksheet, prompts, and materials for guests to create their own artworks.

Below is an explanatory video they put together for guests.

We recommend that educators and curators throughout the slow looking movement take a look at this video and think about how to integrate art making into their 2023 Slow Art Day.

MAM Slow Art Day 2022 explanatory video

We at Slow Art Day HQ, are excited to see art making brought into slow looking and would like to thank Educator & Outreach Specialist Cameron Decker and his team for organizing this event.

We look forward to what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2023.

Jessica Jane, Ashley, Johanna, Robin, and Phyl

P.S. MAM can be found on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube

Aesthetics and Emotions at MART

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For their second Slow Art Day, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Rovereto and Trento (MART), Italy, organized both an online and an in-person event.

For the online session, which took place on April 1, the eight participants received three artworks by email the day before of the event so that they could look slowly on their own and then come and present their thoughts during the session.

For the in-person event, organizers presented the three artworks at the beginning of the session, then they left the 20 participants to look slowly for 45 minutes.

Participants were given some prompts to think about while looking:

  • Which elements strike you the most?
  • Which positive or/and negative emotions do you feel looking at this artwork?
  • Do you like this artwork asethetically?
  • Does it evoke you memories? If so, which ones?

They also asked participants to do the following:

  • Rate their emotional and aesthetic responses with a scale of of 0 to 5 points.
  • Assign a title for each work of art (we recommend other educators consider adding this fun element).
  • Think of a common thread connecting the three artworks.

Once their slow looking was done, the museum then divided the participants into small discussion groups of four people each.

Photos from the in-person session can be viewed below.

Gino Severini, Cannoni in azione, 1915 oil on canvas, 50 x 61,5 cm, Mart, Collezione VAF-Stiftung
On the left: Participants engaging with a piece of art. In the middle and on the right: participants working in groups.

Organizers collected the participants feedback and shared with us a few snippets (translated from Italian).

Admiring, observing and talking in a group about the individual and personal sensations that the works made on us was very beautiful, instructive and formative. Feeling how each participant had his own point of view and his impression and how the various impressions intertwined with each other was very welcome and was appreciated by all.

Renzo – Slow Art Day participant

I think we all had a great desire to live this moment, in which physical closeness, looks, voice, were finally used as “normal” means of communication and expression simply belonging to our human race. After these two years of restrictions [for Covid] I think we all felt happy to get to know and re-know each other in a close way and to make a group. Looking together, exchanging opinions and impressions, sharing the different possibilities of reading and interpreting the works was an enriching experience and, let me say, at least for me, even moving.”

Maddalena – Slow Art Day participant

We’d like to add that Denise Bernabè, Membership Coordinator at MART, and Piero Consolati, MART member for several years, have been organizing Slow Art monthly meetings in addition to the annual events. And, due to the pandemic, April 2 was the first time they ran an in-person slow looking session – and they did great!

We very much look forward to what they come up with for 2023.

– Jessica Jane, Phyl, Johanna, and Ashley