Tag Archives: Washington

Revelatory Slow Art Day at Maryhill Museum of Art

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For their fourth Slow Art Day, Maryhill Museum of Art in Goldendale, Washington, invited visitors to join their Curator of Education, Sorcha Meek Paul, in a lively and ‘revelatory’ slow looking session focused on two paintings in the museum’s 2024 exhibition “Wallula to the Sea”, curated by Steve Grafe.

The two paintings were:

  • ‘Journey’ by Chinook artist Greg A. Robinson
  • ‘Wallula to the Sea’, a quadriptych, by Erik Sandgren

Sorcha Meek Paul presenting Erik Sandgren’s artwork ‘Wallula to the Sea’ for Slow Art Day, 2024.

Sorcha Meek Paul with a participant, engaging with Erik Sandgren’s artwork ‘Wallula to the Sea’ for Slow Art Day, 2024.

Slow looking at ‘Wallula to the Sea’ for Slow Art Day, 2024.

Slow looking at Chinook artist Greg A. Robinson’s artwork, titled ‘Journey’, for Slow Art Day, 2024.

Ahead of Slow Art Day, the event was advertised via the museum’s website, Instagram and Facebook accounts. Sorcha also shared a post on her personal Instagram account. On the day itself, visitors responded to the invitation for “lively discussion” and participated in an interactive session with Sorcha (as we can see in the photos).

On the museum’s website, two lines in the description of the event caught our attention whilst writing this report – they point to the ‘revelatory’ nature of their Slow Art Day:

Looking creates dialogue which then reveals details, understanding, and life-long skills for looking at and connecting with art and art museums. No experience necessary.

Maryhill Museum of Art website (invitation to the Slow Art Day event)

This sums up the principle of Slow Art Day in a beautiful way. Thank you, Maryhill Museum of Art for these words, and for your great event.

We can’t wait to see what you come up with for Slow Art Day 2025.

-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. Stay up to date with all events at the Maryhill Museum of Art via their social media: @maryhillmuseumofart

PKULTRA’s Binary Encoded Slow Art Day

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For their second Slow Art Day, the art gallery PKULTRA, in Seattle, WA, invited visitors to look slowly at the art of gallery owner, Paul Kuniholm – a public artist who works in sculpture, video, mural art, time-based work, as well as digital and, for this exhibit, binary art.

Binary encoding artwork by Paul Kuniholm.

The binary-encoded art series for Slow Art Day consisted of wayfinding and fine art paintings using binary encoding of various light-hearted narratives from emojis, positive affirmations, cognitive behavioral therapy maxims and cheerful quips.

In addition, Kuniholm hosted a live hour-long audio ‘slow’ podcast with lots of silence, random conversation with passerbys, and others during the gallery’s Slow Art Day.

At one point during the podcast, Kuniholm reports that during his training at the Seattle Art Museum he was told the typical visitor spends 7 seconds looking at any individual artwork (a statistic we’ve seen and reported on before). He also muses about the ‘equation’ for slow looking.

After participants looked slowly, they were asked to take a whimsical exit survey (see below).

  • 1. ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH YOUR SLOW ART DAY EXPERIENCE TODAY?   [    ] YES    [     ] NO
  • 2.  HAS ANYONE COMMENTED, YOU SEEM NUMERICAL? A TEN, ETC [    ] YES    [     ] NO
  • 3. DO YOU HAVE A SECRET “MAGIC” NUMBER? [    ] YES    [     ] NO
  • 4.  DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE NUMBER SONG? [    ] YES    [     ] NO
  • 5.  DO YOU USE YOUR FINGERS, DIGITS, FOR MATH?        [    ] YES    [     ] NO
  • 6.  ARE YOU ALWAYS LOOKING OUT FOR NUMBER ONE?        [    ] YES    [     ] NO

At Slow Art Day HQ we are glad that PKULTURA has joined the Slow Art Day movement, and hope that other artist-run galleries take inspiration to host their own event in 2024.

-Johanna, Phyl, Ashley, and Jessica Jane.

P.S. Check out their Instagram for more information about PKULTURA.