Monday, October 19

Slow Art

{the MFA Boston group having lunch and chatting about art images via payal}
{MFA crew on their second lap, AFTER lunch! They could not get enough}

{cathy and jennifer, 2 WAM guests looking at an El Greco, chatting about symbolism}


{Del Sarto piece, found in Worcester, MA in '77}


{The signature of Albrucht Dürer, as seen in The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown}


No dust settles around here, let me just tell you how busy we are doing, seeing, learning, expanding our horizons. What a group we have. I just love this place! This weekend a bunch of us took part in a worldwide event called "Slow Art", initiated by Phil Terry of The Reading Odyssey. Phil contacted us looking for help with his project, setting up Slow Art in Boston. We grew very excited and immediately started planning Slow Art Boston at MFA and a Slow Art Worcester at the WAM. Sixteen cities around the world are celebrating Slow Art.

What is it exactly? Theoretically, I would be pretty happy if we started celebrating "Slow Life" sometimes. We are all so busy most of the time. Meal times are rushed, days are rushed, family acitivities are rushed. Taking time to visit your local art museum, where the average time spent looking at a piece is under 10 seconds.......should not be so rushed. Sloooow down, enjoy the moment, the colors, the mood of art. Look at the details, emotions evoked, why does it speak to you or not at all? Compare the feelings you have looking at two different pieces. Excercise all these things. Whether you are a novice or an art historian, Slow Art is such a great platform to learn more about people looking at art, the social impact of art, and most of all to ignite your creative soul with visual and conversational fuel.

Slow Art was pretty amazing! I walked away from my museum falling in love with the work of Redon, learning about the tale of a long lost Del Sarto found in a church attic here in town, and seeing the excitement one "Slow Art-ee" felt when she saw the signature on a Albrucht Dürer woodcut print. Frantically, I watched her take her book, The Lost Symbol out of her bag and turn to the page that Dan Brown wrote about! It was an eye opening and insightful day. I can't wait for the next one!

Jesse Rhodes and Jeff Gates at the Smithsonian, writes about Slow Art, here and here, respectively.

If you would like to bring Slow Art to your local museum, just contact Phil Terry and he can give you the s-low down. Take part in this event and put your museum on the slow track, learning from your diverse peers, seeing with new eyes, making new friends you never knew you had, and sharing insight and opinions. Fuel your creative spirit slowly and intentionally!

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