By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
People in Del Rio are invited to visit five art galleries on Saturday, April 5, and appreciate the
artwork there in an entirely new way – slowly.
Participating galleries will open their doors from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for “Slow Art Day,”
an international event whose stated mission is “helping more people discover for
themselves the joy of looking at and loving art.”
Local galleries involved in Slow Art Day are The Firehouse Gallery, 120 E. Garfield
Ave.; the Lee-Bunch Studio Gallery, 100 W. Greenwood St.; the Casa De La Cultura,
302 Cantu St.; Marcos Mares Art Studio, 205 E. Ogden St. and David Forks Fine Art,
401 Griner St.
According to the website, www.slowartday.com, the movement began in 2008 when Phyl
Terry, founder of Reading Odyssey and founder and CEO of Collaborative Gain, “wanted
to know what would happen if museum and gallery visitors changed the way they looked
at art.”
As a test, Terry decided to spend one hour looking at Hans Hoffman’s “Fantasia” in The
Jewish Museum’s Action/Abstraction exhibition. Terry found the experience
“surprisingly powerful” and began sharing it with others.
The website notes this year nearly 200 galleries and museums across the globe plan to
open their doors to participate in Slow Art Day, inviting visitors toward greater
appreciation of art by looking slowly.
Del Rio Council for the Arts Executive Director Nancy O’Brien shared tips with The 830
Times readers for getting the most out of the Slow Art experience.
These include making yourself comfortable and finding a space that gives you a good
view of the piece of art you choose to experience.
Other tips include looking at the art from different perspectives, looking at the art from
very close up or from farther away, looking at the art from above or below or squinting at
it to appreciate color, shape and value.
The brochure O’Brien shared about Slow Art Day reads, “Why slow? When people look
slowly at a piece of art they make discoveries. The most important discovery they make
is that they can see and experience art without and expert (or expertise). And that’s an
exciting discovery. It unlocks passion and creativity and helps to create more art lovers.”
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com .
