April 12th is Slow Art Day

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.

Henry David Thoreau

Slow Art Day is the global all-volunteer event with a simple mission: help more people discover for themselves the joy of looking at and loving art.

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 an expert (or expertise).

And that’s an exciting discovery. It unlocks passion and creativity and helps to create more art fans.

One day each year – April 12 in 2014 – people all over the world visit local museums and galleries to look at art slowly. Participants look at five works of art for 10 minutes each and then meet together over lunch to talk about their experience. That’s it. Simple by design, the goal is to focus on the art and the art of seeing.

In fact, Slow Art Day works best when people look at the art on their own slowly and then meet up to discuss the experience (though some hosts decide to do the discussion right in the gallery).