Slow Art

Following up on my determination to find out more about Alameda, I checked out the calendar on Alamedan.com.  It turns out that 4/27 is Slow Art Day.  Color me intrigued.  Is Slow Art creating art slowly, like the slow food movement?  If so, I'm out, because I'm a writer, not a visual artist, like my late husband.

I poke around the site and there seem to be two rules -- look at one piece of art for ten minutes, then go to lunch to talk about what you saw.  Both of those rules seem well within my skill set.

I clicked on the link to find that over 252 venues world wide are participating in Slow Art Day.  The last time I participated in something on that scale, it was the release of the last Harry Potter book (and proud of it!).

First on the list of participating locations is Aberdeen, Scotland.  Third is Alameda, CA.  I feel so international all ready.  Although I wish I could go to Aberdeen, this year I will stay close to home and travel 1/2 mile down Lincoln Avenue to the Frank Bette Center for the Arts.  If this year goes well, maybe next year in Aberdeen!

I've been wanting to go to the Frank Bette Center for the Arts every since I moved here.  I support art and artists, but have not yet found the time.  Perhaps after I'm done looking slowly I can take a gander at the gallery and the outdoor garden.  This sounds like the perfect opportunity.  I register as "Commitment to attend" since the event is free here (although other locations seem to require payment).  I enter my name and email and Boom!  I'm registered.  So this Saturday, from 10 - 2, I will be doing the slow art thing.

I've been asigned a volunteer host who will help me out.  Evidently, there is pre-assigned art to view.  I assume this is to facillitate the discussion at lunch afterwards -- it will be a lot more interesting if we all slowly looked at the same pieces of art.

They've asked me to spread the word, so I am doing so now.  There are locations in SF (Legion of Honor and SF Moma and three locations in Oakland, for those of you interested in wandering farther afield.  If anyone want to join me here in Alameda, I'd be delighted.  This Saturday.  Let me know if you want to go. 

I'll be posting about the experience here and would love to see your comments.  Has anyone done this before?