Evening Encounters: Slow Looking in the Galleries

Evening Encounters: Slow Looking in the Galleries is at the Denver Art Museum on Saturday, November 7, from 5 PM to 7 PM. It's part of the museum's Mindful Looking program, which is exactly what it sounds like: an invitation to slow down and spend real time with a single work of art rather than glancing at everything in a rush.

Throughout the evening, specially trained docents lead discussions around selected pieces every half hour. Because the sessions are spaced out, you can build your own tour through the galleries, picking the works that interest you and skipping the rest. It's a more conversational way to experience the collection than walking through on your own.

The lineup for the night spans both the Hamilton and Martin buildings. In the Hamilton Building, you'll find Charles M. Russell's In the Wake of the Buffalo Runners on level 1 in the Storytellers gallery, and Elaine de Kooning's Bullfight on level 3. Over in the Martin Building, Teri Greeves' Sons of the Sun is on level 3, and Don Stinson's High Beams and Starlight: Beyond Absence - Double Negative, July 2003 PM is up on level 7. That's a fair bit of ground to cover, so the half-hour intervals give you plenty of time to move between the two buildings without feeling rushed.

Admission is free for the whole museum that day, as it's an SCFD Free Day at the DAM, and the museum stays open late until 10 PM. So you can come for the docent-led discussions from 5 PM to 7 PM and then keep wandering through the galleries long after the program wraps up. The event runs from 5 PM to 7 PM on Saturday, November 7, with free general admission.