Well-loved for their dedication to children and the arts, the Ipswich Art Gallery’s latest offering for kids, Make It Slow, is a hands-on lesson in sustainability, slowing down, and focussing on the art of making.

Make It Slow – What to Expect

Situated on the second level of the gallery, Make it Slow’s interactive installation has been created in conjunction with The Slow Art Collective.

With a strong focus on sustainability, The Slow Art Collective’s creative artists, Chaco Kato and Dylan Martorell, transported recycled materials to the gallery space to create the exhibition’s colourful and impressive central house-like structure, as well as surrounding activities. Built predominately from bamboo and trimmings (off cuts from clothing manufacturing), the exhibit invites visitors to explore the art of weaving, a common activity that is enjoyed across many cultures.

With hanging baskets overflowing with trimmings and craft tables adorned with wool and paddle pop sticks, the gallery room has been transformed into an interactive base for children to add to and create in, without any rules or restrictions. Instead, visitors are encouraged to make “slow art” – to take their time within the space as they focus not so much on what they will create, but on the art of simply making.

The area also includes a forest of poles with musical elements, a wall of patterned nails and colourful cotton to weave on, and a screen playing an interview with the artists about the installation.

Running until February 2025, the idea is for the initial art construction to grow, be built upon, and change as more and more visitors add their own creative touches to it. Then, in line with their sustainability focus, the installation will be slowly dismantled and each material element re-used to create a new installation in its next location.

Make it Slow – Our Review

Over the years, my family have enjoyed all of the kids’ shows, exhibitions, and workshops hosted by the Ipswich Art Gallery that we have attended. In saying that, although generally quite creative, with an age range of 10 – 15 years I wasn’t quite sure if a children’s exhibit based on slow art and weaving would entertain them for long. Especially my 10-year-old, highly active boy!

As it turns out, I needn’t have worried.

When we first entered the space, my kids were immediately drawn to the exhibit’s feature, house-like creation. Exclaiming in delight at its colourfully-woven walls, gently swaying hanging baskets, and soft bean bag-strewn base, they moved quickly to it, their hands eagerly reaching out to strum its soft layers. Encouraged to explore the space slowly by the ever-helpful gallery staff, they then continued on around the room, moving between areas and activities as they contemplated what projects they wanted to work on first.

Surprisingly, what then followed was three hours of quiet activity, exploration, and fun. Each of them took turns weaving both their bodies and the trimmings throughout the walls of the main structure. Whilst my younger two spent some time seeing how many woven strands they could make and combine together to make one long stretch, my eldest spent her time making small woven projects to place in the display boxes.

At different times they rested in the bean bags and looked over what they had done, played the musical poles and weaved their initials and names into the walls, before returning once more to the main structure to see what next creation they could add.

Even my husband got busy weaving and adding, and he enjoyed slowly moving around the giant artwork, discovering new small additions as he went. Spiderwebs, Christmas trees, hearts, or just small hanging vines of material.

In the end, after three hours, it took a bit of encouraging to get the kids to leave. They had grown comfortable in the space during this time and were happy to slowly keep playing and creating within it.

Overall, I think this is a wonderful demonstration of what can happen when we give children time and space with their imagination. I think children of all ages, if encouraged to sit within the space for a while, will all find ways that they can add their own magic to the art in the room.

Our family are already planning to go back near the exhibition’s end, to see how it has evolved since we first sat beneath its newly-created walls.

IAG Feature Exhibition – Arriving Slowly

IAG Kids’ installation, Make It Slow, has been created to compliment the gallery’s current feature exhibition, Arriving Slowly.

On display until mid-February, Arriving Slowly – Exploring the Abstract encourages audiences to connect slowly and deeply with its abstract artworks. Comprising of works from the gallery’s own collection, local artists, and contemporary Australian artists, the exhibition aims to allow audiences to create their own interpretation, perspective, and experience from the art they view. To take their time, absorb the piece, and to see how their relationship changes as they sit with each one.

Arriving Slowly was curated in response to works by Mark Rothko (1903-1970) and Agnes Martin (1912-2004) that Ipswich Art Gallery has on loan from the National Gallery of Australia as part of its Sharing the National Collection / Art Across Australia program.

TIP: Although you may not think your children will be able to sit too long to contemplate each artwork slowly, head to the gallery on a Sunday morning and you may be pleasantly surprised. Tours are run on Sunday’s at 10:30am and my children, with gentle guidance from the guide, ended up spending more than 30 mins quietly watching and discussing one of the works.