Art Education Doctoral Student to Launch an Arts-Based Research Project on Oct. 28th

The Department of Art Education invites the FSU community to the launch of Art Education Doctoral student Danielle Henn’s project, an arts based inquiry into the ‘porch culture’ of rural North Florida.

On October 28th, the City of Quincy and Quincy Main Street will be hosting their Sixth Annual Porchfest in conjunction with the 30-year anniversary of Quincy Main Street. Porchfest features a wide variety of music, with musicians assembled on various front porches throughout Quincy’s Historic District. This event is family-friendly and free.

Henn’s project began as a response to the Quincy’s annual Porchfest, which highlights Main Street yet leaves some porches and representations out of the spotlight. Sparked by a doctoral course, Cultural Politics and Public Pedagogies, and also by To Kill a Mockingbird, one of her favorite novels, it will capture a more representational sample of porches by interviewing residents, developing visual narratives, and publishing oral histories about participants’ experiences. The project allows Henn to study porches as “places of negotiation,”  the idea that will allow her to explore history on a personal level with other residents. While interested in the history of the porches, Henn is more interested in the history of the people sitting on those porches. Quoting author and social activist Bell Hooks, “I don’t think you can hate anything that you know intimately,” Henn views her project as developing arts based practice as a form of critical social practice.

FSU students, faculty, staff, and alumni, as well as those interested, are invited to come and converse with Henn this Saturday, October 28th, during the launch of her project within the Porchfest event!