Chalking Penn was a performance piece and collaboration with writer and educator Andrew Fersch for the Dooryard’s Collective Current exhibit in 2017. The exhibit was held at Mechanics’ Hall in Portland, Maine - an organization with a very rich history in education, instruction, and networking for the mechanical arts as well as the “diffusion of useful knowledge.”

Several screenings of a documentary about Fersch’s revolutionary educational model were presented during the month of Collective Current. We utilized the vintage chalkboard in the Hall’s classroom to write the William Penn quote that inspired his pedagogical philosophy. The quote was written each morning the exhibit was opened to the public and erased each afternoon before close. Occurring during the beginning of the Trump presidency, the performance and the quote itself became a profound conversation piece for gallery visitors and an appropriate reminder of the importance of being kind even in uncertain times.

October 2017