Our location at the heart of The University of Alabama’s campus creates near-limitless opportunities for student and faculty engagement.

Dozens of professors from an equally diverse number of UA departments include the Gorgas House as part of their curriculum, research, and community projects.

One such project is Dr. Sharony Green’s Slow Art Day installation. Dr. Green, Associate Professor in The University of Alabama’s Department of History, brings students to the Gorgas House Museum from multiple classes for tours, assignments, and enrichment. She blends her knowledge of history and education seamlessly with a creative and artistic eye. This April, Dr. Green, and her students created and installed an art exhibition for Slow Art Day. This day invites guests to visit a museum or gallery and reflect on just a few art pieces.

The installation includes both physical and digital elements and a free vinyl record selection. Two dress forms showcase possibilities of American self-determination before and after the Antebellum period. Their “pop-up” installation, in Dr. Green’s words, invites guests to “slowly digest images of William C. Gorgas working in the Panama Canal Zone, a digital mash-up of the 1927 motion picture Metropolis, and a Janelle Monae video, and recast student haikus in tribute to our shared past and future via sci-fi writer, Octavia Butler.”

More than 100 guests visited the Gorgas House Museum in just two hours to view the installation. They took pictures, selected records, and brought the space to life with new and refreshing perspectives. We thank Dr. Green and her students for their work, creativity, and eagerness to work with the Gorgas House Museum.

For more information about this project, visit the class’ Slow Art Day website.

– Written by Brandon Thompson, Director of the Gorgas House Museum