 |
 |
|
|
Members' Preview and Opening Reception Saturday, July 20, 1996, 6-8 pm
Opening Program:
Panel on Shaker Design.
Saturday, July 20, 4:30 pm
Eighty-six pieces of furniture and decorative arts characterizing the traditional Shaker values of simplicity, utility, order, and fine craftsmanship are included in Shaker: The Art of Craftsmanship. All are drawn from the Mount Lebanon Shaker Collection, which was established to preserve the legacy of America's oldest and most influential Shaker community.
The first Shaker community was founded at New Lebanon, New York, in 1785. The model community rose quickly in prominence as the spiritual center of the Shakers. At Mount Lebanon, as in other Shaker villages, Brothers and Sisters practiced the daily routines that defined their sect. They focused their energies on leading spiritual lives, and promoted the virtues of faith, humility, pacifism, patience, thankfulness and charity. The Shakers also developed numerous trades - raising herbs, operating a nationally known chair manufactory, and producing scores of items offered to the tourist trade. Items popular with "the World" were rocking chairs, dolls, capes, rugs and brooms. Yet it is the humble objects made for personal use that most clearly embody the Shaker approach: counters, cupboards and cases of drawers. The simplicity of the design belies the sophistication of the construction methods. This presentation serves as a tribute to the Shakers, who elevated craftsmanship to an art form.
This exhibition is organized and circulated by Art Services
International, a non-profit educational organization. This exhibition is
made possible, in part, with generous support from Del Laboratories, The Herman
Goldman Foundation, the Soros Humanitarian Foundation, and through The
Exhibition Fund.
 |
 |