Exploring Shaker art and their ‘three C’s’
"Red Cloak Blue Bucket" (water color and dry brush on paper), by Barbara Ernst Prey, in the show "Handled With Care: Shaker Master Crafts and the Art of Barbara Prey,'' at the New Britain (Conn.) Museum of American Art through Feb. 9
The museum says this is part of a collaboration with Hancock Shaker Village.
“This year, we celebrate the 250th anniversary of The United Society of Believers, more commonly called Shakers, in America. This current exhibition continues the series of ‘Masterworks of Shaker Design’ by recognizing a special dimension of the Shakers’ work: their finely crafted, and now beautifully preserved, small crafts. Once despised and persecuted for their beliefs of Communal ownership of all goods and property, Confession of sins in private, and Celibacy—the ‘three C’s—most people now adore so much about the Shakers. This love certainly extends to their long handcraft tradition.
“We also celebrate the achievements of the world-renowned contemporary artist Barbara Ernst Prey. Barbara accepted a commission from Hancock Shaker Village, in the Berkshires, in 2018-2019, to execute a series of large-scale paintings in watercolor and dry brush of any subject that engaged her attention and admiration. Her subject turned out to be both as simple and as complex as the interplay of natural light and Hancock’s built environment.’’
The Round Barn at Hancock Shaker Village.