Review: Shaker in Chicago: Three Exhibitions on Shaker Art, Design, and Architecture

Abstract

Shaker in Chicago: Three Exhibitions on Shaker Art, Design, and Architecture Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago 7 February–26 April 2015 Curators mounting exhibitions of Shaker objects typically walk a fine line. Do they display these objects as functional artifacts or as exceptional works of art? Shaker in Chicago , mounted by the Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA), attempted to do both, a challenging task, and was not entirely successful in achieving its goal. Although the Shakers produced objects highly regarded by scholars and collectors for their aesthetic value, such as chairs, tables, and oval boxes, they did not think of their products as works of art. Instead, they saw their creations as reflections of their religious and social beliefs as well as means to shape and control behavior in Shaker communities. Shaker in Chicago consisted of three exhibitions. The first two, Gather Up the Fragments: The Andrews Shaker Collection , organized by Hancock Shaker Village and toured by International Arts & Artists, and As It Is in Heaven: The Legacy of Shaker Faith and Design , organized by LUMA, were combined in a series of five galleries. The third exhibition, Order in All Things: Community and Identity in Shaker Architecture , also mounted by LUMA, was located in a separate, but adjacent, corridor gallery. Gather Up the Fragments and As It Is in Heaven relied primarily on the extensive collection assembled by Edward Deming Andrews (1894–1964) and Faith Young Andrews (1896–1990) beginning in …