The Portland Museum of Art presents an exhibition of the most significant collection of Shaker objects. Gather Up the Fragments: The Andrews Shaker Collection, on view October 27, 2011 – February 5, 2012.
Gather Up the Fragments: The Andrews Shaker Collection tells the story of the first and most avid collectors of the Shaker art, Faith and Edward Deming Andrews. From the 1920s through the 1960s, the Andrews actively pursued Shaker objects, collecting mainly from the Shakers themselves. Through careful documentation and scholarship, the Andrews illuminated these materials and their collection has bequeathed to future generations the most comprehensive body of evidence on the culture of the United Society of Believers. The exhibition, which includes more than 200 objects, is the most comprehensive collection of Shaker materials ever assembled and will feature the work of Shaker communities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York. Works on view include Shaker furniture, printed works, visual art, tools, textiles, and small crafts collected during four decades.
Gather Up the Fragments is organized by Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield, MA and toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, D.C. Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. www.portlandmuseum.org