The Shakers: A World in the Making

How do we make a better world? This is the question at the core of the exhibition The Shakers: A World in the Making, which explores the material world of the Shakers and their continuing influence on contemporary art and design.

A Christian community founded in the late 18th century on the values of communal living and celibacy, the Shakers became widely known in the following decades for their beautifully made furniture—particularly chairs—and other domestic and commercial objects. Streamlined and simple, these designs seem to presage modernism, but they come out of a religious belief in modesty, simplicity, and radical equality.

The Shakers: A World in the Making puts the work of eight contemporary artists and designers in conversation with historic objects and architecture from the collection of the Shaker Museum to highlight philosophies and concerns that transcend centuries. Shaker objects and contemporary art and design overlap in the exhibition, which touches on issues of ethical design, healthcare and aging, and relationships to tradition and change, to name just a few. From a full-scale recreation of a Shaker meetinghouse executed in cardboard and paper to dance performances that imagine Black Shaker worship, the exhibition invites a new way to look at the Shakers and what they can offer us today.

The Shakers: A World in the Making is the largest traveling exhibition of Shaker objects in decades and the result of a landmark partnership between Vitra Design Museum in Germany, the Wüstenrot Foundation, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, and Milwaukee Art Museum, with the essential collaboration of the Shaker Museum in Chatham, New York.

Learn more at mam.org/the-shakers.

Amie Cunat
Born and raised in McHenry, Illinois, artist Amie Cunat has long been familiar with Milwaukee Art Museum. Now a Brooklynite, her contribution to the exhibition is a recreation of a Shaker meetinghouse built from cardboard and brightly colored paper—an immersive experience that invites visitors to consider their own role in building community.

Studio Gorm (John and Wonhee Arndt)
John (born and raised near Oconomowoc) and Wonhee Arndt are partners in work and life who collaborate under the name Studio Gorm. As part of the design collective Furnishing Utopia, Studio Gorm have made a number of designs directly inspired by the Shakers’ culture of simplified production. Their rocking chair and baskets are on view in the exhibition alongside other objects from Furnishing Utopia designers.

Reggie Wilson
Reggie Wilson is an internationally acclaimed choreographer, producer, and dancer. A graduate of Rufus King High School in Milwaukee, Wilson has maintained deep roots in the city, collaborating with Lynden Sculpture Garden in an annual residency. His work in the exhibition, POWER with his dance company Fist & Heel is an exploration of Black Shaker dance traditions

Exhibition catalog

Continue exploring the enduring influence of Shaker design, available at the Museum Store.

$85/$76.50 Member

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