Shaker exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum presents a new way to live

If one piece of furniture might encapsulate the steadfast beliefs of the Shakers, the central figures of the Milwaukee Art Museum's latest major exhibition, it would be the modest bench that opens the show.

Stretching more than a dozen feet in length, it's held up by only six spindle legs and uninterrupted by cumbersome armrests. It's minimal, bearing no ornamental markings and made of just enough material to function, yet it is enough to hold a small community, a large family or a group of strangers.

It is a befitting introduction to "The Shakers: A World in the Making," which ponders a prescient question: what might it take to build a better world?

As is demonstrated with the abnormally long bench, the Shakers designed with accessibility and function in mind, rather than opulence or ornamentation. The exhibition features furniture, tools, and other Shaker inventions to chronicle the development and purpose of their still revered design techniques.

Building the world they believe in

The Shakers, known formally as the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, are a separatist Christian community founded by Mother Ann Lee in the late 18th century.

Though their legacy lives on in the few Shakers that inhabit the last known village in Sabbathday Lake, Maine, they are often remembered, at least in the design world, for their widely revered craftsmanship.

The Shakers began developing a unique artisan ethos in the late 18th century as members started crafting tools, furniture, textiles, domestic objects and architecture to outfit their growing communities. Just as their lives reflected a profound belief in modesty, generosity and egalitarianism, their designs were deliberately crafted to equip them to live those principles out.

Their dormitory-style homes were inhabited by up to 100 people, all considered members of the same family. These dwelling houses, as they were known, were efficiently heated by Shaker-made cast-iron, wood-burning stoves, rather than traditional fireplaces.

The same stoves also warmed five clothing irons for the heaps of laundry Shakers were responsible for doing. Whenever possible, Shakers developed tools that could accomplish multiple tasks.

"The Shakers would hate a uni-[purpose] tool, I think," said Shoshana Resnikoff, Demmer curator of 20th- and 21st-century design at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Function and efficiency were prioritized, Resnikoff explained, so most every tool had multiple uses.

Their communities maintained principles like shared property, equality of the sexes, pacifism, charity and celibacy. Though everything was shared, certain architectural elements, like staircases, were made in duplicate, so the men could use one and the women another.

In their guiding principles, laid out in the Millennial Laws, Shakers are forbidden from making or purchasing anything that might feed the pride or vanity within them.

The proto-modernist quality of their craftsmanship drew interest from non-members, leading the Shakers to engage with the world outside of their villages. Their devout belief in creating self-sufficient communities secluded from outside temptation had one real exception: the marketplace.

By the mid 19th century, their designs had gained national recognition, winning them the bronze medal at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition and prompting a major Shaker design exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1935.

As Shaker designs boomed, craftsmanship became a money-making force as well as a vital service to the Shaker community. They standardized their designs for large-scale production, trained new converts in their craftsmanship, and began innovating.

The innovations often met the needs of their substantial aging population and those who had disabilities. They developed an adult crib to rock Shakers who'd fallen ill, walkers comprised of their signature wooden spindles, and a special platform shoe for a woman whose legs were different lengths.

In an age of snake oils and magical herbs, the Shakers also developed medicinal herbs and botanical treatments, which became lauded for their trustworthiness.

Minimal perhaps, but never dull

It's easy to associate the Shakers with dullness, presuming that their minimalist ethos reflects a life devoid of pleasure. But their frenzied worship style and richly saturated textiles reveal they had more nuanced understanding of minimalism, ornamentation and pleasure.

As Resnikoff put it, borrowing the words of Japanese designer Shiro Kuramata, there are moments when beauty is incorporated as its own kind of function.

"I don't want to put words into the mouths of the Shakers, but certainly when I see their designs, to me, the sort of love that they feel for humanity and for God and for their community comes through those objects. It improves the experience of looking at those objects. And so that has its own utility, even if it's not directly tied to the function," she said.

But the minimalist furniture, 19th-century drawings and communal domestic objects that ground the first section of the exhibit are only the beginning.

In many moments throughout the exhibit, photography and didactic labels are displayed on fabric rather than traditional frames. In contrast to the natural stains that coat their wooden furniture, the Shakers' textiles for clothing and quilting are often dyed with bright colors.

'The Shaker world is actually quite bright," Resnikoff said. "In fact, in many ways, [exhibit designers] FormaFantasma took Shaker colors and dialed it down a notch."

The Shaker world also has adapted in its more-than-250-year existence. Their furniture is merely one manifestation of their reverence before God. Another, perhaps more spiritual reflection, is their worship, which echoes throughout the exhibit.

Soulful voices and the rhythmic steps of dancing feet bellow no matter where you are in the show. They echo from a filmed performance homage to Mother Rebecca Cox Jackson, the founder of the first urban and majority Black Shaker community. Produced by Milwaukee-born dancer Reggie Wilson and his Fist and Heel Performance Group, the piece imagines what Black Shaker worship might have looked like by drawing on traditional Shaker worship practices and African American shout traditions.

If you go

"The Shakers: A World in the Making" is on view at the Milwaukee Art Museum, 700 N. Art Museum Drive, in the Baker/Rowland galleries through Jan. 31, 2027.

The museum will host several interactive programs to accompany the exhibit work before the show's close, including a gallery talk on Nov. 19 and a curator-led tour on Dec. 16. For the full list of programs, visit mam.org/exhibitions/the-shakers/#events .

The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday and Wednesday, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday. Admission is $27 for adults; $20 for students, seniors (65 and older) and military; free for kids 12 and under and Wisconsin K-12 teachers, with school ID or pay stub; and pay-what-you wish for everyone from 4 to 8 p.m. every Thursday.

Anya Sesay covers arts and culture for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Send her story ideas, things to see and people to meet at asesay@usatodayco.com . Follow her on Instagram @anyanic0lette .

Anya's reporting is supported by the Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation, the Maine-based Rabkin Foundation, and reader contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project . Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support . Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: "JS Community Journalism") and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Shaker exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum presents a new way to live