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| SHAKERS DANCING AT WORSHIP WIKIPEDIA |
Shakers were industrious, inventive, and disciplined in their everyday activities. They were productive in many areas of their culture; furniture production, seed production, textiles, architecture, and other artistic endeavors. peaking during the 1800s.
Religion played a part in their culture as well as abstinence Males and females slept, lived and ate separately. On Sunday, their religious day, their dancing was done with spiritual spontaneity in the meeting hall . This spontaneous dancing gave them the name "shakers" to the outside world. Both men and women participated in the dancing, yet were segregated.
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| SHAKER PICTORIAL HORSE RUG PROBABLE DATE AROUND THE 1840s |
The rugs in the exhibit were made by sewing small folded pieces of cloth to the rug's backing and finishing the edges with braided pieces of cloth.
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| CLOSE VIEW OF THE ABOVE HORSE RUG PROBABLE DATE AROUND THE 1840s |
Included here are two pictorial rug examples that I photographed at the Pleasant Hill exhibit. Most rugs made by the Shakers are not pictorial. The rugs that were made at Pleasant Hill average 3X5 feet making them all rectangular.
Beverly Gordon in her well researched book, Shaker Textile Art, believes these two pictorial rugs are probably from about the 1840s.
I viewed these rugs with my interpretive eye. I wanted to get a sense of the woman that made each one. Perhaps you will notice cues, other than mine, to the maker's personality within the rug design.
The "horse" rug is vibrant, colorful and was designed in a naive manner. This told me perhaps that the women put her soul into her work, had a lively life in the Shaker community, and was rather out of touch with the world about her -- by her naive design. I believe the horse would to be a reflection of the importance of this animal to their society?
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| SHAKER "GOOD" PICTORIAL RUG |
The pictorial "GOOD" rug was again naive, colorful and soulful. The "Good" might be a reminder that within their world this was an important way to be.
All conjecture on my part.
Shakers were a large society that accomplished so much during their active time. I would recommend the Beverly Gordon book as a great start to learn the ways of the Shakers.
Reference:
Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill
