These Colorful Drawings Defy Expectations of Shaker Art

In the 18th century, a singular religious society arrived on American shores from England. Its members were known as Shakers, from their tendency to “shake” off evil during fervent worship. The Shakers lived in communal households devoid of decor. But as a new exhibition of ornate drawings illustrates, they weren’t bound by simplicity. Shaker women made and exchanged—but never displayed—these “token” drawings, which often depicted natural motifs like a “Tree of Life” or flowery garden.

The art conveys a “creative vibrancy” that changes perceptions of Shaker culture, says Emelie Gevalt, the coordinating curator of “Anything but Simple: Gift Drawings and the Shaker Aesthetic” at the American Folk Art Museum in New York. “Whatever sense we might have of Shaker life as austere and strictly disciplined, these images speak to the intensity of feeling Shaker women held in their connection to their spirituality and their community ties.”