Photo credit: Catskill Photography Studio
Shaker Museum, which stewards the most comprehensive collection of Shaker material culture and archives, held a groundbreaking celebration to mark the commencement of the construction phase on its new 21st-century museum home. Empire State Development Regional Director Michael Yevoli and New York State Council on the Arts Capital Program Director Katie Steger joined Chatham Mayor John Howe, Shaker Museum Board Chair Paul Cassidy, staff, donors and the local community to put shovels in the ground and get to work. Celebrating the Shaker legacy of providing, nourishing and building up its community and its neighbors, Shaker-style seed packets were distributed to attendees.
The new permanent facility in downtown Chatham, New York, will exhibit more than 18,000 pieces of Shaker material culture and was designed by Selldorf Architects, renowned design firm behind the enhancement and expansion of The Frick Collection and the National Gallery in London.
Read the entire press release here.
Collections Manager
Sharon Duane Koomler is a Shaker scholar and traditional letterpress printer living in upstate New York. She has academic degrees in American Folklore from Indiana University and Western Kentucky University. Sharon has worked at Shaker Museums from Kentucky to New Hampshire as an educator, curator, consultant, and director. She has written and published on Shaker material culture and spirituality, and lectured widely on Shaker art, life, and belief. Sharon has a particular interest in the under-researched social aspects of Shaker life and ways in which Shakers practiced inclusion and intentionality.