Sisters Harvest
Visitor Center, Chace Gallery,
September 11-November 24th
Sisters Harvest celebrates the Sister’s importance in the Shaker Herb and Seed Industries.
The Shaker Sisters were disciplined, hardworking, innovative and entrepreneurial. They desired to be self-sufficient, relying on their own industry to support their communities from the lands in which they lived. Their work ethic made them successful with whatever they chose to do. Providing seeds and medicinal herbs to “the world” were among their most successful of businesses. Objects from the collection relating to the seed and herb industry are on display alongside contemporary artists Alyssa Sakina Mumtaz and Maggie Pate. The Shakers have inspired both artists.
Alyssa Sakina Mumtaz, inspired by visionary gift drawings received at Hancock by Shaker sister Hannah Cohoon in 1845, states, “My woodblock prints reflect on the symbolic multivalence of the lone Witness Tree as well as the idea that trees have consciousness and a gaze of their own. Closely linked to the trees are prints from the series Rizq—an Arabic word for “sustenance”— which depict reciprocal supplicating hands that recall the Hand of Fatima, as well as the familiar Shaker saying, “hands to work, hearts to God.” Realized through a laborious process that fully integrates art with craft, these works draw from a deep history of embodied practice that is at once physical and philosophical.”
Maggie Pate exhibits norens of silk, eco printed with herbs and foliage found at Hancock. Pate states, “The durability and resourcefulness of Shaker women offer bountiful sources of inspiration. They offer a heritage of natural colors from their gardens to their garments. The cross-section of natural colors and textile craftsmanship came to be outlets for creativity and personal expression as well as economic preservation. The meticulous detail that went into days of labor to create one piece – growing plants, harvesting, spinning yarn, weaving into cloth, and calculated dye recipes.”aker Sisters’ ingenuity with and devotion to herb cultivation. Artist Maggie Pate exhibits a series of botanical prints of medicinal herbs on raw silk. Alyssa Sakina Mumtaz exhibits her Rizq series.