SCENE AROUND: Mountain View

 

In celebration of its sixtieth anniversary, the Shaker Museum and Library—currently transitioning from Old Chatham to the historic Mount Lebanon Shaker Village in New Lebanon, N.Y.—is mounting an exhibition of contemporary and archival photography taken from the literal peak of the Shaker movement. Showcased at the Darrow School’s modern Joline Arts Center, Visions of Mount Lebanon (June 27 to July 3) features works by approximately thirty local and national photographers such as Uli Rose, Michel Arnaud, and regular Berkshire Living contributors Scott Barrow, Jane Feldman, Jason Houston, Paul Rocheleau, and Kevin Sprague, plus historic images dating as far back as 1871 and large-format shots taken last year by the U.S. National Park Service.

 

“The Shakers were really private,” notes museum president David Stocks, “but they wanted to get the word out, too, so they actually invited photographers in the nineteenth century, as a way of proselytizing their message.”

 

As such, an additional gallery will showcase digital images taken on campus by the public this spring, as well as works by students from various local schools. Guest juror Jeff L. Rosenheim, curator of photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a self-described Shaker fanatic, offers commentary on these amateur snapshots, a select few of which will be auctioned off with the professional works to support the restoration of the Shaker Museum and Library on its native soil. [JUNE 2010]
 

 

THE GOODS

Visions of Mount Lebanon
Jun 27 - Jul 3 at 12-5
Lecture: Do You Know Any of
These Good Folks?
Photographing the Shakers
Jun 30 at 7
Joline Arts Center at Darrow School
New Lebanon, N.Y.

www.shakermuseumandlibrary.org