The Farnsworth Art Museum, at 16 Museum St. in Rockland, is extending the exhibition “The Shakers: From Mount Lebanon to the World,” through March 8.

The show opened in June and features about 100 works. The exhibit was organized in partnership with the Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon in New Lebanon, New York, and the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village Museum in New Gloucester.

The show presents a broad look at the religious, social and economic foundations of Shaker life as seen through Shaker-made objects from Mount Lebanon, the spiritual and administrative center of the Shaker world. It also includes a section on the Shakers at Sabbathday Lake in Maine, the last active Shaker community.

The exhibition has received critical acclaim. The Wall Street Journal called the exhibition “an uplifting exhibition (which) highlights American ingenuity, resilience and fearlessness.” Daniel Kany, a freelance art critic for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, wrote, “This may well come to be seen as the most important exhibition about Shaker culture ever.”

Lead support for the exhibit includes the Henry Luce Foundation, The Davis Family Foundation and an anonymous donor. Sponsors for the exhibit include Allen Insurance and Financial, Chilton Furniture of Maine, Lie-Nielsen Toolworks, The Grasshopper Shop of Rockland and Windsor Chairmakers.

For more information about the exhibit, go to farnsworthmuseum.org.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.