{"product_id":"prismatic-utopia-exploring-the-practical-temporal-and-spiritual-uses-of-color-in-shaker-life","title":"Prismatic Utopia: Exploring the Practical, Temporal, and Spiritual Uses of Color in Shaker Life - 10 Sep 2026","description":"\u003cdiv style=\"color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; background-color: #ffffff;\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in; line-height: 18.4px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Avenir Next LT Pro', sans-serif;\"\u003ePrismatic Utopia explores the practical, temporal, and spiritual uses of color in the Shaker community between 1790 and 1860.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in; line-height: 18.4px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Avenir Next LT Pro', sans-serif;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in; line-height: 18.4px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Avenir Next LT Pro', sans-serif;\"\u003ePractical.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Avenir Next LT Pro', sans-serif;\"\u003e The Enlightenment era saw major developments in color theory and pigment technology—from Isaac Newton’s \u003cem\u003eOpticks\u003c\/em\u003e to new pigments such as Prussian blue and chrome yellow, and the writings of thinkers including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. This talk shows how the Shakers engaged with these ideas and embraced emerging color technologies.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in; line-height: 18.4px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Avenir Next LT Pro', sans-serif;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in; line-height: 18.4px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Avenir Next LT Pro', sans-serif;\"\u003eTemporal.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Avenir Next LT Pro', sans-serif;\"\u003e Shaker use of paint on buildings stood in contrast to surrounding 19th-century New England towns. Their writings carefully documented where color could be used, who applied it, and even the paint formulas themselves. Particular attention is given to Prussian blue and chrome yellow, colors that symbolically linked heaven and utility.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in; line-height: 18.4px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Avenir Next LT Pro', sans-serif;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in; line-height: 18.4px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Avenir Next LT Pro', sans-serif;\"\u003eSpiritual.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Avenir Next LT Pro', sans-serif;\"\u003e Light—and therefore color—appears throughout Shaker theology, songs, and art. Figures such as Ann Lee and theologian Calvin Green wrote of divine light and “beauteous colors,” while Shaker Gift Drawings used the same pigments found in their built world. The talk suggests that Shaker communities sought to create a physical utopia adorned in color—a true prismatic utopia, where heaven and earth reflect one another.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in; line-height: 18.4px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Avenir Next LT Pro', sans-serif;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in; line-height: 18.4px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Avenir Next LT Pro', sans-serif;\"\u003eBrece Honeycutt\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Avenir Next LT Pro', sans-serif;\"\u003e is a multimedia artist with a B.A. in Art History from Skidmore College and an M.F.A. in Sculpture from Columbia University, whose research-driven practice centers on history and nature. Her long-term project, Prismatic Utopia, documents Shaker communal society and has earned her numerous prestigious fellowships and residencies, including a 2025\/26 Historic Deerfield Libraries Research Fellowship to explore a 1,200-volume color-related book collection, a 2023 Winterthur Maker-Creator Fellowship to investigate the Edward Deming Andrews Memorial Shaker Collection, and a 2020 Artist in Residency at Hancock Shaker Village. Her 2025 solo exhibition, \"anything but drab,\" was mounted in the historic Shaker building at Fruitlands Museum and accompanied by a catalogue, and she has presented her research at both the Deerfield Fall Forum and the Shaker Forum, where she received the annual award for demonstrating the highest standard in new outstanding scholarship. Her collaborative performance work, \u003cem\u003emeetinghouse\u003c\/em\u003e — a blend of her own spoken word and Shaker songs sung by Miriam Cantor-Stone — was performed at the Watervliet Meetinghouse in Albany, NY as part of the Moonbow series in 2023, with an excerpt published in Early American Literature 59:3 (2024) and a subsequent podcast released in 2025.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"event-calendar-app","offers":[{"title":"Registration Fee","offer_id":45804300402879,"sku":null,"price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0634\/4723\/6799\/files\/unnamed_5be43f78-b9b4-4157-aa38-159e50ad5f0b.jpg?v=1782922485","url":"https:\/\/greenmtnacademy.org\/products\/prismatic-utopia-exploring-the-practical-temporal-and-spiritual-uses-of-color-in-shaker-life","provider":"Green Mountain Academy for Lifelong Learning","version":"1.0","type":"link"}