KINDRED SPIRITS

1995. 168 pages. 100 color photographs. Foreword by Martha Longenecker, Director. Prologue by Shaker Scholar June Sprigg. Commentary by William Thrasher, Guest Curator.

From our previous exhibition,KINDRED SPIRTIS — The Eloquence of Function in American Shaker and Japanese Arts of Daily Life. Guest-curated by William Thrasher. This exhibition was based on a major loan from Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Other objects in the exhibition were from The Art Complex Museum, The Brooklyn Museum, The Fruitlands Museums, Kitamaesen Museum and the Kaga City Board of Education, Mingei International Museum, Mingeikan, Tokyo, The Peabody Essex Museum, The Western Reserve Historical Society and Library and private collections.

This exhibition revealed the extraordinary similarities within two contrasting cultures. They share standards of excellence in making objects for daily use, resulting from skilled and sensitive use of natural materials, and a reverence for the work of human hands. Kindred Spirits brought together for the first time a broad spectrum of American Shaker and Japanese crafts representing rich regional traditions. The exhibition featured approximately 200 of the finest objects used in American Shaker and Japanese daily life — furniture, textiles, baskets, tools, and domestic utensils made of wood, metal, paper, lacquer, and natural fibers. Related films accompanied the exhibition.

Excerpt from the book

Forward by Martha W. Longenecker

Founder and Director - Mingei International Museum of World Folk Art

Within the pages of this book is an opportunity to look quietly at many different arts of daily life created by men and women to fulfill essential needs. Their strong, simplified forms are the flowering of living traditions of order—order rooted in both the East and the West. Within the contrasting cultures, similarities between American Shaker and Japanese arts of daily life have often been observed and noted, as in Tansu by authors Ty and Kiyoko Heineken. "Both the belief in an inherent spirit in each object and the Shinto emphasis on purity contributed toward a unique aesthetic that utilizes space and materials most effectively. This aesthetic is evident in every facet of Japanese culture, and it is especially prominent in traditional architecture .

"In a similar quest for purity, the Bauhaus in the 1920s postulated the design precept 'less is more,' approximately one thousand years after Japan had developed a similar aesthetic. Perhaps even more closely analogous to the Japanese experience than the Bauhaus are the Shaker communal experiments of the nineteenth century. Although the strict religious tenets of the Shakers may not be relevant, their glorification of God through the effective utilization of time and resources developed into a Western aesthetic based upon purity in some ways strikingly similar to that of the Japanese.

"A comparison of cabinetry reveals that, for both the Japanese craftsmen and the Shakers, form was primarily determined by function. Simplicity, balance, utility, and durability are common characteristics. In their specific approaches to materials and techniques, both cultures relied upon local woods, avoided decorative joinery, and shunned veneers in favor of the honesty of solid woods."

Commentary by William Thrasher, Guest Curator

"The believer worked patiently, lovingly, earnestly, until his spirit was satisfied that the work was 'Just right. " Fidelity to the demands of the workman-like conscience was a fundamental act of worship. Through fidelity, the workman became an instrument of God's loving care for the community. His work was therefore fruit of the Shaker Covenant...."

Thomas Merton from Religion in Wood: A Book of Shaker Furniture

"The labor of Japanese craftsmen in making things provided in itself the reaffirmation of existence... Tools could become one with and inseparable from the craftsman, it was thought, and this led to the idea of the personification of tools.... This view of the meaning of work and of tools is still very much alive in Japan today. Contemporary Japanese feel the presence of the divine - the invisible realm of the anima - in every part of the creative process."

Mitsukuni Yoshida Tsu Ku Ru: Aesthetics at Work

I have often envisioned this exhibition without a single word of commentary.- objects alone, with no dates, no provenance, no information other than what the objects alone provide. Still, such an experience is possible; one need only ignore the descriptive captions. However, because this exhibition focuses attention on utilitarian objects, most of which were used in daily life, I will try to provide a basic framework for understanding them for what they are, some far removed from the people and the time in which they were produced. Ultimately, the objects speak for themselves. As George Steiner says, "The best readings of art are art."...

These are materials of culture that come from two distinct groups whose lives are unfamiliar to most people, with patterns of living very different from those of today. Relatively few people now make baskets, spin fibers and weave textiles out of pure necessity. It is, therefore, important to remember that most of the objects in this exhibition are things that were made because people needed them.

Consequently, this exhibition is first about objects made by hand. Some, such as the Shaker broom, are so quiet and simple that were they not singled out, they might go unnoticed. Others, like the Shaker ribbon maple case of drawers and the Japanese painted fireman's coat, are so intricate and elaborate that it is difficult to envision them in an ordinary setting. A few, such as the Shaker quilted red velvet bonnet or the Japanese black lacquer water container for tea ceremony, are unusual pieces for special.....