COLONIE — When members of the Shaker Heritage Society began talking about boarding up some of the site’s broken windows, Executive Director Johanna Batman wanted to use something more attractive than plywood. The result was an 18-panel mural painted by recent SUNY Albany graduate artist Phoebe Rotter that occupies an entire face of the Washhouse building at the Shaker Heritage site on Meeting House Road.
Rotter’s initial sketches focused on the Shaker gift drawings she found in books borrowed from the Society’s library. Not wanting to simply copy what could be found in a book, she decided to focus on photographs of the Shakers themselves.
“I wanted to incorporate hands specifically because so much of what we can see as Shaker legacy are the things that their hands built,” she said.
While some of the hands appearing in the mural come from old photographs, others are instead modeled after her own.
“The Shaker spirit drawings are unique because for the most part the Shakers actually rejected art and ornamentation as unnecessary,” Batman said.
She described the gift, or spirit drawings that Rotter’s work takes inspiration from as an exception, coming out of a religious revival in the early-to-mid-1800’s, and done primarily by young women.
According to Batman, part of the project’s aim is to honor women’s history in particular at this site.
“The Washhouse building that this artwork was installed on was primarily a women’s work space,” she said.
Rotter was connected to the Shaker Heritage Society via the non-profit arts organization, Albany Center Gallery. Batman first started talking with the gallery’s Executive Director Tony Iadicicco about possible collaborations almost four years ago, but it was not until after her organization received a legislative grant — initiated by Assembly Member Phil Steck and disbursed by the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation — that they were finally able to put their partnership to use.
“The new mural … is a beautiful representation of how the Shakers emphasized values like equality and inclusivity, which are still so relevant and important today,” Steck said.
Most of Rotter’s work was completed during March at the Albany Center Gallery’s Arcade Building in Albany. She started her drawings small, using a projector to slowly scale them up in size, then re-traced all of her work onto wooden panels.
“I went over it with house paint so that it would last in outside application,” Rotter said. “That’s how I like to work in large scale — piece by piece.”
The project was installed in April, and those involved are calling it a temporary installation.
“It’ll be up for the life of the materials basically, so we’re estimating five to seven years,” Batman said.
She added that the Washhouse is a “high priority target for rehabilitation,” in addition to several other buildings on site. Plans for restoration are currently in the works.
“In the interim, and maybe beyond, using those buildings as a canvas for art is a wonderful way to beautify the site,” Batman said.
“I think being at the site location is super important to the piece,” Iadicicco said. “Seeing the nearby land space and buildings that connect with it helps inform the work and the scale of it.”
An official opening for the mural will be held at the Shaker Heritage Society on Saturday, June 3, at 3 p.m. It is free and open to the public.
“I hope it becomes part of the outdoor museum experience — of exploring and seeing the intersections between the past and present,” Batman said.
