Color

R O Y G B I V
R A I N B O W

excerpts & lines & lists
from 'prismatic utopia'
poetry manuscript

edited with Heather MacKay Young

Thanks Green Mountain Academy for inviting me to talk about Shaker Color!

Tomorrow September 10 at Southern Vermont Arts Center, 5:30-7pm.

Full information on Green Mountain Academy website:
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Prismatic Utopia explores the practical, temporal, and spiritual uses of color in the Shaker community between 1790 and 1860.
 
Practical. The Enlightenment era saw major developments in color theory and pigment technology—from Isaac Newton’s Opticks 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.
 
Temporal. 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.
 
Spiritual. 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.

morning color chart
31 days 31 poems 31 colors


butter cup tansy
catbird’s russeted feathers
flaming red rooster comb
cloud burst droplets
billowing thatched roofsen
vigee le brun vases
looked up saw turquoise
okra lima beans sky
silver smog nothingness
bulky orange life vest
cocks comb scarlet
honey from the comb
jewel weed flattened leaf
psychedelic rigamarole
summer’s sequenced sultry days
pink pegrail
yellowed paper
wooden docks red squirrels
jaundiced yellow fog glare
bluetiful
rain sky
gulps of cawchee
lilac mountain mist
katydid wings
iridescent weblines
silver spider strands
jewelweed honey
bindweed center
shell without barnacles
flowering goldenrod
berries blueness

[colors found in my morning poem writing]

begrudge doilies
 
 
oval boxes
begrudge doilies
flame red colors
venus east sky
 
 
neon yellow
blue dotted
purple violet
 
 
wrangled lines
noting nothing
onto paper
thoughts
 
cantankerous 
qualities of things
collide
 
.
.
from prismatic utopia, my poetry manuscript

so thankful to poet & editor Heather MacKay Young
for the opportunity to work together on this manuscript

/
lists

//

buckets
basins
bowls
pitchers
pans
pots
lids
pecks
pints
stoves
skillets
sieves
steamers
ranges
roasters
refrigerators

///

gather
procure
harvest
make
mash
sprinkle
simmer
cream
preserve
rise
.
.
timelines
vessels
actions

afternoon
studio

light
moves

food time line
objets/measurements/vessels
actions

( of )     Newton and Optiks
                                      of mystics and mysteries maintained	
                                      of gravity graced and rippled radiuses
                                      of faceted prisms and rainbows realized
                                      of colour continuums and countless confections
 
( of )     vistas and visionaries
                                      of ricocheting and reflecting
                                      of timelessness and tinsel strands
                                      of stars and fourth floor staircases
                                      of simple sincerity and quickenings
                                      of thin redlines and economy of means
 


Tomorrow begins the Dublin Seminar held at Historic Deerfield.  I’ll be giving a paper on Saturday, ‘building Harmony | constructing Color.’ Positing ideas about Shakers early use of architectural color predating 21st century color consultants’ and theorists.

And, this paper wouldn’t have happened without the Historic Deerfield Library Fellowship where I read so many books in the Wolf Collection—1200 books of color! Thanks Mr. Wolf and Historic Deerfield Library.

[excerpt from ‘emanations’ from my upcoming poetry book, ‘prismatic utopia’]

[images all from books in the Wolf Collection at Historic Deerfield Library]

Munsell & Faber Birren
Burris-Meyer & Vanderwalker

old horizons
become new buildings
historical
becomes contemporary

building Harmony | constructing Color
at the upcoming Dublin Seminar
 
[books from Historic Deerfield Library, 
objects from Shaker collections at Pleasant Hill Shaker Village & Shaker Museum]

orange & yellow
yellow & orange
 
book covers and oval boxes
balls of deep orange chair tape
glowing orange doors
chrome yellow carriers and yarn swifts
mustard yellow chair tape
chrome yellow wall peg and chairrails
 
 
rereading books by Faber Birren, Elizabeth Burris-Meyer
Jane Betsy Welling 
on color and industry and harmony
preparing for my talk
building Harmony | constructing Color
at the upcoming Dublin Seminar
 
[books from Historic Deerfield Library, 
objects from Shaker collections at Fruitlands,
Shaker Museum, and glowing orange door at South
Union Shaker Village]

Working on a paper for the upcoming Dublin Seminar entitled ‘building Harmony | constructing Color’ juxtaposing Shaker color and light uses in their buildings later used 20th century design principles.

“Color is an essential part of construction,” Elizabeth Burris-Meyer, ‘Historical Color Guide,’ 1938

 “We see colour as sort of building material, just like bricks and mortar,” says Catrina Stewart, director at OfficeS&M along with Hugh McEwen.  “It’s a very economical material that can really transform a space. It’s something that we explore right from the beginning, instead of designing first and adding colour later.”
[‘Talk of Tone’ by Felix Speller in 23/24 May 2026 House & Home section of the Financial Times]

Images from recent visit to South Union Shaker Village and Pleasant Hill Shaker Village. 

info on Dublin Seminar, HERE. 

circles & lines
circles of chair tape

a whole made  a circle from
a row of chairs

chair tape in the textile collection of the Shaker Museum

circles for today’s flower moon

sky blue azure cobalt
night twilight blue periwinkle
forget me not blue
a blue for the clouds to set against
a theory of blue
blueness happiness elation
a view to another realm
blue sky was early born
blue azure turquoise cobalt cereulean
blue was brought of sea crushed stone
worth more than gold
blue sky mirrors matters
blueness azure cobalt blue sky
upturned sky gaze
seen from space sky
globe of sky blue
blue sky blue


A response to Lucy Ive’s prompt, ‘chroma no. 242’ written on Sunday at The Clark Art Institute. 

If you follow along here, you well know I adore the sky and blue.  Clouds or not. Sunrise and sunsets.  

Thanks Lucy and congratulations!