News

Delighted to be invited by the Green Mountain Academy for Lifelong Learning to speak about my research on the Shakers’ use of color. Please join us on Thursday September 10, 5:30-7:00pm at the Southern Vermont Arts Center for Prismatic Utopia. Register for the event, HERE.

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.

Thrilled and honored to be presenting my paper, ‘building Harmony | constructing Color’ at the upcoming Dublin Seminar, Futurecasting, Futurekeeping: New Englanders Imagine Worlds to Come.

Held at Historic Deerfield (Deerfield, MA), June 26-27, 2026. Register for either in-person or virtual HERE. And, view the schedule, HERE.

Sponsored by American Antiquarian Society, Boston University American Studies Program, Communal Studies Association, Historic Deerfield, Historic Northampton and University of Massachusetts Public History Program.

[L: South Union Shaker Village R: Faber Birren, New Horizons of Color from Wolf Collection Historic Deerfield]

Thrilled to participate in The Nomenclature of Colours IV, an online exhibition accompanying The Slade School of Arts, Colour & Poetry: Symposium VIII. View the exhibition HERE.

So thrilled for the 2026 Colour & Poetry: A Symposium VIII and feel so lucky to be presenting again this year amongst scholars, poets, painters, makers, historians. Thanks to the Slade School of Fine Art for this amazing yearly event!

Saturday March 21 from 10am to 5pm (UK time). Register HERE for Saturday’s Online Symposium. 

Saturday Speakers:  Alexandra Loske/  Edward Winters / Vaishali Prazmari / Caroline de Lannoy / Donal Moloney / Maya Silverberg / Jenny  Ihn / George Szirtes / Aurora Headlam Brown / Holly Hendry / Sean Borodale / Viewing of exhibition The Nomenclature of Colours that accompanies Colour & Poetry curated by Stephanie Nebbia / Sharon Morris / Rania Schoretsaniti / Vincent Hart / Indiana Farrell / Mataio Austin Dean / Stella Kajombo  / Colart  / Yannis Ziogas / Elizabeth Mead / Dorothea Lasky / Brece Honeycutt / Ruth Siddall /

16:30  Brece Honeycutt: reading & writing with Mrs. Merrifield [16:30 UK time = 12:30 EST]
Brece Honeycutt, multimedia artist and researcher, gathered poetic excerpts from Mrs. Merrifield (1804-1889) and her colour colleagues, whilst reading selections from the Stephen L. Wolf color book collection at Historic Deerfield Library (Deerfield, MA) during her 2025/26 Fellowship.  She will read from these assembled colour gleanings. 

Hot off the Press | Colour & Poetry 2025.

Thrilled to receive the publication Colour & Poetry published on the occasion of Colour & Poetry: A Symposium VII, 21/22 March 2025.

My poem ‘coerce colour’ found inside.

Looking forward to Colour & Poetry: A Symposium VIII, held virtually on 21 March and in person at The Slade School, London on 22 March 2026!

I am thrilled to be starting 2026 as a Research Fellow at Historic Deerfield Library to use the Stephen L. Wolf Collection. “Wolf built the premier, private library on the topics of paint, varnish, and color theory dating from the sixteenth century onward resulting in around 1,500 titles.” So looking forward to delving into books on COLOR. Thanks so much for the opportunity, Historic Deerfield.

'anything but drab' was installed in the former Shaker Office building at Fruitlands Museum, in conjunction with the exhibition 'a good many hands.' 

Thank you Christie Jackson, Senior Curator; Fruitlands Museum | The Trustees; Hannah Costner, Exhibitions & Catalogue Designer; Kate Wool, photographer.  

Catalogue available for purchase online via Fruitlands HERE.

Please join us on Monday October 27 from 7pm until 8:30pm for three 10 minute artist presentations. I’m calling mine ‘here from there,’ aka how did seeing Tom Davenport’s 1974 Documentary The Shakers lead to a five year research project?

The event is sponsored by the Williamstown Cultural District and will be held at Images Cinema, 50 Spring Street, Williamstown, MA.

Please join Curator Christie Jackson and myself on Saturday October 18th at 2:30pm for a ‘Colorful Conversation’ at Fruitlands Museum, Harvard, MA. We will discuss the role that color–paints & dyes–had in making these two exhibitions.

We will view the two exhibitions currently on view at Fruitlands Museum, ‘a good many hands‘ (curated by Jackson) and ‘anything but drab’ (installation by Brece Honeycutt).

Fruitlands Museum, 102 Prospect Hill Road, Harvard, MA.

Photographs by Kate Wool

If you are strolling in downtown Williamstown MA this autumn, look up for the Eyes on Art Town Banners!

Thrilled to be included with so many talented artists. Click HERE to view all the banners.

Eyes on Art Town banner exhibition is a collaborative project of The Town of Williamstown, Williamstown Cultural District and Williamstown Chamber of Commerce. The banner exhibition is made possible with grant funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council

Shaker Programming at Fruitlands Museum, July – November 2025
The following are programming events related to ‘a good many hands’ and anything but drab. Some listings include a link to register for the event and others will be listed soon. Trustees members are either free or have a reduced fee for the events.

Curator’s Tour: Christie Jackson, Senior Curator
Saturday, August 9, 12:00pm; Curator’s Tour: ‘a good many hands’ – The Trustees of Reservations
Friday, August 15, 12:00pm; Curator’s Tour: ‘a good many hands’ – The Trustees of Reservations
Friday, September 12, 12:00pm; Curator’s Tour: ‘a good many hands’ – The Trustees of Reservations
Friday, October 3, 12:00pm; Curator’s Tour: ‘a good many hands’ – The Trustees of Reservations
Ever wonder how objects are chosen for exhibitions? Or what discoveries are made during the process of putting an exhibit together? Join Senior Curator Christie Jackson for a behind-the-scenes view of the exhibit ‘a good many hands’ with special access to objects and the stories behind them.

Drop-in Bookmaking workshop
Saturday, August 9, 12pm – 3pm
Drop-in Bookmaking Workshop – The Trustees of Reservations
Can you make a book from one sheet of paper? Come find out in this afternoon drop-in workshop. Join artist Brece Honeycutt to learn how to make a simple book from one sheet of paper. Brece is behind the current art installation, anything but drab, exploring Shaker use of color.

Drop-in dye demonstration
Saturday, September 20, 11am – 3pm
Outside Shaker Office
This is during the Fruitlands Museum Craft Fair. No registration needed, ongoing throughout the day.
The fee for the day includes admission to the Craft Fair and to the museum buildings.
Historically, Shakers dyed their clothes a myriad of colors—blues, pinks, reds, purples and browns. Artist Brece Honeycutt will be dipping into dyepots and pulling out vibrant shades of indigo/blue, madder/red and goldenrod/yellow. Stop by to see how color is made from roots and flowers.

Lecture: Christie Jackson, Senior Curator
“Pretty in Pink: Shaker’s Use of Pink and other Stories of the Color Through the Centuries.”
Wednesday, September 10, 6:30pm
Registration information forthcoming.
The recent cinematic explosion of Barbie brought the color pink to the forefront of fashion and culture. This, though, is not the first time that pink has had its heyday. Senior Curator Christie Jackson will examine the vivid hue’s appeal over the centuries, with a special focus on its use in the Shaker Office at Fruitlands Museum where the prominence of pink was a surprising discovery made during a recent paint analysis of this historic building.

In Dialogue: A Colorful Conversation Between Artist Brece Honeycuttt and Curator Christie Jackson
Saturday, October 18, 2pm
Registration information forthcoming.
Join us for a conversation between artist Brece Honeycutt and Senior Curator Christie Jackson as they discuss the role that color had in their most recent projects. Both have been on a journey of discovery into the history of color, and will share stories about the Shakers and their use of color.

Fruitlands Museum, 102 Prospect Hill Road, Harvard, MA.  Open Thursday to Sunday 10am to 4pm.

Just as nineteenth century Shakers used contemporary paint manuals and pigments, chrome yellow and Prussian blue, they consulted contemporary dye books: Elijah Bemis’ The Dyer’s Companion (New Haven, CT 1815) and Molony’s Masterpiece on wool, silk and cotton dyeing (Lowell, MA 1837).

Dye recipes fill the pages of a mid-19th century Sister’s book from the Harvard Shaker Community. More colors than one can imagine. Dye books speak of possibilities, tantalizing tints of deep dark indigo, rosy reds of madder, geranium scarlet cochineal, dove grey drab and London brown. Dyeing is science, measuring, mixing and timing. Dyeing is days of preparation: grinding, heating, boiling, dipping and dipping, rinsing and more rinsing and finally drying. Color comes at times fast and at others relentlessly slow, and only revealed when the cloth is completely dry.

Painted in layers of watercolors and inks, crisscrossed like a warp and weft or striated light lines streaming into a room, Honeycutt’s accordion book anything but drab sits on a Prussian blue Shaker work table, recalls a bolt of dyed cloth or an unfolded Shaker map and speaks to the root of accordion, accord. Each fold builds on another, joined in unity and harmony, an accordance. Around the room, Shaker umbrella swifts, reels to wind yarn into balls, constructed by Brethren and used by Sisters, further demonstrate the duality, the equality, the accordance.

Four of Honeycutt’s poems accompany the exhibition: anything but drab, we collour, ROYGBIV, and spirt/earth/air/fire. Listen to her read these on Sound cloud, here.

Across from the Shaker Office building on Fruitlands grounds sits the Seasonal Gallery with the exhibition “a good many hands” Shaker Communities Woven through Word, Image and Object curated by Senior Curator Christie Jackson.

Fruitlands Museum, 102 Prospect Hill Road, Harvard, Massachusetts 01451

Thursday through Sunday, 10 AM - 4 PM. Grounds are open dawn to dusk.