Milwaukee Art Museum Presents The Shakers: A World in the Making

Landmark exhibition brings rarely traveled Shaker objects into dialogue with contemporary art and design in a major international collaboration.

MILWAUKEE, WI—July 30, 2026—The Milwaukee Art Museum presents The Shakers: A World in the Making, on view September 25, 2026, through January 31, 2027. Bringing together historic Shaker furniture, tools, textiles, and domestic objects with contemporary art and design, the show is the first major traveling exhibition to place extraordinary Shaker objects alongside the contemporary artists and designers they continue to inspire.

Organized in partnership with the Vitra Design Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia with collaboration from Shaker Museum in Chatham, New York, the exhibition brings together more than 150 objects and installations, including extraordinary loans from Shaker Museum, which holds the largest and most comprehensive collection of Shaker material culture in the United States. Many of the historic objects on view rarely travel, making this a singular opportunity for audiences to experience them in dialogue with contemporary voices and ideas.

A World in the Making explores how the Shakers built an entire way of life around equality, communal living, craftsmanship, and intentional design. Through historic objects and immersive contemporary installations, the exhibition examines how those beliefs shaped not only what the Shakers made, but how they lived—and why those ideas continue to resonate today.

“The Shakers created objects with extraordinary care and purpose, but this exhibition is ultimately about much more than design history,” said Shoshana Resnikoff, Demmer Curator of 20th- and 21st-Century Design. “It reveals how a community’s beliefs can shape every aspect of daily life, from architecture and labor to family structure and economics. By placing these historic works alongside contemporary artists and designers, the exhibition invites visitors to consider what those ideas can offer us today.”

Founded in the late 18th century, the Shakers, formally known as the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, organized their communities around shared labor, equality, communal living, and spiritual purpose. Their beliefs shaped not only what they made, but how they lived, worked, and related to one another. For the Shakers, design was never separate from daily life; it was an expression of a larger vision for living.

The exhibition features approximately 90 historic decorative art objects including furniture, tools, domestic goods; textiles and works on paper; and seven contemporary installations that respond to the Shakers’ lasting cultural influence. Contemporary artists and designers featured in the exhibition include Amie Cunat, David Hartt, Finnegan Shannon, Christien Meindertsma, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Reggie Wilson and Fist and Heel Performance Group, Chris Liljenberg Halstrøm, and the design collective Furnishing Utopia.

One of the exhibition’s largest contemporary works is Amie Cunat’s Meetinghouse 2, a walk-in reinterpretation of a Shaker meeting house designed to be experienced collectively by visitors. Other installations explore themes of spirituality, labor, accessibility, community, craft, and the tension between individuality and collective life. Unique to MAM’s presentation of the exhibition is the work of Furnishing Utopia, a collective of designers whose decade-long engagement with Shaker objects explores how the community’s values continue to inform contemporary design.

“The power of this exhibition is not just in the beauty of the objects, but in the ideas they carry forward,” said Kim Sajet, Donna and Donald Baumgartner Director. “It connects historic craft with urgent contemporary conversations about sustainability, community, labor, and how we want to live today. It also reflects the Milwaukee Art Museum’s commitment to presenting exhibitions where art, architecture, design, and contemporary ideas come together in ways that feel culturally relevant right now.”

The exhibition is organized into four thematic sections, examining communal living, material culture, innovation, spirituality, and creative expression. Together, these sections reveal how the Shakers’ ideas extended far beyond aesthetics, shaping systems of making, living, and belonging that continue to influence artists, designers, and broader cultural conversation today.

The Shakers: A World in the Making is co-organized by the Vitra Design Museum (Germany), the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, and the Milwaukee Art Museum. The curatorial team is Mea Hoffmann, Irina Selzer, Shoshana Resnikoff, Chyna Bounds, Hallie Ringle, and Zoë Ryan, in consultation with Jerry Grant, Director of Library & Collections, Shaker Museum, Chatham, New York, and Sharon Duane Koomler, Collections Manager, also of the Shaker Museum, Chatham, New York. Following presentations at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany and the ICA in Philadelphia, the exhibition travels to Milwaukee before continuing the Carnegie Museum of Art in Spring of 2027. Exhibition design was conceived of by the Milan-based studio FormaFantasma.

The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated publication featuring essays, interviews, and artist contributions that expand on the exhibition’s exploration of Shaker life, design, and cultural influence. Featuring newly commissioned photography of Shaker objects and architecture by photographer Alex Lesage, the catalogue offers a dynamic contemporary reappraisal of the Shaker world through contributions by Glenn Admason, Aaron Betsky, Sarah Margolis-Pineo, Shoshana Resnikoff, Mea Hoffmann, Halie Ringle, Mabel O. Wilson, Cauleen Smith, and others. Designed by the London-based studio A Practice for Everyday Life, the publication reflects the exhibition’s intersection of historic material culture and contemporary visual thought.

Support

Leadership sponsor
Collectors’ Corner, Inc.

Supporting sponsor
Christopher and Sally Candee

Media sponsor
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Milwaukee Art Museum extends its sincere thanks to the Visionaries for their support of the exhibition program.
Mark and Debbie Attanasio
Donna and Donald Baumgartner
Murph Burke
Bill and Sandy Haack
Chris Harned and Elizabeth Quadracci Harned
The Helmerich Trust
Kenneth and Alice Kayser
Joan Lubar and John Crouch
Jeff and Gail Yabuki

Visit

The Shakers: A World in the Making is on view September 25, 2026–January 31, 2027, in the Baker/Rowland Galleries.
Learn more by visiting https://mam.org/exhibitions/the-shakers/

Select exhibition programming
September 24, Member Preview Day
September 25, Gallery Talk
October 1, Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group, POWER
November 14, Slow Art Saturday
November 19, Gallery Talk
December 18, Gallery Talk
January 28, Expert Series
January 30, Guest Gallery Talk with Tonda Thompson

Admission
Adults: $27
Students, seniors (65+), military: $20
Kids 12 and under: Free, thanks to an anonymous donor
Wisconsin K–12 teachers: Free with valid school ID or pay stub
Members: Free

Thursday Nights at MAM
Every Thursday, admission is pay-what-you-wish for everyone from 4 to 8 p.m.
Museum admission includes access to collection and exhibition galleries and the Kohl’s Art Studio, which is open Friday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. and Thursdays, 4–7 p.m. Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Membership
Members enjoy free admission, exclusive programs, and special access throughout the year. Learn more at mam.org/membership.

Experience the Burke Brise Soleil
Designed by Santiago Calatrava, the Museum’s iconic wings open daily with the Museum, close and re-open at noon, and close at 10 p.m. The wings are illuminated nightly from sundown to 10 p.m.; movement is weather permitting.

Media Contact

For more information or to request hi-res images, please contact:

Cortney Heimerl
Milwaukee Art Museum
communications@mam.org
414-940-0490