Thursday, July 19, 2012

Hancock Shaker Village

Hancock Shaker Village
The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing....USBCSA....nope, no hope of an acronym there!  The Shakers are a religious sect who live communally and are amazing at invention, music, egalitarianism. The only remaining members live in a Maine commune. Since we had seen Borrowed Light at Jacob's Pillow on Sunday, we wanted to visit the Shaker Village in Hancock, MA.  It is a beautiful setting in which most of the buildings still stand in pristine condition.  The Shakers have not lived in the village since the 1960's.  We heard nice talks in the round barn and the dormitory about the structures and life in general.  The dormitory dining room had 2 interior windows, borrowed light.  
This evening we attended a Brahms Piano concert at Ozawa Hall performed by Gerhard Oppits who, over 4 evenings, is playing the complete works for piano without one piece of sheet music.  Very impressive.  We sat on the lawn this evening among the crowd that spilled out of the hall like fruit from a cornucopia.  It was beautiful to watch the interior of the hall warm as the sky cooled to evening then night.  We re-visited our discussion about LeWitt's art.  I asked why Wayne could consider the Brahms' piece art and not the LeWitt wall paintings.  More photos at flickr.