Shaker Inspired Couture

Artists Deborah H. “Deb” Carter and Joanie Ciolfi are collaborating in an exhibit that opens June 7 in the Brick Dwelling at Hancock Shaker Village. Couture from the World: Inspired by the Shakers uses iconic Shaker elements and the Shaker Design postage stamps to create three dresses that bridge the past and the present. The artists’ goal was to maintain the integrity of the Shakers’ sense of graceful forms and timeless functional design while creating a new and fresh perspective. The model is wearing a hoop dress titled “Sending Messages,” a collaboration between Deb, Joanie, and Eric Korenman (who took these photos). Eric printed the images while Deb and Joanie designed the piece to showcase the newly released stamps. The freestanding hoops played with Shaker forms while the stamps floated like hung laundry. The other photo is of a blue coat titled “Shaker Swing,” designed by Joanie, who created the pattern and cut the coat from fabric she had printed with several images of her Shaker Village paintings. Deb and Joanie assembled it. The two have been friends for a long time, and both have studios in the west wing of the Clock Tower Artists Gallery in Pittsfield. clocktowerartists.com; hancockshakervillage.org

—Anastasia Stanmeyer