Portland Public Library

Visionary New England, edited by Sarah Montross ; with contributions by Sam Adams, Anna Craycroft, Lisa Crossman, Richard Hardack, Scout Hutchinson, Paul Laffoley, Candice Lin, Sarah Montross

eng

Includes bibliographical references

illustrations

no index present

non fiction

Visionary New England

catalogsbibliography

1119471591

edited by Sarah Montross ; with contributions by Sam Adams, Anna Craycroft, Lisa Crossman, Richard Hardack, Scout Hutchinson, Paul Laffoley, Candice Lin, Sarah Montross

New England has a rich history of spiritual, mystical, and utopian strivers. Their visionary schemes range from nineteenth-century Transcendentalist experiments in communal living at Brook Farm and Fruitlands to the Harvard Project's LSD research, led by Timothy Leary, in the mid-twentieth century. The search for alternative ways of life often overlapped with the search for the Divine or expanded modes of consciousness and creativity. Visionary New England, which accompanies an exhibition at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, connects these traditions to the work of ten contemporary artists with New England ties. Generously illustrated, with ninety color images, the book interweaves analysis and imagery of New England's visionary traditions with reproductions of paintings, photographs, video, and installations by the artists. Essays examine New England's spiritualist and utopian practices; Transcendentalist writers' conception of Nature as "Other"; and the social significance of spiritualism. Texts by exhibiting artists Anna Craycroft and Candice Lin address the pedagogy of Amos Bronson Alcott, cofounder of Fruitlands, and the effects of opium trade in New England

specialized