Angels! Seers!

It’s been about a year since I’ve sent news?! At least outside of Patreon and Substack. Time flies when you’re hustling and making magic. I just returned from a residency in Monson, Maine with the fiercest team of angels. So with my studio belly satiated, I’m back at the “pen”. My last newsletter reflected on MONSTER/ MOTHER themes in my work about Medusa magic and the ghost of Shaker matriarch Ann Lee. It dropped on a bit of a cliffhanger!

2025 brought MOTHER’S WORK into sharp focus and full circles with the circulation of my collaborative essay about Shaker and Spiritualist movements Holding a Mirror to Heaven in Boston Art Review, screenings of Sacred Sheets at the ICA Boston (for Believers: Artists and the Shakers), a deep-dive Gift Drawings lecture + SS screening at Dunes (Portland, ME), an interview about Spirit-Led Communal Creativity in Sojourners Magazine, and the opening of my installation All Around the Room: Borrowed Light and the City of Paradise at Hancock Shaker Village (extended through 12/28 with three spirited programs in December).

My heart, brain, schedule grew so full, I decided to create a dedicated Shaker-freak page on my website. Find all Shaker-related writing, teaching, and artwork corralled in one place. Don’t hesitate to reach out to plan a program in the coming year, as the hype (and mis/mixed information) of the Testament of Ann Lee film simmers <— that’s a separate can of worms I’ll get to later.

(BTW SKIP TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS NEWLETTER IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR HOLIDAY GIFTS!)

Where we left off, MOTHER’S DIRT…

To wrap up the “cliffhanger” from my last newsletter…. In 2020, I was well into the development of elaborate, multi-faceted programming at Hancock Shaker Village, down to scheduling and budget approvals. The project was devastatingly canceled due to Covid and its rescheduling dissolved as museum staff were shuffled or cleared. With the support of Shana Dumont Garr I was able to put some of that research toward my residency at Fruitlands Museum, resulting in the Unseen Hours exhibition + Sacred Sheets film. A year later Melissa Nierman and I channeled parts of the project into Great Awakenings- Radical Road Trip Pilgrimage. 

But on a spiritual level, I STILL HAD UNFINISHED BUSINESS…

Fast-forward to last Fall, I was invited to speak on a panel about Beautiful Stillness and Shaker Imagingation with Cauleen Smith, Miriam Ghani, and Erin Ellen Kelly, programming for American Folk Art Museum’s Anything But Simple: Gift Drawings and the Shaker Aesthetic. The show featured many pieces I’d had the privilege of working closely with at Hancock. I brought a vial of dirt from Shaker matriarch Ann Lee’s gravestone, a site I visit frequently, to the opening reception. As I was introduced to the new Hancock team, they asked for my business card. Slapping my forehead in my mind- “doh! Of course I didn’t bring any!”- I thumbed around in my bag and pulled out the cemetery dirt instead (me in a nutshell - allergic to schmoozing, but keeping it weird). To my surprise, they hollered with delight! They LOVED it. Clearly in the company of fellow Shaker-freaks, folks passed me around - “ask to see their vial of cemetery dirt!” they squealed. 

On the spot, I was offered another show at Hancock. THANK YOU MOTHER ANN!

Site-sensitive installation @ Hancock Shaker Village through 12/28

All Around the Room is an immersive installation that endeavors to bring the vision of a 19th century Shaker sister to life. In 1837, fourteen year old Ann Maria Goff, of Watervliet Shaker Village, fell into a trance and received one of many visions in which she would tour the City of Paradise. Her account, transcribed by Shaker brother Isaac Newton Youngs, is among the first records from the Shaker Era of Manifestations. This was an exceptionally fruitful period, spanning roughly 1837-57, during which elaborate revelations from heavenly spheres were recorded by Shaker Instruments. Often messages were called  “Gifts”, as they were ripe with precious celestial tokens from deceased Shaker spirits and other prophets. They were recorded in rare forms of writing, song, dance, ritual and colorful paintings now known as the Gift Drawings. The Shakers referred to this period as “Mother’s Work” since many corresponded with the spirit of their matriarch Mother Ann Lee.

In this installation, a hand-dyed, printed, and sewn quilt captures the first paragraph of Youngs’ transcription. A hypnotic arrangement of traditional squares presents the 4 rows of white and silver houses encountered by Goff in her vision. The complete manuscript includes visitations to many of these houses, and divine realms, including Goff’s encounters with an array of otherworldly beings and objects therein (watch a short video about the quilt).

The rest of Molteni’s installation invokes the last paragraph, recorded by Youngs, in which Goff enters a room said to be “the first place Mother Ann came to after she left earth”. Inspired by her description, Molteni proposes an immersive theatrical staging space. Viewers can playfully imagine operating from the spirits’ side of the veil, behind which surroundings are viewed through “spiritual spectacles” and evocative symbols are projected for living Shaker Visionists. Colorful window collages that play with the Shaker concept of “borrowed” sunlight, cut paper treasures from iconic Shaker Gift Drawings, and calligraphic golden strokes of spirit writing are shown alongside Shaker artifacts from the museum’s collection. This pairing reinforces the Shaker desire to harmonize daily labor with worship as they build Heaven on earth.

ONGOING MUTUAL AID CALLS!

Contribute to the “Build a well in Gaza” campaign through Cactus Mutual Aid and/or the two mutual aid campaigns I’ve posted to my new “Special Offers” page on my site.

Hawk-Eye painting fundraiser support Mother's and families of Palestine. Click here to learn more!

Thanks so much for reading and supporting my work. I’m going to try to send more newsletters in the New Year and will be sending reminders about events and sales in the coming weeks.

❤️‍🔥 Maria 🌹