Polly Collins (1808-1884) was a Shaker artist who made gift drawings, which were depictions of spiritual messages during the Era of Manifestations in the mid-1800s.
[1] Between 1841 and 1859, Collins made 16 watercolor "gift drawings" as the result of spiritual revelations during the Shaker's Era of Manifestations.
In the center, a choir of heavenly figures includes Jesus, the apostles, Mother Ann Lee, and Christopher Columbus.
The period where spiritual visions were captured in song or drawings, called the Era of Manifestations, was also called the "period of Mother's work", referring to Mother Ann Lee, whose departed spirit was believed to have passed messages to the Skaker "instruments" who believed and received such messages.
The Era of Manifestations ended when Shaker community members became embarrassed by the "emotional excesses and mystical expressions of this period.