Buckminster Fuller. Fly’s Eye Dome, 1997. fiberglass. 336 in. x 396 in. x 396 in. (853.44 cm x 1005.84 cm x 1005.84 cm). Designed by Buckminster Fuller and produced by John Kuhtik, 1997. Location: second lawn.

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LongHouse Reserve, East Hampton

 

LongHouse Reserve exemplifies living with art in all forms. Founded by Jack Lenor Larsen, its collections, gardens, sculpture and programs reflect world cultures and inspire a creative life.

LongHouse Reserve is a 16 acre reserve and sculpture garden located in East Hampton, featuring pieces from Buckminster Fuller, Yoko Ono and William de Kooning to name a few.  

www.longhouse.org

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LongHouse Reserve was founded by Jack Lenor Larsen, internationally known textile designer, author, and collector.  His home, LongHouse,  was built as a case study to exemplify a creative approach to contemporary life. He believes visitors experiencing art in living spaces have a unique learning experience–more meaningful than the best media. LongHouse contains 13,000 square feet, 18 spaces on four levels. The gardens present the designed landscape as an art form and offer a diversity of sites for the sculpture installations. 

LongHouse encompasses nearly 16 acres of East Hampton Township’s great North Woods. Since he acquired the property in 1975, Jack Larsen has laid out an entrance drive lined with majestic cryptomerias, established lawns and ornamental borders, and defined major spaces as settings for plant collections and sculpture.

The long, low berms that divide the property recall the boundaries of farm fields that occupied the site until it was abandoned for agricultural use in the 19th century. Much of the deciduous canopy of second growth native trees has been preserved.

Finding inspiration in the 7th-century Shinto shrine at Ise, Japan, Larsen decided to build the house on the property in 1986. LongHouse was designed by architect Charles Forberg and built by Joe Tufariello.

As part of our internationally recognized Art in the Gardens program, Jack Lenor Larsen and the LHR Arts Committee have assembled a collection of more than 60 contemporary sculptures in the LongHouse gardens. Throughout the 16-acre site, permanent works are on display along with those on seasonal loan from artists, collectors, and dealers. Whether you return to see an old favorite or walk the grounds in search of a new installation, LongHouse entices with noteworthy works and magnificent vistas. 

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Says Benjamin Genocchio, Arts and Entertainment critic for the New York Times, “LongHouse is not as big as some sculpture parks outside New York City, nor does it have artworks by the A-list of outdoor sculptors, especially heavy metal masters like Richard Serra or Mark di Suvero. But what it does have is individuality and a finely wrought sense of style. It also offers the element of surprise; I love visiting this place because I never know what I am going to find.” 

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Takashi Soga. Eye of the Ring, 2007. bronze sheet, painted steel. 109 x 122 x 98 in. (276.86 x 309.88 x 248.92 cm). Private Collection. Location:. House Berm.

Ilya and Emilia Kabakov. The Arch Of Life, 2016. Aluminum, composite. 75 1/2 x 295 1/4 x 31 1/2 in. (192 x 750 x 80 cm). West of de Kooning Place.

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ART FOCUS

 

LongHouse embraces a comprehensive view of art.  Our goal is to expand the imagination and appeal to visitors of all ages and every level of appreciation. Ethnographic works and handcrafts share the spotlight with the best of modern art. One can view many of the 60 works in our gardens, along with those of visiting artists. Glass installations by Chihuly, ceramics by Takaezu, and bronzes by de Kooning, Nivola, and Hunt, as well as works by Ossorio, Bury, Ono, Soga, Kraitz, LeWitt, Rosenthal, and Opocensky, while Buckminster Fuller’s Fly’s Eye Dome keeps watch over all.

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GARDEN FOCUS

 

The gardens at LongHouse serve as a living case study of the interaction between plants and people in the 21st century.  We not only create landscapes as an art form, we simultaneously demonstrate planting potentials in this climate – with a wide variety of natural and cultivated species.  Sharing these extensive plant collections, and experiencing them in relation to living spaces, over time, and with seasonal changes, is the chief pleasure for Mr. Larsen and the LHR staff.  It is also the soundest learning experience.

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www.longhouse.org 

 

LongHouse Reserve

Affiliate of The Garden Conservancy

133 Hands Creek Road, East Hampton

631 329 3568

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LongHouse Reserve gardens are open Wednesdays and Saturdays from 2 to 5 pm from late April to mid October. In the months of July and August, LongHouse Reserve is open Wednesday through Saturday from 2 to 5 pm.

Admission is free to members and children under 12 accompanied by an adult. For the public and guests of members, admission is $10 per person, $ 8 for seniors.

Docent-guided group tours are available year round and may be booked Monday through Friday and Saturday mornings.  The fee for a tour of the LongHouse Reserve is $ 20 per person, with a $300 minimum, whichever is greater.

Visit: AAQ/Portfolio/Art: LongHouse Reserve / Photo Essay in Process

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Content & map courtesy of LongHouse Reserve.

Photos copyright Jeff Heatley.

Jack Lenor Larsen

1927 – 2020 

   A world-renowned weaver, designer, educator and visionary, Larsen’s powerful influence on mid-century Modern design was identified by his use of natural yarns, his appreciation of handmade objects, and his adoption of weaving methods drawn from world cultures, both ancient and avant-garde. These talents combined with a boundless intellectual curiosity and an unquenchable desire to be a part of the new are now the hallmarks by which LongHouse will be stamped forever. 

     He studied at the School of Architecture, University of Washington and earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1949. In the early 1950s, he opened his design studio, Jack Lenor Larsen, Inc., in New York City, which launched a career in textile design and manufacturing that was lifelong. Among his early important commissions were the design of lobby draperies for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s Lever House (1951-1952) and for interior textiles in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesen West ( 1897 – 1959) and Fallingwater (1935-1964). 

     Larsen drew inspiration from weaving traditions throughout the world and manufactured fabrics in over 30 countries. Though he sold his business to Cowtan & Tout, he never fully retired and created his newest collection just last year (2019). Examples of his brilliance are canonized in the permanent collections of The Met and MoMA and he is one of few Americans to have had an exhibition at The Louvre. 

     It is at LongHouse that Larsen staked his claim for the ages. The mission of LongHouse is to exemplify and encourage living with art in all its forms. Celebrating the spirit of place and the land, the gardens are a constantly evolving work of art and feature changing exhibitions of outdoor sculpture. LongHouse has presented and values the work of such varied artists, composers, poets and thinkers as Ai Weiwei, Edward Albee, Laurie Anderson, Bill T. Jones, Cindy Sherman, Buckminster Fuller and Yoko One, among hundreds of others. With his passing, the ownership of the house and Larsen’s personal collection of crafts and ethnographic objects will be transferred to LongHouse Reserve, which is committed to maintaining Jack’s aesthetic philosophies while expanding the public presence of LongHouse as a public garden and house museum. Jack always said that LongHouse should “be relevant, not reverent.” 

— courtesy of LongHouse Reserve  

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