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NEWS |
Rites of Spring, Opening - Saturday, April, 26 2008
The opening day for LHR, Rites of Spring was everything we could have wished for. The day was positively perfect. The sun was shining all afternoon which brought hundreds of visitors to see thousands of daffodils in bloom. Guests strolling through our gardens viewed the many new sculptures on the grounds as well as an exhibition of outstanding vessels curated by Jack Larsen. Families were introduced to our new “Hand in Hand” activity guide and children could be seen throughout the gardens with smiles on their faces and guides in their hands. Please visit us and let us surprise you with all LHR has to offer.
Check out our Plum TV spotlight.
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 Plunge, bronze, Bryan Hunt |
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 Kids using Hand in Hand activity guide
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 Visitors at the Pavilion |
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Directors Report
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On the heels of our very successful benefit in New York celebrating Edward Albee’s 80th birthday, we are in high gear preparing for the season here at LongHouse. Our new irrigation system is near completion, and great sculptures on loan have been installed.
As we mature, we are also turning to other organizations with similar growing pains. We had a very successful visit with leaders of Old Westbury Gardens where a great exchange of ideas took place. There have been a number of exceptionally good articles written about Jack Larsen and LongHouse Reserve in various magazines: Modern Estate, spring issue and American Craft, April/May issue.
Even more exciting is a special BBC program Around the World in 80 Gardens in which LongHouse is featured prominently and looks fantastic. It is drawing great reviews from the UK and we expect English gardeners to be making special visits to LongHouse.
Going into the 2008 season we are facing many challenges and need your support more than ever. We received a challenge matching grant from the Johnson Family Foundation for $5,000 toward our growing education program. If anyone is interested in helping us meet this challenge, please let us know.
Look forward to seeing you again this season!
Please check our Plum TV spot aired during our opening in April.
Matko Tomicic
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 Matko Tomicic, Director LHR
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Co-President’s Comments...
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Hallelujah — spring is coming! Our early Easter arrives with daffodils breaking ground. We begin the countdown to Rites of Spring — this year on April 26. Winter activity has abounded in the living gallery that is LongHouse.
We will be showing off our new water fountain as well as introducing several new art installations — a product of the Art Committee’s regular rethinking and redeployment of the sculptures that populate our beautiful sixteen acres.This newsletter reports on the fabulous complement of educational and garden programs beginning in April and ending in October —not only high summer, but seven glorious months in which we encourage you to visit LongHouse. Tell your friends that LongHouse is unique on the East End. We have already begun to sell tickets to our better-attended-each-year Summer Benefit to honor Martin Puryear and H. Peter Stern. Other surprises are in store for you as well!
Join us, share our pride in LongHouse, meet our new Board member, Nina Gillman, and be inspired by our curatorial and horticultural wonders. See you very soon,
--Dianne Benson and Angela Mariana Freyre
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Dianne Benson & Angela Mariana Freye
Benefit 2007
Bennet Raglin photo
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Volunteer Opportunities at Longhouse
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Are you passionate about LongHouse? Do you want to share your knowledge and enthusiasm? Please join us! As our new and expanded season begins, so does our need for committed volunteers and docents. We can use help in every capacity, from greeting visitors and working on mailings to assisting with special events and leading group and school tours through the gardens. We look forward to seeing fresh faces this spring and summer!
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New Trustee 2008 - Nina Gillman
| LongHouse Reserve is fortunate indeed to have added a unique mix of members to our Board of Trustees. All lend their creative talents and experience toward the future success of LongHouse. We proudly welcome Nina Gillman. New York City born and raised, Nina is VP and Deputy General Counsel for the Colgate-Palmolive Company, working for the past twenty years in corporate and securities law. She is a board member of The Retreat, which provides domestic-abuse support; is a member of the Art and Architecture Committee of the Harvard Club of NYC; and co-chairs the annual Guild Hall Garden as Art event. Nina owns a second home in Amagansett. |
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Notes from the Garden 2008
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An exciting new feature, Black Mirror, has been added to the LongHouse garden. A twenty-foot by twenty-foot reflecting pool has been constructed by Ed Drohan, manager of Ray Smith & Associates Water Garden Division. The reflecting pool is very unique in its design, boasting its negative edge “vortex” waterfall. The twenty-one thousand gallon per hour waterfall roars as a fifteen-foot high geyser shoots up from the center. (newsletter cover)
A relatively mild winter allowed us to prune all the trees and begin our maintenance pruning. Our long-term pruning efforts are paying off and the understory plants are thriving. The perennials are starting to show and at this point we are weeding, composting and transplanting as we prepare for the season ahead.
After careful research we ordered a few thousand ground cover plants in order to help us with long-term weeding issues.
With the generous contribution of an anonymous donor and R.B. Boyle Irrigation, we have installed an irrigation system covering First and Second lawn and Croquet Court. Also, an extensive web of hose bibs have been spread throughout the property.
Ray Smith
Director of Horticulture
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Ray Smith
Black Mirror
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Art in the Gardens 2008
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Louise Bourgeois Avenza Revisited II,1968-69
Born in Paris in 1911, Louise Bourgeois, who initially was an engraver and painter, had turned her focus to sculptural work following her emigration in 1938 to the United States. She was greatly influenced by the European Surrealists who had immigrated to this country after World War II. Her childhood had become the dominant focus of her work since the 1960s, and her sculpture now in rubber, bronze and stone, has evolved into anthropomorphic shapes. Male and female forms are referenced and remade, exhibiting an interplay between sexuality and innocence. “My childhood has never lost its magic, it has never lost its mystery, and it has never lost its drama,” she commented regarding the symbolic theme of her work.
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Louise Bourgeois
AVENZA REVISITED II, 1968-69
Bronze, black and polished patina
51 1/2 x 41 x 75 1/2", 130.8 x 104.1 x 191.7 cm.
Courtesy Cheim & Read, New York
Photo: Christopher Burke
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Change seems to be the hallmark of our times, and so it is with LHR. Though we may miss some of our old favorites such as Roy Lichtenstein’s House II and Galatea, we welcome to our gardens several new visual experiences. We invite you to admire our new water feature and installations.
We have the sculpture of Louise Bourgeois, an artist whose work has drawn acclaim for years. Visitors will discover Bryan Hunt’s massive yet fluid bronze sculpture, Plunge, now standing where Louise Nevelson’s majestic Frozen Laces IV once stood. More opportunities to discover include: Orizaba, a bronze sculpture by Brian Nissen; two large bronze warrior figures by Paolo Staccioli; two glass benches and a sculpture by Howard Ben Tré; as well as two new ceramic works by Toshiko Takaezu. To introduce our new season, we offer some background information about the artists.
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Paolo Staccioli – Warriors, 2007
Longhouse Reserve will inaugurate the first visit to the United States in April of Paola Staccioli’s fascinating ceramic works of two warrior bronzes. The Italian ceramicist, born near Florence in 1943, began his artistic career in painting and had a solo exhibit in 1973. In the late 1980s he worked on terracotta bas reliefs, and later, after learning oxygen reduction firing under a master craftsman, Umberto Santandrea, he decided to dedicate himself to sculpture and ceramics. He works on various forms and such characters as Horses, Travelers, Warrior and Cardinals. The horse figures reflect a close study of the works of da Vinci and Ucello. The forms resurrect ancient history – from the cave to Etruscan times. The artist has widely exhibited in Europe and Japan. One of his figures was chosen as the prize for the Fiesole Film Festival and awarded to Spike Lee. He will be exhibited at New York City’s Italian Cultural Institute starting in June.
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 Paolo Staccioli, Warriors, 2007bronze;78" h
courtesy Kiesendahl + Calhoun Fine Arts, Ltd.
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Bryan Hunt - Plunge, 1994
Bryan Hunt is considered to be a stylish and astute sculptor, whose flowing bronzes are viewed as “hip enough” to challenge some of the strictest modernist taboos, particularly in his use of stone pedestals. His stunning bronze, “Plunge” creates the suggestion of a lake-like body of water, suspended eight feet up, that appears to pour down into another. It is rich in shifting imagery: from one angle, the cascading water echoes drapery pleats, from another, it seems to grow out of the pond like an Art Nouveau stem. The stunning cantilevered whole is nearly 17 feet across and of varying degrees of thickness as one walks around it. Do take time to experience the richness of this sculpture.
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 Bryan Hunt, Plunge, 1994bronze; 97x192x90"
courtesy of the artist
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Brian Nissen - Orizaba, 1995
London born and a student of the arts in that city as well as the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, Nissen moved to Mexico where he lived and worked for 17 years. It had a defining impact on his art, particularly in the unselfconsciousness of pre-Hispanic cultures which integrated art, with its mythic sense of wonder, in all areas of life. By 1979 he had moved to New York City. By then, Nissen’s three dimensional forms evolved into wall reliefs and by the mid-80s he had become fully involved with principally bronze sculpture. Between 1993-96 he spent winters in Mexico working on ceramic sculptures as a change from bronze. This includes Orizaba, a work derivative of pre-Columbian codices and of a nocturnal species of a butterfly-goddess, Rothschildia Orizaba of the family Saturniidae which metamorphosed into a goddess Itzpapalotl. “Using the formats of different codices, I developed a number of icons and images, which I felt needed to be explored in different media,” said Nissen.
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 Brian Nissen, Orizaba, 1995bronze: 63x22x22"
courtesy of the artist
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Howard Ben Tre’ Two and Curved Benches
What a delight to come upon two new benches at LHR, for enjoyment of the sculptural pleasure that they invariably produce. The two are the work of Brooklyn born artist Howard Ben Tre’, who is known for his large-scale glass sculptures and also for his public space artwork. Trained at Portland State University and Rhode Island School of Design, his work resides in museum and public collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Hirshhorn, and the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, Japan, among many others. A number of the artist’s sculptures and drawings have been in traveling exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe. His public artwork in plazas and streetscapes are in places as diverse as Minneapolis and Warrington, UK.
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Curved Benches, 2005
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Two, 2005
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Daniel Libeskind – Spirit House Chair , 2006
An offering of the spirit has been given to LHR, which comes in the form of a new, permanent installation of a Spirit House chair, designed by internationally famous architect Daniel Libeskind and produced by Klaus Nienkamper. It is one of a limited edition of 21, and references his recent architectural triumph, the new Michael Lee-Chin Crystal addition to the Royal Ontario Museum. The chair, which can be set in five different positions, is the architect’s first commercial furniture venture. It consists of interlocking, self-supporting prismatic stainless steel structures and the void between them which he calls Spirit House. “It is a place to reflect and experience,” says this world class architect. We are certain that members and friends will appreciate what an ideal setting LHR offers to experience this very special gift.
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 Daniel Libeskind
Spirit House Chair, 2006
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Installation of new work in the gardens was made possible with the generous support of Johnson Family Foundation, Barbara Slifka, Charles Cowles Gallery, Kiesendahl + Calhoun Fine Art, Ltd., Klaus Nienkämper and Daniel Liebskind.
Art in the Gardens is funded in part by Suffolk County under the auspices of the Office of Cultural Affairs, Steve Levy, County Executive.
Opening April 26, 2008, 2-5PM
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100 VESSELS at LongHouse curated by Jack Lenor Larsen
| Even more than textiles, Jack Larsen’s fifty-year collecting focus has been on vessels. Small, large, or shoulder high, millennia old or born yesterday, they are here in beauty and abundance. Not surprisingly, ceramics dominate in abundance and variety, from thick slabs to eggshell translucency, and from tiny thimbles to Takaezu’s ten-foot Tree Form. A group titled Asian Clay: 5000 Years is in itself a major holding; there are also pre-Columbian and ethnic pots plus a strong showing by several contemporary potters.
A number of glass and metal vessels — including Chunghi Choo’s suave silver forms — will be shown; others are of turned and carved wood. Basketry comes next in numbers as bowl shapes, fishtraps and haversacks — both ethnic and studio crafted. Glass is dominated by four decades of pieces by Jack Larsen’s maverick friend, Dale Chihuly.
To be installed in new display cases, this is a major craft collection — forms in diverse materials, from cultures worlds apart in time and place, dating over five millennia.
Most of these vessels (shown inside the Pavilion) are grouped by medium or provenance; others spill onto the pond-side plaza. Most fantastic of all are large Asian pots marching through sand dunes from Gatehouse to outdoor gallery.
This exhibition is made possible with generous support from Johnson Family Foundation, Edward R. Roberts Family Foundation, and Barbara Slifka.
100 VESSELS at LongHouse, Opening Reception, April 26, 2-5PM
$10; members complimentary
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 Marsha D. Berenston, Vessel, 1984unglazed porcelain
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Workshop with Cement Planters
Jonathan Wright
Horticulturist Jonathan Wright is a gardener with a clear philosophy: that is, one can only learn from working first hand with plants and taking notice of where and how they want to grow. To be successful in gardening requires adaptability and inspiration from the plants themselves. His training at the acclaimed Training Program at Longwood Gardens, where he received an award for excellence, as well as his experience in traveling the world in search of plants and great gardens, surely led him to this approach. He achieved these explorations through a two-year position on a Chanticleer Fellowship. He has brought his originality to Chanticleer, a 35-acre pleasure garden he helps design and maintain. Wright reinvents the plantings and containers seasonally at the site. LHR is fortunate to have this creative gardener who is a prominent lecturer as well, offer two workshops this season. On May 17 he will offer a garden cement container building workshop to be followed on June 7 with a container planting workshop. Both sessions start at 10 a.m.
Gardeners would be wise to avail themselves of this unique opportunity by registering early.
Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 10 AM – garden container building workshop
Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 10 AM – container planting workshop
$125 per workshop; $100 for members of LHR
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ON & OFF the Ground: an Invitational Container Exhibition
The LongHouse Garden Committee, and Founder Jack Lenor Larsen, invite you to view ON & OFF the Ground: an Invitational Container Exhibition. This first-of-its-kind event will open on the afternoon of June 28th, followed by a charming reception on the LH grounds.
Garden enthusiast and longtime friend of LongHouse, Martha Stewart, has graciously agreed to weigh in with her critique and award blue ribbons. The installation will be on the spacious plaza level in front of the Lear Memorial. As LHR has traditionally exhibited works of critical acclaim, our intention now is to display containers as an art form - integral to the idea of the garden perceived as art.
Saturday, June 28, 2008 preview 5:30-7:30PM
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Designer Breakfast at SOFA
Designer Champagne Breakfast at SOFA Cowtan and Tout and Elle Décor are the sponsors of The Designer Breakfast at SOFA (Sculpture Objects Functional Art) at the Park Avenue Armory in honor of Jack Lenor Larsen and LongHouse Reserve.
The Designer Breakfast will take place Thursday, May 29 from 9:30 – 11am and will offer interior designers and their top clients advance viewing and first access to the show after the Opening Night Preview Gala. LHR has been represented at SOFA since its inception 11 years ago. This year there are 67 galleries from 11 countries representing the work of over 1000+ artists. If you are an interior designer please send in your business card to LHR by May 1st for a complimentary invitation. Light breakfast and champagne cocktails will be served! www.sofaexpo.com
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Summer Benefit 2008
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The art world is full of exceptional people who do exceptionally creative works. LHR is fortunate to honor two major contributors to the arts who are both outstanding in their “sacred work”.
Martin Puryear, born in 1941, is a member of the Post-Minimalist generation of the 1970s, whose objects and public installations are a marriage of Post-Minimalist logic with traditional manual building skills, primarily utilizing wood. He represented this country at the Sao Paolo Bienal in 1989 and won the Grand Prize. Most recently he has been the subject of a major exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art with a retrospective of his exceptional career over the last thirty years beginning with his solo museum exhibit in 1977 until the present. Consisting of forty-five sculptures, the retrospective will now travel throughout the country including the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the National Gallery of Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1992, he has received countless awards. We are delighted to add the Longhouse honor to the distinguished list.
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Alien Huddle 1993-1995,
Red Cedar and pine 53 x 64 x 53"
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| H. Peter Stern who is the chairman, president and co-founder in 1960 of Storm King Art Center, America’s leading outdoor sculpture park in the Hudson Valley, which has an international representation of more than 100 artists. He has also served as vice chairman of the World Monuments Fund since 1971. A student of law, international studies, history and literature, he has earned degrees from Harvard, Columbia and Yale universities. A man of varied interests and talents, H. Peter Stern collects Asian textiles, Persian paintings and performs as violinist in a local chamber group. Longhouse Reserve welcomes another “Renaissance individual” to its roster of impressive honorees.
For ticket information please contact Joanne at 631.329.3568
Summer Benefit - Saturday, July 19, 2008 – gardens open at 6pm
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 H. Peter Stern
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Conversation with Chuck Close led by Terrie Sultan
Chuck Close is a leading figure in the development of photo-based painting. His work has been the subject of more than 150 solo exhibitions including major museum retrospectives.
In 2003 Terrie Sultan organized “Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration,” the seminal exhibition exploring this key aspect of Close’s creative process. As Close told her “Every innovation in my paintings has come about as a direct result of something I discovered in making a print.” During the research and development of the exhibition and publication, curator and artist had many opportunities to discuss a range of topics related to art, and especially the complex and collaborative nature of printmaking. For this program, Sultan and Close will engage in an interview style dialogue intended to illuminate Close’s approach to art-making and how painting, photography, and printmaking inform his work.
Terrie Sultan brings more than twenty years’ experience to the directorship of The Parrish Art Museum, having served in senior positions at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and most recently at the Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston.
This event is made possible with generous support by Rebecca Cooper, The Gallery, Sag Harbor
5:30PM, Friday, August 8, 2008
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LongHouse Odyssey: SE Asia Revisited with Jack Lenor Larsen
Angkor-Wat, Cambodia
Come be a part of a small group of LongHouse travelers to journey into the magical world of Southeast Asia and experience first hand the wonders of Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.
Our travels start in Vietnam, a country bridging the ancient world and the modern. A country as diverse as our own with great natural beauty, thriving cities boasting of contemporary art, crafts and cuisine.
We continue our journey traveling to the ancient seat of the Khmer Empire to explore the wonders of great temples of Angkor Wat and neighboring temples as well as experiencing small village life on the Tonle Sap River.
Our last stop is Bangkok where we will be privileged to see it through the eyes of Jack Larsen whose life has been so intertwined with this city and all it offers.
Special receptions, visits to artist studios, weavers, dance schools, craft centers and gardens are at the heart of this once in a lifetime opportunity. Don’t miss it.
For details click here:
Vietnam - Cambodia - Thailand
January 9-24, 2009
For more information please call Matko 631.329.3568
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Albee 80th Birthday Benefit, Winter 2008
Wow! Speak of a once in a lifetime experience, members and friends of LHR were treated to a unique celebration of the 80th birthday of trustee Edward Albee on March 12th. Moreover, it had all the earmarks of its own kind of drama. It started with a fabulous dinner for 60 guests at the art-filled loft of Charles Cowles. It then moved on to the Cherry Lane Theater where 160 audience members eagerly awaited viewing a production of two early Albee plays directed by the playwright. Instead, due to the illness of an actor, the audience was given the rare opportunity of hearing Edward Albee reading some sensitively selected characters, male and female, from seven of his works. Several of his leading ladies were in the audience, which made this theatrical gift particularly poignant.
The reading concluded, a standing ovation filled the theater, followed by the presentation of a 3-foot tall birthday cake and a rousing chorus of guests who sang For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow. The conductor was Edward Albee himself! Cake and champagne topped off the evening, which all agreed was a moveable birthday feast that surely made theatrical history. Joan Porco
The reading concluded, a standing ovation filled the theater, followed by the presentation of a 3-foot tall birthday cake and a rousing chorus of guests who sang For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow. The conductor was Edward Albee himself! Cake and champagne topped off the evening, which all agreed was a moveable birthday feast that surely made theatrical history. Joan Porco
 Edward Albee at Cherry Lane Theatre, NYC
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Become a LongHouse Fellow
Please Join LongFellows Circle
LongHouse Reserve is pleased to announce the establishment of LongFellows Circle, a new designation intended to recognize and honor those friends who include LongHouse in their estate plans. Through their generosity and foresight, LongFellows help to ensure that LongHouse will endure and flourish, weaving together art and nature, aesthetics and spirit, for many years to come. You can become a LongFellow simply by letting us know that you have included LongHouse Reserve in your estate plans. No minimum amount is necessary – in fact, our greatest pleasure would be to receive many small bequests over the years ahead from all those who have enjoyed the Reserve during their lives. The gift can be contingent or revocable. LongFellows will receive a lapel pin designed by Jack and will be acknowledged, with their permission, in our publications. They will be invited to special events from time to time. Most importantly, they will know that they are part of an enduring legacy.
Please contact our Executive Director, Matko Tomicic, at 631.329.3568 for more information about LongFellows Circle or to request information on various charitable gift and estate planning alternatives. Including LongHouse in your estate plans can be a wonderful way to give to future generations while taking advantage of various tax saving techniques.
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Insiders tour of Japan with Jack Larsen and Yoshiko Wada
To celebrate Jack’s 80th Year and his 35th visit to Japan, a Study Tour of Tokyo, Nagoya, islands in the Inland Sea, and Kyoto areas, is to be led by Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada, scholar, curator, and artist.
The tailor-made adventure for lovers of art, craft, gardening, and architecture and included Ise Shrine, Himeji Castle, and typical merchants’ homes in Kyoto and Nagoya. Group witnessed the practice of centuries-old traditions in shibori and yuzen dyeing, plus vibrant pottery and stone carving.
Here below you can see some images from this very sucecssful trip.
October 16-28, 2007
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Abby Jane Brody enjoying the extraordinary Ritsurin Park
in Takamatsu.
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Some members of our group on the steps of the Miho Museum, an I.M. Pei masterpiece.
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Yoshiko Wada (3rd from right) explaining the Shibori
technique being demonstrated to our group.
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Members of our group contemplating the ultimate zen garden Ryoan-ji, Kyoto.
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Our group was joined by Makiko Minagawa (2nd from right) of Issey Miyake Design fro a spectacular dinner at Kiraku restaurant in downtown Tokyo.
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One of the most intricate courses of authentic Japanese cuisine.
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Jane Gropp, Lisa Bertoldi, Lou Gropp and Albert Tully checking out the offerings at the Tsukiji Fish market in Tokyo.
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Genbei Yamaguchi of 180 year old obi making family company showing an astonishing obi (kimono sash) that took over 10 years to make.
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Renown designer Jurgen Lehl (2nd from left) greeting members of our group.
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 Our group enjoying one of many breakfasts Japanese style.
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Jack Larsen, Jacqueline Field Roberts, Joanna da Sylva, Anne and Charles Roos, Kathi Martin, Albert and Toni Tully, and Roseline Koener listening to the presentation by Hiroyuki Shindo.
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Tour group on the steps leading to the main shrine at Ise – inspiration of the LongHouse architecture.
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Cabot Canada Garden Tour
Traveling with LongHouse Reserve is a world class experience.
This could never be more highly illustrated than on our one-day trip to Frank and Anne Cabot’s Les Quatre Vents in La Malbaie, Quebec, on the first day of summer. The wonderfully compatible group of eight enthusiasts arrived by Citation jet at Charlevoix, a charming airport petit, to be met by Frank Cabot himself and a family friend, the wonderfully knowledgeable author May Brawley Hill. Fifteen minutes later, we entered the stylized white gates of the dream house and garden.
The clouds hovered over the Laurentian Mountains and small village in a fairy tale fashion that was perfectly suited to the entire trance-like experience. The three-hour garden tour was led by Mr. Cabot with great flourish. He had us oohing at plants never before seen in such profusion or at such size, ahhing at thick clumps of delphinium (conjecturing what it would be like to live in such a climate that made these garden dreams possible), marveling at the whimsy, the extravagance and the informed passion of it all. Blackened water features, an inexplicable variety of bridges (the crossing of one requiring a special sort of garden endurance), an exacting Japanese tea house, a hexagonal music folly, topiary in the shape of French bread, a marvelous Lutyens high arch that no photo can do justice to, too many gorgeous elements to begin to name.
The trip was such a unanimous success on every level: the perfect lunch on a terrace with an amazing view, the walk in the lady-slipper-filled forest, the climb to the top of the incredibly romantic Le Pigeonnier (top right). For those of you who are yet to experience this seldom-in-a-lifetime high point — watch your LongHouse mail closely for the next amazing occasion.
The trip was best summed up by the U.S. Customs agent who met our fine little plane as it touched down (at the civilized hour of 5 in the afternoon) at Gabreski Airport in West Hampton. When asked what we had done in Canada that day, we said “Visited a fantastic garden!” He said, “You did what?”
An opportunity afforded to only a very lucky few. The essence of LongHouse.
Dianne Benson
Frank Cabot (left), Tish Rehill, Jane Iselin, Andrea Gimbel, Matko Tomicic, Elizabeth Lear, Dianne Benson, Margaret Sullivan and Brian Mahoney
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LongHouse Medal for Landscape Design presented to Francis H. Cabot
LHR is pleased that Frank Cabot will be the recipient of the LongHouse
Medal for Landscape Design for his major contributions to the landscape. LHR wishes to recognize and celebrate his broad contributions as writer, lecturer, conservator, and yes, as a gardener. Besides his long-held leadership positions in horticultural organizations in both the United States and Canada-the U.S. National Arboretum, the New York Botanical Garden, Wave Hill, and the Royal Botanic Gardens among them – Cabot has also "gardened" two private-turned-public gardens: Stonecrop Gardens in Cold Spring, and Les Quatre Vents in Quebec. In addition, he's the founder and chairman of The Garden Conservancy, a non-profit organization devoted to the preservation of exceptional private gardens in North America. In that role, Cabot has championed the conservation of eighteen historic, private landscapes in eleven states-all of which now open their gates to visitors at various times throughout the year.
Francis Cabot Award Luncheon
On September 15th LHR presented its LongHouse Medal for Landscape Design to Frank Cabot for his contribution to landscape design as a writer, conservator, lecturer and as a gardener. Numerous guests attend the luncheon in honor of Frank and Anne and made the day a memorable one. Frank’s generous acceptance speech follows in its entirety:
“Capability Brown’s ideal was to end up with a landscape where Nature had been Bountiful and Art had done no Harm. Artist Plantsmen make the best gardens and are the outstanding practitioners in searching for new ways to express their creativity. Gardens are, after all, a form of Autobiography! To intermingle sculptures with the elements of a garden so that the two art forms - and know that those present know that gardening is indeed an art form - to make them complement one another, is the exception rather than the rule and no mean achievement - - the more extraordinary then are the results that Jack Larsen has achieved at Long House where the structures, the sculptures and the plantings so enhance one another as to deepen the pleasure one derives from each - all this in a created setting that can’t borrow scenery from its surroundings. It works and it works wonderfully because it reflects Jack’s artistic vision applied to an ephemeral and constantly changing setting surrounding his chosen objets d’art. Clearly being a weaving genius is an ideal preparation for achieving such thoroughly successful results.
I understand that Jack has been celebrating his 80th year for a good many months. I know the feeling and only wish I were in the same position now that I’m past that milepost.. Maybe the solution is just to remain 80 indefinitely! The great thing is he has created LongHouse and its Garden, has opened it to the public and knows that it will be an important part of his artistic legacy. Jack doesn’t need the Garden Conservancy to make it happen and, I’m sure, has done all the right things to lay the groundwork for its future.
From my vantage point, and knowing that Jack plans to endow his creation to the extent possible, I can’t emphasize strongly enough the importance of endowment to a garden whose excellence is to be sustained once its creator is no longer active. Of course I’m prejudiced - but what better use is there for money than the sustenance of an outstanding and complex combination of art forms such as surrounds us at LongHouse.
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Anne & Frank Cabot admiring the medal made by Marc Leuthold.
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Jack, Anne & I thank you for this honor. May you remain 80 years old ad infinitum and may your generous friends choose to support you and your wonderful LongHouse to the point where it is over-endowed, if there is such a happy state of affairs! You have gone a long way towards solving what Garrett Eckbo referred to as “the central problem, the bridging of the gap between human culture and Nature” and you have reminded us that “after all, a garden is the only complete delight the world affords, ever complying with our various and mutable minds. Thank You!”
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Jack Lenor Larsen: Creator and Collector
by David McFadden and Lotus Stack
 Published by Merrell Publishers in association with the Museum of Arts and Design and the Liliane and David M. Stewart Program for Modern Design, Montreal and available on the LongHouse website is the softcover catalog of Jack Larsen's show, including over 40 of Larsen's most innovative textiles juxtaposed with the treasures that helped to inspire them.
Engagingly revealed is Larsen's eye for art by such well-known figures as Dale Chihuly, Dame Lucie Rie and Wharton Esherick among others, as well as anonymous but no less gifted artists from Japan, Korea, Colombia, Africa and India. A narrative chronology, the most complete in print, rounds off this major new profile of a celebrated creator, world-traveling collector, and friend to artists and artisans of all nations.
160 illustrations
$19.95 Softcover
10% discount for members
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Gifts from LongHouse Reserve
Jack Lenor Larsen: Creator and Collector
by David McFadden and Lotus Stack
a softcover book, 192 pp.,
160 illustrations
$19.95
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Jack Lenor Larsen’s
A Weaver’s Memoir,
a signed soft cover book for $19.95 |
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| LongHouse Reserve T-shirt, (black or mocca color) $15. |
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| Fabric designed by Jack Lenor Larsen. Please call Associate Curator Wendy Van Deusen at 631.329.3568, ext. 4. |
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Other ways to give to LongHouse Reserve
 This high back bench designed by Andrée Putman is an example of the named gift opportunities program. For further information please call 631.329.3568. |
Although a cash contribution, either restricted or unrestricted, is the most usual gift to LHR, a popular way of giving these days is the contribution of appreciated securities, which avoid capital gains tax and are eligible for a tax contribution at appreciated value. Establishing a charitable gift annuity with the LongHouse Reserve for a gift of $5,000 or more allows you to make an investment in the future of LongHouse Reserve. In addition to supporting the work of the Reserve with a significant contribution, the annuity provides you with fixed quarterly payments for life, a portion of which will be tax free. Your gift enables you to claim an immediate income tax charitable deduction, and you are relived of the concerns of managing your asset. Most importantly, you are helping to ensure that LongHouse Reserve will remain the beautiful oasis that it is today.
Matching programs, in which many employers participate in a corporate gift-matching program, is a great way to double contributions to LHR. Planned gifts -- such as life insurance, annuities and bequests can provide your family with additional income before the gift is used by LHR. Consult your professional financial advisor for tax and legal advice. For further information please contact LHR at 631.329.3568.
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