Elephants almost fly at the LongHouse Reserve.
Chihuly installation on the lily pond. Cobalt pussy-willows look magical.
Jack Lenor Larsen’s house is part of the reserve.
It is amazing what we sometimes find when we just look around. We are here in eastern Long Island for family, friends, food and the beach. But, perhaps out of luck, this year we found a few new places that feed the soul. Our first discovery is the Quail Hill CSA, a beautiful (and bountiful) CSA farm in Amagansett. Our time at the farm with our friends slowed our pulses for a few days, and the boys are still excited to eat their “crop”. Good times for the gardener who has visions (delusions?) of farming.
Sculpture by Buckminster Fuller. Note the kids (respectfully) get to enjoy the art.
More fun with kids and art. A great introduction to art and design.
Fun and thoughtful landscaping abound. Here is a “Bed-of-nails” plant.
But just a few miles away, in East Hampton, lies another treasure that is a whole other type of garden, the LongHouse Reserve. The LongHouse Reserve is a living art and sculpture garden founded by Textile designer and collector Jack Lenor Larsen. The Reserve features acres of gardens with beautiful sculpture and landscaping from dozens of artists and designers including de Kooning, Fuller, Chilhuly and Libeskind. World class art and landscape design are everywhere, but this is no museum. The LongHouse Reserve is a living, well-tended garden where you can stroll and relax amidst a compelling mixture of the best work of man and nature. A serious art aficionado will enjoy a visit, but so will your kids. Simply a delightful place. We are very grateful to all involved for their work.
We can try to wax poetic about the art, but to paraphrase Branford Marsalis: “writing about art and music is like dancing about architecture”. We will let the photos do the talking. But, however good the photos, they will not do the LongHouse Reserve justice. A visit is the best option.
A good installation called “Asparagi”
Note the elephant and lion.
We leave you where we started….
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What a stunning place – with all that art … I love when art are out side – where it can be played with .. touched and enjoyed. Love that elephant – he seems to enjoy his position.
Thanks- we enjoyed the elephant as well..it seemed to capture the spirit if the place..
Yes, that I understand … a funny and playful feature.
Totally inspired! Thank you for this tour. A must see next time I visit LI, my birthplace. Stop by by blog/world. 😉
Thanks for reading- and we will visit!
correction: MY blog/world.
what an incredible reserve! x
Thx! And thanks for visiting..
Lovely garden ! I love the elephant !!!
Thanks! We are glad you enjoyed the photos..
What a great adventure. Your pix gave me a case of sculpture-experience-envy. I’ll have to go find something artistic to put into the backyard this week.
Thanks Mike….As I recall your “backyard” is pretty nice opne space on its own…. 😉
Very cool.
Thanks- it is very much worth a visit if you are in the area…
Hahaha. I really love your parting line. “We leave you where we started.” Thanks for the virtual trip.
Thanks for the visit!
What a fun and beautiful place, installation art is amazing!
Installations are very cool- and in the garden some really work. There are more at the reserve, but our photos didi not do them justice…
My sister and I went to RISD (she still lives in Rhode Island — Barrington) and she used to work for Jack Lenore Larsen as a fabric designer. The whole place looks lovely! What a day.
Wow- very cool. Some of Larsen’s work is on display inside the house…amazing work.
Oh how I’d love to visit ! Art, architecture AND gardens. And the Longhouse looks such a beautiful and fascinating place. Thank you for taking me on a day trip – all be it virtually
Thanks for reading! I think you would love it…we didn’t capture half of what is there…although we are still jealous of all the gardens in the UK…
Got a kick out of the kid behind the man statue; I first noticed the feet but then the hands sticking out was even better!
It was fun- we have a whole set of photos w/ the statute. The kids liked it so much we went back..
Beautiful photos !! 🙂
Many Thanks!