The White Hot and Blue 20th Anniversary celebration at the LongHouse Reserve was last night in East Hampton NY. Jack Lenor Larsen and the countless people who staged this event were favored with a perfect evening. Even the weather cooperated!

The event started off in a unique way with performers from the Big Apple Circus scattered around the grounds. We were greeted by this performer as we entered the garden.

Philanthropist Barbara Slifka was honored by the LongHouse Reserve. The Principals from the New York City Ballet made the journey east to perform in celebration of Barbara and her generosity over the years. Ballet in the open air was a real treat!

The highlight for me was the Dale Chihuly installation of Blue and Purple Boat, 2006. I had been approached by the team at the longhouse about moving my bench so that it would have a better relationship to the floating sculpture. I made my way over to the LongHouse in about 5 minutes to move my bench! Here are the results.

Bench #4 with Dale Chihuly Purple and Blue Boat, 2006

From the LHR about Dale Chihuly:

Creative genius, Dale Chihuly (b. 1941), is the most innovative and influential American artist working in glass today.  Introduced to the medium while studying interior design at the University of Washington, Chihuly is the quintessential force behind the movement to change the very dimension and definition of blown glass into a large-scale art form. He revolutionized the oeuvre from solo studio-glass practitioner to that of using a collaborative team to help him produce his work. His dramatic and colorfully amorphous art forms attract a world-wide audience.

I hope that my mirror sold at the auction! Thanks you LongHouse for a fabulous evening!

The Online auction to benefit the LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton NY is now live and online! I have enjoyed having my work at the LHR but more than anything I have enjoyed every event I have attended there. This year I have donated a piece to the annual auction thatI hope will help contribute to the programs at the LongHouse.

Click here to see which piece I have donated and please consider buying something to benefit the LongHouse. But wait there is more! If the winning bidder is going to install the piece on the East End I will personally come over and hang it!

Good Luck!

Nico

Bench #4 at the LongHouse

Planters #5 and 6 at the LongHouse

Here is a sneak peak of Planter #5

Planter #6

If you can make it to the LongHouse on Saturday for the opening you will be able to see them with all of the other fabulous work.

Please contact the LongHouse Reserve for Hours and directions.

The LongHouse is open April 30 to October 8

Wednesday and Saturday 2-5pm

July and August Wednesday through Saturday

Admission is $10- $8 for seniors or free to members.

Here are my planters and some of the highlights of construction. (that is code for disasters that threatened to derail my efforts)

I presented three planters.

The first two are meant to be displayed together. They are about 85% clones of each other and create a nice dialogue when placed in a garden as a pair

The bulk of the variation comes in the woodwork. The sweeping curves and facets of the Sapele core are very different and encourage the viewer to circle each planter and then comare one to the other.

The concrete also has variation from one to the other but they are not as dramatically different as the woodworking. I designed the concrete to feel different from every angle so the owner could rotate them to achieve the movement they need for that moment in their home or garden.

The concrete is cast in two sections. The plywood box below has been filled with concrete, cured and flipped over ready to be taken apart. The center core is like a section of a pyramid and should have just popped out with a bit of encouragement. Do you get the sense that it did not quite go according to plan?

It required more than just a bit of encouragement with a BIG hammer and a pair of pry bars. Somehow the rest of the form survived so I rebuilt the core in sections that would allow for it to come out in a series of pieces.

The other planter I made has the presence that I now think is deserving of the Open Bowls portion of the exhibition.

The planter measured almost four feet across.

The Sapele petals were connected to a massive concrete core. I respect that the show was about empty planters but I really want to see this one with plants. I imagine that a composition of low plants would be just as successful as an arrangement of very tall plants. I think this could be my most original and versatile planter to date.

I just wanted to point out the detail in the concrete as it will soon be making an appearance in my series of outdoor benches. The detail creates an asymmetrical step in the concrete that creates a deep shadow detail. Not only that but the specifics of creation allow me to vary this detail from one casting to the next. This detail adds a level of variation to my concrete work that should help take my next few benches to new places.

OK I had to see what this planter looked like with these two little seedlings. I am already looking forward to next year!

The new category is for people like myself whose specialty is creating the original vessel. I look forward to seeing the work of the other artists.

Planters On and Off The Ground / Open Bowls

Longhouse Reserve in East Hampton NY

Opening reception on Saturday June 26 5:30PM

More information

May 1 – October 9, 2010

Rites of Spring season opening reception: 2-5pm May 1 2010 (open to the public and a great introduction to the LongHouse)

The longhouse is open to the public on Wednesday and Saturday through the end of June. July and August see the days extended to Wednesday through Saturday. In both cases the hours are 2pm-5pm

The LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton NY is about to open for the 2010 season. I am delighted to have Outdoor Bench #2 in the magnificent gardens for another year. Below is the last picture I took of the installation last year. I got the impression that the bench will be in a new location this year. I cant wait to see where they want it!

Update: Bench #4 from Bench Series #2 is now at the Longhouse!

There were a number of awards handed out at the opening night reception. I was honored to have a ribbon but I immediately envied my fellow exhibitors with two ribbons. During the awards presentation P. Allen Smith, the juror and MC, announced that the single ribbon indicated a second place. It was a shared honor but i no longer had ribbon envy. My attention turned to P. Allen Smiths critique of the ribbon winners. To paraphrase, he was struck by the combination of concrete and wood. He was aware that this would be a challenge for the long term in the garden but he did not much care since the results were “sublime”. I came back down to earth when he chastised my selection for the plants. He thought the grass was a good choice but the lavender was a mistake. I have work to do before next year!

I had to check on my bench while I was at he Longhouse Reserve . We had a string of brutal weather since I had installed the bench. The finish was holding up very well.

It was made very clear to me that i could expect a bird to poop on the bench at the rate of about once a day.

They were true to their word on this day!

I get so distracted by the sculpture that I often forget to look at the house, it’s a work of art in itself. My bench is positioned on the left side of the house.

Outdoor Bench #2 is one of the largest benches I have ever built. It measures ten feet long and the cast concrete legs add to its massive presence. It looked absolutely enormous in my studio and I thought I would not build a bigger bench than this one. Things have changed! The scale of the longHouse is so grand that this bench actually looks a bit on the small side. I have not designed it yet but I now feel encouraged to build bigger. (my back is not happy about this development)

Update: Bench #4 from Bench Series #2 is now at the Longhouse!