Last post was about a visit to a place in the infamous East Hampton, Long Island, New York where an equally infamous artist once lived, but later that same day my traveling partner, Sue and I dropped in to see Longhouse Reserve, a sculpture garden not far from town.
 |
| Eric Fischl's, "Tumbling Woman" |
It was a pretty nice nice day to be out scuffling along the meandering paths into the various garden rooms. Meeting a vivid pair of Baltimore Orioles and seeing blossoming plums and other trees and flowers was an aesthetic experience by itself. Yet around every bend there was usually a manmade object: a sculpture, a chair, a bench, a pool, a stone wall, lots of things, practically jammed into the environment at Longhouse.
Sue identified a DeKooning sculpture at a distance, but I thought it was a monstrous pile of black metal, and I didn't believe her. On closer inspection it sure enough was a DeKooning. No picture taken of that one however.
Instead I photographed this startling installation by Yue Minju.
 |
| Contemporary Chinese Warriors, 2002 |
It was weird seeing the black figures in the distance, and weirder still to come closer and see their enigmatic expressions. Are they laughing, screaming, crying? Why are they holding their ears? We pondered this and concluded that the artist was making a political statement about Chinese society. It seemed to me it was not a happy statement about life in China.
 |
Study in Heightened Perspective,
by Jack Lenor Larsen, founder of Longhouse |
An allee lined with azaleas in bud and bright red, painted posts led to a round globe-like pot at the end, like an offering at an altar. The pot was by Toshiko Takaezu. As with many of her works the opening at the top was small, and apparently this had been sealed by Longhouse with something like tar, perhaps to keep the rain out. There was a grouping of large forms elsewhere on the grounds which I forgot to photograph, mainly because I am not that interested in her work. Here I was more thrilled by the red posts and the azaleas, imagining them blooming and all red too.
 |
| Sea Anemone, 2002 |
This sculpture by Tamiko Kawata mounted on a tree at
first appeared to be growing there like a lichen or cluster of mushrooms, but when I came close I saw that it was entirely made of rusting safety pins.
The snake like form and suspended sausage-y form are also by Kawata and of the same material. Patience must have guided this artist's hand to take a tiny material and create something in scale with a tree.
I love stone sculpture and have done a little myself. This assembly of stone figures appealed to me for its simplification of form and textural quality. I think they look wonderful outside in a natural environment. See first picture in this post for another view of these sculptures.
 |
| Mimbres, 1998 |
 |
| 10 Bronze Stacks (partial view) |
Next, the giant of modern American ceramics, (so I made his photo LARGE) Peter Voulkos. A circular gathering of enigmatically titled monoliths surround an earthen mound. Each is different, but they bear similar qualities. I could tell instantly that they were by Voulkos. Who else can manipulate slabs of clay with such apparent ease? These are bronze, but I assume cast from clay originals.
 |
| Fly's Eye Dome, 1998 |
Last, and certainly not least, is this structure made of fiberglass 33 feet in diameter. John Kuhtik produced it using Buckminster Fuller's drawing for a dome that was never made.
Inside and in the center were piled many brightly covered pillows. It was a perfect place to take a rest and look up at the sky, which we did, until it was time to hit the gift shop and go back to our B&B for cocktails.
Cheers, Dahling!
There was a big mother of a pot that actually, for unknown reasons, had its bottom sliver off partially in the bisque firing and therefore I thought, "let's glaze the bottom and then it will be stronger!" Brilliant. Give it two stilts and therefore 6 little puny metal points to balance on, and into the kiln it went with the golden globe and its stand, and the weird sculptural incense burner and holder I made for my son.
