Art Opens LongHouse Reserve’s 2014 Season In East Hampton

Neil Noland, Fitzhugh Karol, Steve Miller and Gaston Lachaise have three things in common.

One, they are artists. Two, they draw inspiration from nature. And three, they will all open LongHouse Reserve’s 2014 season in the exhibition, “Rites of Spring,” beginning Saturday, April 19, at the 16-acre gardens and landscaped grounds in East Hampton—a logical and appropriate location for the men’s work.

After all, an overwhelming respect for the environment inspired the sculpture of the late Mr. Noland, such as “Untitled,” made from weathering steel, which will be on display at LongHouse. Mr. Karol, a woodworker who creates visual poetry through abstract shapes and forms referencing the landscape, will show a 75-foot-long white pine installation, “What’s Supposed to Be,” which invites interaction and introspection in the garden.

And Mr. Miller, an early pioneer of what was eventually coined “SciArt,” or science-based art, will provoke visitors with a series of outdoor sculptures examining the health of the natural world by mixing unlikely media.

“They’re really cool,” Mr. Miller said in February at his Sagaponack home-studio. “They’re going to be these pieces in bronze and steel, and X-ray on glass. I’ve got a sloth in there, fish, plants, other animals. I don’t know how many there will be. It depends on how many I can make in time. It will be ready for the summer.”

Sculptor Mr. Lachaise, a pioneer of American modernism who died in 1935, was known for his voluptuous bronze female nudes. But this year, LongHouse will welcome his “Heroic Man,” a monumental male nude standing more than 9 feet tall that was completed shortly before Mr. Lachaise’s death.

“I aim to express the glorification of the human being, of the human body, of the human spirit,” the late artist once said, “with all there is of daring magnificence.”

LongHouse Reserve’s “Rites of Spring” 2014 season opening and reception will be held on Saturday, April 19, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the East Hampton reserve. A new exhibition, “exteriors, the explosion of outdoor furnishings,” will open on May 17. Admission is $10, $8 for seniors and free for students with ID. For more information, call 329-3568 or visit longhouse.org.