The East End is home to four members of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Historic Artists’ Homes & Studios program. On Saturday, June 25, all four of them will open their doors to visitors for free, self-guided tours from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
No reservations are required, but check each location’s website for directions and information on COVID-19 protocols. Visitors to all four can receive a membership to the site of their choice.
The westernmost site, the Madoo Conservancy (madoo.org), the former home, studio, and garden of the painter and poet Robert Dash (1931-2013), is in the village of Sagaponack. Dash spent more than 40 years developing the two-acre collection of plantings and artist-designed structures. His residence and studio and a selection of his works are also on the tour.
Twelve miles east, opposite East Hampton’s Town Pond, is the Moran Studio (easthamptonhistory.org). The former home of landscape painter Thomas Moran (1837-1926) and his wife, printmaker Mary Nimmo Moran (1842-1899), it interprets the couple’s lives and careers. Described as “a quirky, Queen Anne-style studio cottage,” it was the first purpose-built artists’ residence in this renowned American art colony.
Five miles north in Springs, in East Hampton Town, is the Pollock-Krasner House & Study Center (stonybrook.edu/pkhouse), where abstract expressionist painters Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) and Lee Krasner (1908-1984) lived and worked. The barn studio contains evidence of their spontaneous gestural techniques. An early Pollock painting and prints by both artists are displayed in the house, which also features changing exhibitions.
On Lazy Point, eight miles east in Amagansett, the D’Amico Studio & Archive (damico-art.org) offers an intimate view of the singular environment designed by artist Mabel D’Amico (1909-1998) and her husband, Victor (1904-1987), founder of the Museum of Modern Art’s education program. Their home manifests the concept of creative living and illustrates the couple’s progressive approach to art and education. The couple also created Napeague’s popular Art Barge.
Learn more about Historic Artists’ Homes & Studios at artistshomes.org.
Staff Writer on Jun 23, 2022