In the coming season, LongHouse Reserve will display significant new works of art, including two large scale sculptures by Maren Hassinger and three by Wyatt Kahn, plus a special exhibition curated by Glenn Adamson and designed by Colin King. Popular permanent collection pieces by Buckminster Fuller, Sol Lewitt, Yoko Ono, Toshiko Takaezu and many others remain on view, along with the renewed loan of sculptures from Cheng Tsung Feng and William and Steven Ladd.
As is its longtime tradition, the LongHouse Reserve season opens with the “Rites of Spring” celebration on April 1, with nearly a million daffodils and rare bulb plants in bloom. Refreshments will be served and families are invited to weave branches from the garden with Maren Hassinger to create her site-specific “Monuments,” or join in a fabric puppet-making workshop with Kim Profaci. Wyatt Kahn’s three sculptures (“Parade,” “Painting the Painter,” “Umbrella”) most recently on view in City Hall Park, come to LongHouse in a new partnership with the Public Art Fund. Two sculptures from the same collection, “Life in the Abstract,” will be on view at Art Basel, Switzerland.
This year also marks changes in the management of Longhouse. Carrie Rebora Barratt, Ph.D. becomes the permanent director, a natural evolution from her previous role as interim director, and Glenn Adamson, Ph.D. becomes curator-at-large. Adamson, the nation’s acknowledged foremost expert on craft, will present an exhibition of contemporary makers’ work alongside masterpieces collected by Jack Lenor Larsen in a show entitled “Then and Now/Object & Thing.” The exhibition which is designed by star stylist Colin King, opens Memorial Day Weekend and remains on view through the summer. Esperanza Leon joins LongHouse as head of education and community engagement. Leon’s past experience includes Guild Hall, the Victor D’Amico Institute of Art, El Museo Del Barrio, and director of Fundación Teatro Ateneo de Maracay in Venezuela.
After 15 years as board president and more recently co-president, Dianne Benson will move to president emerita status, while also becoming chair of the arts committee.
“I have cherished LongHouse since 2000, when Jack invited me to join his trustees and have been proud of my contributions to LongHouse as it has grown in stature here and around the world,” said Benson. “I am confident that LongHouse will prosper and have complete trust in our new leadership which has renewed my excitement for our future.”
“Dianne has been our tireless leader for 15 years. Her friendship with Jack and dedication to the high standards and style of LongHouse are irreplaceable,” said Board President Nina Gillman. “Dianne continues to be a champion of art and nature both at LongHouse and in East Hampton generally.”
LongHouse Reserve is at 133 Hands Creek Road, East Hampton. General admission is $20, with half price tickets for seniors and students, and no charge for veterans or active-duty personnel. For details, visit longhouse.org.
Staff Writer on Mar 7, 2023