DAN'S PAPERS, July 11, 2008 Page 105 www.danshamptons.com
Design & Décor
The Creative Process at LongHouse
Photos by April Gonzales
By April Gonzales Last weekend an invitational exhibit opened at LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton called On and Off the Ground, the Container as Art. Out of 75 individuals invited to present, 24 responded with flair, putting together planters, plants, artwork, ceramic sculpture, old machinery, logs, sod, glass, metal, sand and seashells. As a participant, I chose sand and seashells as the medium for a series of containers. My mother in law, Sarah Lojac glued seashells on cement pots that an uncle cast for her. Over time she would paint them, glue sequins on and sometimes paint them again. By the time we met only one green pot was left by the front door. Seashells are the embodiment of beauty and exotic locales for me, even if my favorite is the local channeled whelk. Following in her footsteps, I have been gluing limpets, snails and scallops on pots for a while. So I began searching for the right planter. This ended happily when Seibert and Rice offered to donate some pots – I could use whatever I wanted from their impressive stock of hand built Italian terra cotta planters made in Impruneta that are winter hardy, meaning they can be left out all year round. I ordered a 36” planter and scavenged another gorgeous ornamental planter from co- owner Mara
Seibert’s garage in Southampton, which is decorated with sculpted mermaids and sea gods. My oceanic theme was born. One day, Scott Schleicher came over to fix my irrigation but due to complications we started to chat instead and I told him about my first design concept: a sculpture of a mermaid seated in the pot adorned with shells, with her tail draped over the side. He suggested Jeff Muhs a local sculptor, who allowed us to run over to his studio right then. Brought up by
Captain Muhs, one of the most noted local decoy carvers in the area, Jeff had learned the art of carving but moved on to other materials. He also was a winner of the sandcastle contest in Atlantic City a couple of times. We hit it off and Jeff was interested but as time went by a conflicting gallery show date came up, prohibiting his involvement. So what to do? I wanted to have a connection to the local sea history, and I had started to shop for seashells from all over the world to put on the sides of the pots. I finally settled on 8” scalIop-like orange lion’s paws, striped foxes, Phillipine barnacles, Linki starfish, pink murexes, sundials, pectins with barnacles. As I had always wanted a giant clam, I ordered one of those too. It was so heavy that when it came the pallet it was on was destroyed. From what I have been told those clams will soon be unavailable. Next came the decision of what to actually put in the container. I thought of Fran Taubman on Shelter Island, a metal worker who fabricates all kinds of furniture, light fixtures and out door sculptures in her own workshop. Seibert and I snooped around the studio looking for pieces to scavenge or some inspiration. Taubman had a very interesting metal ribbon sculpture and a table. She invited me to come for a weekend to light up the torches and bend some metal to create a sculpture around the (continued on next page)
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