I was very pleased to be invited to participate in the second annual show of “Planters on And Off The Ground” at the Longhouse Reserve. The show ties together outdoor art and horticulture. For me it was an opportunity to present a combination of concrete and wood. I was less certain how to handle the plants. I decided that I wanted the raw power of the planters to be front and center. I chose decorative grasses and a miniature lavender to satisfy the living part of the presentation.

There were a number of awards handed out at the opening night reception. I was honored to have a ribbon but I immediately envied my fellow exhibitors with two ribbons. During the awards presentation P. Allen Smith, the juror and MC, announced that the single ribbon indicated a second place. It was a shared honor but i no longer had ribbon envy. My attention turned to P. Allen Smiths critique of the ribbon winners. To paraphrase, he was struck by the combination of concrete and wood. He was aware that this would be a challenge for the long term in the garden but he did not much care since the results were “sublime”. I came back down to earth when he chastised my selection for the plants. He thought the grass was a good choice but the lavender was a mistake. I have work to do before next year!

I had to check on my bench while I was at he Longhouse Reserve . We had a string of brutal weather since I had installed the bench. The finish was holding up very well.

It was made very clear to me that i could expect a bird to poop on the bench at the rate of about once a day.

They were true to their word on this day!

This spring marks the beginning of a two year loan of Outdoor Bench #2 to the LongHouse Reserve. The LongHouse is the home of and represents the vision of Jack Lenor Larsen. It is one of the places that makes the East End of Long Island such a special place to live. For those of you who are not aware of the splendor of the grounds you can get a sense of it from their website. Those of you who visit the East End should go and have a look at the Longhouse Reserve.

I get so distracted by the sculpture that I often forget to look at the house, it’s a work of art in itself. My bench is positioned on the left side of the house.

Outdoor Bench #2 is one of the largest benches I have ever built. It measures ten feet long and the cast concrete legs add to its massive presence. It looked absolutely enormous in my studio and I thought I would not build a bigger bench than this one. Things have changed! The scale of the longHouse is so grand that this bench actually looks a bit on the small side. I have not designed it yet but I now feel encouraged to build bigger. (my back is not happy about this development)

Update: Bench #4 from Bench Series #2 is now at the Longhouse!