LongHouse Reserve Celebrates ‘DayDreams’ With Artists, Words and a Garden Built for Imagination

James Salomon’s new book brings together Ai Weiwei, Laurie Anderson, Eric Fischl, Philip Glass, Julian Schnabel and more than 40 artists inspired by LongHouse Reserve and founder Jack Lenor Larsen.

LongHouse Reserve has always been a place where art wanders beyond gallery walls. So it was a fitting setting for the launch of James Salomon’s DayDreams, a new book bringing together the words, artwork and reflections of 44 artists whose lives and work intersect with the East Hampton sculpture garden.

Guests filled the pavilion for cocktails and readings from contributing artists, turning the evening into something between a literary salon and a collective glimpse inside the creative mind.

Inspired by LongHouse and its founder, artist, collector and textile designer Jack Lenor Larsen, DayDreams features original artwork, poetry, prose and reflections from an impressive roster that includes Ai Weiwei, Laurie Anderson, Renée Cox, Eric Fischl, Philip Glass, Julian Schnabel, Sean Scully and Dustin Yellin.

The book includes an introduction by LongHouse Curator at Large Glenn Adamson, reflections on Larsen by Dianne Benson and writings honoring Buckminster Fuller, Toshiko Takaezu and Lawrence Weiner.

For Salomon, the project grew from a deceptively simple idea.

“Daydreaming is a romantic notion of impractical thought, and yet sometimes the seed that boosts our creative energy,” he wrote on a note that remained pinned to his refrigerator for months while he worked on the book.

At LongHouse, those daydreams became the evening’s script as contributing artists read selections from their work.

“Do I dream?” Michele Oka Doner began, describing dreams accumulating through the years in “layer upon layer upon layer of hopes and fears.”

Richard Pasquarelli and Benjamin Keating also read from their contributions.

The book’s connection to Larsen — and to the unconventional world he created at LongHouse — ran throughout the gathering.

“Jack created LongHouse as a place where art, nature and imagination could exist together, and DayDreams is very much in that tradition,” LongHouse Executive Director Lara Sweeney said. “These artists have taken something deeply personal — their own daydreams — and shared it with a community that he built.”

Dianne Benson, president emerita of LongHouse, described the book as the culmination of Salomon’s “very deep dive into the artistry sustaining LongHouse,” calling the garden itself a kind of dreamscape created by a man who “lived with one foot in the clouds and the other on a very verdant earth.”

It was an apt description for an evening devoted to the places creative minds go when they’re allowed to wander.

What’s next at LongHouse

LongHouse continues its fall programming Sept. 12 with a visit from New York Theatre Ballet, performing a new work by Antonia Franceschi. Multidisciplinary artist Darlene Deloris leads a talk and creative workshop Sept. 13, followed Sept. 19 by a conversation with Sarah Nagourney about women in the music industry.

LongHouse Reserve is a 16-acre sculpture garden and cultural institution in East Hampton founded by Larsen. Its grounds feature more than 60 outdoor works, including pieces by Yoko Ono, Toshiko Takaezu and Willem de Kooning.

Angela LaGreca

Editor, Co-Founder/Publisher

Angela LaGreca, Editor-in-chief and co-Founder/Publisher of Spark Hamptons, is a four-time Emmy Award-winning journalist, producer, writer and comedian/host. Her TV credits include NBC’s “Today,” ABC’s “The View,” and, most recently, the primetime cable news program “Cuomo” on NewsNation. On the East End, she was the Creative Director at LTV, VP Features/Events/Photo Editor at Dan’s Papers, and has performed at Guild Hall, Bay Street Theater and the WHBPAC. Her publishing career began at Modern Photography, where she was managing editor. LaGreca lives in Manhattan and East Hampton and can be reached at angelatvmedia@gmail.com and angela@sparkhamptons.com .