LongHouse Reserve founder and artistic director Jack Lenor Larsen is always on the move. Reaching 90 years young in August, does not seem to have slowed him down one bit. Instead, he continues to share new ideas, designs and events with the LongHouse board and staff. His love of world culture keeps him on the move as he travels nearly every month including a visit to Sweden in June. It's hard to keep up with him, and that's a very good thing! Here are some images from Jack's adventures the past few weeks:
On September 16, Jack presided over the LongHouse Landscape Awards, presented to outstanding achievements in garden design. Here he enjoys a bit of parasol shade with Caroline Baumann, Director of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Museum.
Jack with the 2017 Landscape Awards recipients and presenters, from left: Eric Groft, of Oehme, van Sweden (presenter and accepted for Garden Design Magazine, Award for Publication; Kris Jarantoski, Garden Director, Chicago Botanic Garden (retired), Garden Direction Award; Warrie Price, President and Founder, Battery Park Conservancy (presenter); Jack Larsen; Nicole Williams, Chicago Botanic Garden board member (presenter); David Swers, President and COO of Glen Raven Custom Fabrics/Sunbrella, Design Award; Caroline Baumann, Director, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Museum (presenter); Deborah Nevins, Deborah Nevins & Associates, Landscape Award.
A week after the Landscape Awards, Jack traveled to Minneapolis to be on hand for the Goldstein Museum of Design's exhibition, "Jack Lenor Larsen at 90: Transformations by a Textile Innovator." The exhibition, spanning Jack's innovations and creations of textiles, runs through January 7, 2018. For more information visit: www.goldstein.museum.umn.edu.
The opening reception even included a birthday cake celebrating Jack's 90th birth year, bravo!
In October, Jack visited with his dear friend, Dale Chihuly in New York City to celebrate the unveiling of Chihuly's work, "Rose Crystal Tower" in Union Square Park. The sculpture is 31 ft high and is made of Polyvitro crystal and steel. Pictured here from left: Leslie Jackson Chihuly, Peter Olsen, Jack Larsen and Dale Chihuly.
Last week we were honored to have PBS' Craft in America film Jack for an upcoming episode of the series. They spent part of the week in New York City with Jack before coming to LongHouse to film for a few days. Here is a photo of the set up for one of the segments in the LongHouse Pavilion featuring some of Jack's iconic textile designs on display. This Craft in America episode will air in 2018 and we are looking forward to it!
And he's off again! This week Jack travels to Seattle for the celebration at the Trammell-Gagne showroom for their new representation of the design lines, Cowtan & Tout, Colefax and Fowler, Jane Churchill, Larsen and Manuel Canovas. The reception will be held on Thursday, October 26 at 2:30pm at the Seattle Design Center. Jack will screen the film "Larsenworld: LongHouse in East Hampton" and be on hand for a book signing. If you are in the area, be sure to attend to the event; rsvp to jacklenorlarsen.eventbrite.com.
Larsen Fabrics
Catch him if you can!