Outdoor Sculptures Opening June 27th, 2026

As part of Upstate Art Weekend, the East Branch Nature Preserve’s Outdoor Sculpture Series presents on-site, outdoor sculptures by artists Francis Cape and Daniel Weiner along the Preserve trail. 

Working with EBNP and the Catskill Forest Association, Francis Cape repurposed invasive Norwegian spruce and Norwegian maple to construct a replica of an English blanket chest, echoing those once used by immigrant farmers in Delaware County. The work positions invasive species alongside contemporary immigration narratives, while invoking the site’s history as 19th-century farmland.

In response, Daniel Wiener presents a sculptural table for EBNP’s outdoor classroom that is both functional and expressive. Formed with epoxy clay into fantastical, animated forms, the table channels a shared emotional landscape shaped by uncertainty and dislocation. 

Where Cape looks to the past – tracing histories of movement, settlement, and material transformation – Wiener gives form to the present tense: a collective state of being at a loss, wide-eyed with disbelief, open-mouthed with astonishment, and edged with quiet panic. Together, the works move between inheritance and immediacy.

Discover art, history, and the beauty of nature reimagined at the East Branch Nature Preserve

Location: The East Branch Nature Preserve, 699 Co Rd 38, Arkville, NY 12406.

Time: 4 – 6pm, Saturday June 27th, 2026