Mark Dion, J. Morgan Puett, Bob Braine;
credit: Chris Protopapas (via Flikr)
Schoharie Creek Field Station is a permanent art installation located west of the Lexington House and overlooking the Schoharie Creek, built around 1995 by the artists themselves. Field Station invites exploration of local watershed plant and animal life. It reverentially references American naturalists, environmental conservation and early transcendentalist literature. It is a tiny refuge offering basic scientific equipment, a library of field guides, research resources and catalogues of local specimens. Field Station marks the beginning of artist Mark Dion’s exploration of folly architecture and their imaginary inhabitants including a recent show at Storm King Art Center described in Financial Times retrospective. We plan to undergo rehabilitation of Field Station under the guidance of the artist J. Morgan Puett who continues exploration of these and other themes at Mildred’s Lane, “a contemporary arts complex(ity)” in the woods at Beach Lake, Pennsylvania.
Currently, the exterior of Field Station is open for public viewing, provided visitors do not approach any nearby buildings. We plan to make the interior generally available to the public in keeping with the artists’ original vision.
Credit: Alex
“‘Schoharie Creek Field Station’ is an ongoing collaboration between Mark Dion, Bob Braine and J. Morgan Puett. Last year‘s efforts included the relocation and renovation of a small cabin; a makeshift shack of the common local architectural vernacular. Once the diminutive house was made structurally secure and solid it was filled with a careful selection of furniture biological equipment ecological study, and a selection of field guides and other relevant books. While the chief aim is to provide a public repository for the tools needed to observe and explore the local watershed [emphasis added], it has also been designed to evoke the rich heritage of American naturalist literature. Thoreau’s cabin at Walden Pond, John Muir’s Slabsides and the Woodchuck Lodge of John Burroughs are all specific references found within the building interior as well as in the riverside setting itself. This summer [1996] the artists will endeavor to complete the interior displays and to continue to build and refine the contents of the field station. They will also landscape the exterior to encourage wildlife.”
Walden 
Slabsides 
Woodchuck Lodge
Recent Photographs
credit: Alex
credit: Alex
“Schoharie” is derived from a Mohawk word meaning “floating driftwood”.
Fall 2019. Credit: Alex
Artifact in Field Station. Photo credit: Alex
December 2019
credit: Alex