Magic Woods
Sometimes Gallery
Curated by Natalie Baxter and Josh Simpson
June 13 – July 18, 2026
Opening party Saturday, June 13 4-6pm
Open throughout Upstate Art Weekend, June 25–29
Magic Woods is a group exhibition unfolding inside Sometimes Gallery and across the surrounding forested hillside of Rattlesnake Mountain. Inspired by the children’s storytelling podcast Magic Woods, the exhibition draws from the logic of fables and fairy tales, where animals speak, objects hold memory, and wandering becomes a way of knowing.
The sculptures, paintings, and photographs explore the forest as both a site of playful wonder and a place of uncertainty, trickery, and danger. The woods become a space for curiosity and connection while holding what is unknown.
As parents to young children, Magic Woods has become part of our daily rhythms, looping through car rides and bedtime routines alongside news and alerts that often feel just as surreal. We each inhabit our own version of a magic wood and can forget the shared natural world that connects us. This exhibition proposes the forest as a place to slow down, wander, and listen. Moving between gallery and landscape, visitors are invited to reimagine their relationship to place, story, and one another, finding magic not in escape but in attention, presence, and connection.
Sometimes Gallery is housed in the backyard of Natalie Baxter and Josh Simpson in Natalie’s studio, (that is sometimes a gallery), nestled among their home and woods on Rattlesnake Mountain in Wassaic, NY.
Participating Artists:
