Really an excellent opportunity to check out interesting furniture this past weekend in Blue Mountain Lake, NY at the Rustic Furniture Fair at the Adirondack Museum. I’m not typically too into the “rustic” style for my own work, but it is pervasive here in the Adirondacks. Most of what you see is pretty generic, and very boring. The folks at this show are on top of their game; mostly innovative works very well executed.

I didn’t take a huge number of photos, but here are a few of my favorites:

Shop-sawn cherry burl veneer on this bombe-influenced desk.

This amazing desk featured shop-sawn cherry-burl veneer. I thought that it was arguably the best piece in the entire show. To me the best high-end rustic work integrates excellent craftsmanship, some reference to traditional furniture style, and innovative use of typically rustic materials- in this case a yellow birch log and the sawn burl veneer. This was made by Russ Gleaves of Northville, NY, who seems to have little to no web presence.

Slab table with scribed, inset steel.

Another of my favorites came from Kevin Scheimreif of Steel and Grain. This slab tabletop made significantly more interesting with the inclusion of scribed, powder-coated steel. Pretty modern-leaning work, considering the remainder of the folks showing. Sculptural and industrial with lots of steel. A fellow carpenter/builder transitioning into more fulfilling, less painfull work — maybe another reason that I liked his stuff.

The Adirondack Museum is a really beautiful anthropological display of many facets of life in the Adirondacks. Their permanent exhibits are spread through several buildings on a lovely campus. As many museums do, they also put up temporary shows, and I particularly liked their small but robust presentation of traditional Mohawk black ash baskets, “Weaving a Legacy: Mohawk Basket Traditions”. Amazingly detailed work within a vital cultural tradition.