“Natural Beauty: The Art of Rustic Furniture” will open to the public on Friday. The exhibit has been years in the making, and features over 250 works of tables, chairs, cabinets and other elaborate furnishings. The pieces come from both near and far.

Many were crafted by artists living and working in the Adirondacks, while others come from the American South, Europe and Asia. Featured artists include Barney Bellinger, Paul Lakata, Seth Pierce (1828-1911), Ernest Stowe (1865-1940), Jilian Post, Tyler Schrader, Jonathan Swartwout, Jonathan Sweet and Peter Winter.

Laura Rice, the museum’s chief curator, noted that, it may not seem like it at first glance, but the exhibit furniture’s far-flung origins all string together.

“We’re putting it into the global context for the first time,” she said. “We sometimes think of the Adirondacks as this isolated island, but it isn’t. Everything’s connected to everything else.”

Several chairs that are part of the “Natural Beauty: The Art of Rustic Furniture” exhibition are seen in the new open gallery space in the Adirondack Experience museum’s “Life in the Adirondacks” building on Tuesday, June 10 in the hamlet of Blue Mountain Lake. Museum staff are putting the finishing touches on the exhibition, including label placements and lighting adjustments, before it opens to the public on Friday. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

Rice described how Adirondack furniture makers, both historical and contemporary, drew influence from furnishings made in similarly mountainous regions around the world, and the works on display showcase those overlapping design traditions.

Similar isn’t identical. Rice said each region’s works are partially defined by the native woods and other materials that builders had available to them, and what design options exist as a result.

“What makes Adirondack furniture unique is that you use the materials at hand,” she said. “Those materials help define the design you come up with.”

For instance, Sashimono, a traditional Japanese woodworking technique, makes use of intricate latticework to connect various pieces of a product, and does not use nails, glue or other fasteners.

Aside from its aesthetic beauty, a more practical reason for the style’s rise was Japan had minimal iron ore deposits. Sashimono also came about several centuries before Japan began actively participating in global trading, leaving designers and builders there largely without the common fasteners — nails, screws, bolts, etc. — that are often taken for granted today.

In addition to geographic connections and distinctions, the exhibit also showcases how rustic furniture has evolved over time, with contemporary artists both incorporating various techniques and methods that have shone through multiple generations, as well as putting their own touch on newer pieces, such as LED lighting.

Rice, who has been with the museum for 22 years, said the idea for this exhibit came as a way for the museum to build beyond its already-extensive collection of Adirondack rustic furniture. It took years of coordinating for museum staff to arrange and receive some of the pieces that will be on display.

“Natural Beauty” also marks a major milestone for the Adirondack Experience museum. It’s the first display to be housed in the new temporary exhibit space. Formerly a storage room within the “Life in the Adirondacks” building, it was recently renovated into a gallery space.

“We’re sort of inaugurating the use of this new temporary exhibition space,” she said. “We have an amazing rustic collection and we thought, you know, it’s so iconically Adirondack that it’s kind of a good way to break the bottle on the bow of the ship as it were, and get this space underway.”

Rice said the room’s 14-foot ceilings and large double door make it well-suited for bringing large objects into rotating exhibits. Additionally, the ample and movable lighting fixtures, as well as the ability to build temporary large and small walls, offer museum staff a lot of flexibility for how they want to shape and customize an exhibit’s experience.

“I’m just thrilled with it,” Rice said.

“Natural Beauty: The Art of Rustic Furniture” will remain on display through 2026. For more information, including hours, ticket sales and upcoming events, visit theadkx.org.

Year-round Adirondack Park residents, with proof of residency such as a driver license, receive free admission to the museum on the second and fourth Sunday of each month during the museum’s operating season.