[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 129 (Thursday, September 23, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S7417]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   RECOGNIZING DIRK LEACH RUSTIC ARTS

 Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, as lobster bakes and vacations along 
the picturesque northeastern coast fade with the summer months, today I 
honor a craftsman and small business owner in my home State of Maine 
who keeps the feeling of the season alive by marrying function, 
comfort, beauty, tradition, and love of the outdoors--quintessentially 
Maine characteristics--with the iconic Adirondack chair.
  Located along the Saco River in the town of Buxton, Dirk Leach Rustic 
Arts is a one-of-a-kind business devoted to one man's dream of creating 
the perfect Adirondack chair. The company's owner, Dirk Leach, 
maintains the tradition of ``rustic artistry'' by walking through 
Maine's woodlands in late fall and winter to gather materials for one 
of his Shaker creations. An artist and an innovator, Mr. Leach 
describes himself as ``obsessed with the Adirondack chair form,'' and 
draws inspiration from the simple, functional forms of Shaker design. 
Mr. Leach's sketches help him translate his varying ideas into unique 
prototypes and, finally, innovative seating pieces with wide seat 
planks, thick arm rests, and clean lines.
  Since the mid 1990s, Dirk Leach has fashioned Adirondack chairs and 
settees from a variety of trees native to Maine, such as red oak, white 
ash, yellow birch, and sugar maple. Perhaps most creatively, Mr. Leach 
transforms pin cherry and gray birch into hand-hewn candlesticks and a 
number of accessories. Mr. Leach lovingly builds, paints, signs, and 
dates his exceptional and unique creations, which are all beautifully 
handcrafted and guaranteed for life. While his most popular designs 
include the traditional Weekender chairs to the more eclectic 
Nor'easter chairs, Mr. Leach has pledged to design 100 variations of 
the outdoor classic by alternating back height, seat angles, hardware, 
and color. Moreover, chairs can be built to withstand even the coldest 
of Maine's winters, as they are constructed of weather tight white oak 
and finished in the finest exterior house paint on the market.
  And although Mainers have come to anticipate traditional white 
Adirondack chairs assembled along campfires and lazily arranged in the 
backyard, Dirk Leach is renowned for applying layers of paint in colors 
inspired by nature itself, from colors such as iris, prairie grass, and 
warm earth, to vivid shades of crocus, coral, and pistachio.
  Touted as the ``Best Maine Adirondack Chair'' by Down East Magazine 
in July 2010, Dirk Leach Rustic Arts has been working to keep up with 
demand since the Maine publication hit newsstands. And when he wasn't 
drawing up his newest designs, Mr. Leach has spent time traveling to 
Wisconsin, New York, and throughout Maine--from July to September--
demonstrating his rustic woodworking craftsmanship and techniques.
  While small businesses are most notably touted as drivers of our 
national economy, and rightly so, they can sometimes be overlooked for 
their often more subtle contributions to design, quality, and 
innovative vision. Whether his customers utilize these chairs to gaze 
out at the ocean or sit around a campfire, Dirk Leach's designs are 
functional works of art meant to last for generations. I commend Dirk 
Leach on the passion he lends to his craft, and I wish him nothing but 
success in the years to come.

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