About the Artist

I grew up in Lincolnville, Maine, graduated Camden-Rockport High School, and went into the Navy for six years as an Electronics Technician with a plan of utilizing the GI Bill to go to art school. While in the Navy I made several futile attempts to start an art career. With the exception of a few sales, I found the illustrating field to be a frustrating field.

In 1999 I moved back to Maine and took a job in electronics. I made a few more attempts to sell my artwork, to no avail. I started woodworking in 2001 by making instruments. The carved-shell idea first came to me one Christmas when I was making gifts for people and one person on my list liked shells, so I carved one. Right about then a light bulb went on, although dim at first.

I started out really small scale: finding my wood at the local dump, then going directly to the local woodworkers who were throwing it there, and now I buy most of my wood. At first my work area was outside on the front steps, taking out the extension cord every time, and my work-time revolved around the weather and time of day. After buying a new home, I converted half of our walk-in closet into a VERY small work shop (5' x 6'). I also do a lot of small work in the kitchen on our island counter. That's the current situation, but soon I will be building a dedicated room for woodworking that will still be small, but larger than the closet for sure!

I made an initial investment of $280 for tools and since then the proceeds from sales have gone toward more tools and expanding my operation. Five years after the first shell, I now make several varieties of beautifully-carved shells, a wide range of hand-carved nautical magnets, earrings and necklace pendants, and clocks. Once in a while I carve out some time to make a special piece for entering in carving competitions.

One of my latest of ideas is a method of making bowls and vessels out of Baltic birch plywood that defies the laws of craftsmanship. These pieces would literally be impossible to make with a lathe—which is good, because I don't own one. Sometimes a lack of tools or professional direction spawns creation that would never have been otherwise discovered, and I think that is what I love the best about what I do. It's fun to make things that bewilder people as to how it could have been made, or shock them with something they have never seen.

My latest creations can be seen at the Island Institute Archipelago in Rockland, ME, Ducktrap Bay Trading Company in Camden, ME, and Molly Hutchins Design in Boothbay Harbor, ME.

      —Robert E. Jones, June 2006