About J. Mark Littlehales and Whetstone Boats:
Mark lives in a world of wood, water, line and color, nurtured by a lifetime near the mountains and the sea. He first discovered his love of boats and painting while growing up on the shore of Connecticut. As a young man he moved to Vermont where he studied art at Marlboro College under the tutelage of Frank Stout and Gib Taylor. His love of wood and its potential as a creative medium developed while building timber frame houses and, later, at Joel White’s prestigious Brooklin Boat Yard on the coast of Maine. There Mark spent 20 plus years perfecting the craft of building fine wooden boats and solidifying his love of visual arts and painting. These boats, as well as the rocks and sea landscape surrounding him, were constant inspiration for his paintings and assemblages, and continue to be so. Mark returned to the mountains of Vermont and to a neighborhood of artists who he has come to call friends, including Malcolm Wright, Petria Mitchell, Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason. He spends his days building and creating both functional and decorative works, all of which embody his deep sense of elegance and fluidity, while maintaining the simple, clean lines for which he is known.