ISLE AU HAUT — The island is home to many artists, known and unknown. One of them is John Dewitt, a self-taught woodworker.
Dewitt summered on Isle au Haut when he was growing up, moved to the island as soon as he graduated high school and never left. He made a living doing carpentry and lobstering but is known locally for his woodworking.
When he first moved here, he’d whittle as a way to pass the time in the winter, when work typically wanes. He got into making spoons, then freeform bowls, which are still his favorite to work on, he said. He especially enjoys making end-grain bowls because you can count the tree’s growth rings on the bowl and it gives it a look similar to pottery.
Dewitt said he finds his inspiration in nature. His favorite part of the process is going into the woods and hunting for raw material.
“I go out looking for wood for woodwork but I can’t stand to cut a tree down. I have to cut them down for firewood, but any hardwood I cut down for firewood, every cut could be something other than firewood,” he said.
He mainly uses wood from Isle au Haut because it adds meaning for his customers, who usually have a connection to the island. But the spruce that dominates the forest on the island makes disappointing pieces. Spruce burls are plain white wood and not very aesthetically interesting. Since Dewitt’s work hurdles both utility and art, he prefers hardwood like birch, cherry, maple, and apple which contain beautiful patterns, he said.
During his time as a woodworker he’s made furniture, signs, decorative vases, cutting boards, cabinet drawer pulls, boxes, goblets, jewelry … you name it. His least favorite? Miniature wooden lobster buoys.
After pumping out hundreds of these popular little buoys, Dewitt said he never wants to make another one. That fatigue speaks to a challenge that artists face: turning art into production in order to support their craft. Over the past 50 years of woodworking, he said those are the moments he got bored by woodworking—when his pursuits became oriented around production, and not art.
Despite the moments of boredom, though, he has still produced and sold upwards of a thousand pieces of functional art, Dewitt said.
For the most part, he’s sold his work at the Shore Shop on Isle au Haut. Now that the Shore Shop is closed, he is embracing retirement and focusing his time on gardening and learning how to paint.
But he said he can’t help feeling disloyal to his woodwork fans.
“I probably should keep going with the woodworking because I know how to make so many nice things. … I should be making my masterpieces now. … But I’m kind of tired of it. It is pretty repetitive and there’s a lot of sanding,” said Dewitt.
His advice to woodworkers just starting out is to find inspiration by looking at what other people are doing. Now with the internet, he said, the possibilities for inspiration are endless.