Renowned realist artist Jamie Wyeth, the third generation of the Wyeth painting dynasty, commissioned a Monhegan skiff from the Carpenter’s Boat Shop in Pemaquid, Maine, in 1984. Under the watchful eye of the shop’s founder, Robert (Bobby) Ives, an apprentice constructed the skiff that Wyeth painted in the work Monhegan Skiff. Wyeth kept the skiff, but the painting was sold to a private collection in Colorado. So it was pure chance when a board member from Carpenter’s Boat Shop stumbled upon the work in 2023 while visiting the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine.
Working closely with the Farnsworth Museum and Wyeth himself, the Carpenter’s Boat Shop produced a series of prints of Monhegan Skiff to raise money for the non-profit organization, which specializes in nurturing lives and helping others through boatbuilding. “The boat shop, I think, is near and dear to a lot of people,” said Alicia Witham, executive director of the Carpenter’s Boat Shop. “On top of that there’s Bobby and then on top of that there’s Jamie, and this part of the world just has that affection for small wooden boats because that’s so much of what our maritime culture has been.”
Now, almost 40 years later, the painting serves as a hallmark of the shop’s legacy.
The Monhegan skiff was, and continues to be, integral to local life on Monhegan Island. These 9-foot 6-inch skiffs with their pronounced rocker of 11 inches were once used by fishermen to reach their moored lobster boats. Locals referred to these skiffs as “donkeys of the sea.” The skiffs were built by Will Stanley Jr. until 1979. Subsequently, Stanley’s grandson asked Ives if he would continue to build Monhegan skiffs for the local fishermen. The building plans and bevel board were shared with Ives, and the rest is history. Since then, the shop has produced more than 200 skiffs, and as long as demand continues there are no plans to stop.
This article was originally published in the April 2024 issue.
