Mark Sutherland

A professional craftsman since 1979, Sutherland has specialized in ships and boats of the 19th and early 20th century, along with scrimshaw artifacts, decorative ship carving, and figureheads. Born in Monrovia, Liberia to American parents and raised in Yonkers, New York, he began to build ship models at the age of eleven. As a resident in Maine in his early twenties he pursued boat building, working in several building yards and on the renovation of several large wooden yachts. He began his professional model building career while a resident of Nantucket Island with commissions for models in bone and repair work. Since that time bone models have been a specialty along with the restoration of scrimshaw artifacts. His areas of interest are small craft of the 19th and early 20th century, whaling vessels and traditional yachts. He has developed a unique style of half hull modeling, based on the 19th century "shipping office" style. Sutherland now lives on the mainland of Massachusetts with his wife and two children. He continues to build models in wood and bone, and continues his conservation work for marine antiques. In 1997 he was awarded the New England Foundation of the Arts Fellowship Grant Award.

Mark Sutherland