Joe Norton has been building walls for around 12 years. They're not the kind of walls that keep people out. In fact they do just the opposite. Their artful beauty draws people in. 

The owner of Norton Stoneworks, Norton said much of his work is practical — tiling and mosaics, stone walls, walkways, stone or granite steps, sea walls and patios. But as indicated by his completed projects around Boothbay Harbor and other places in Maine, the creativity and beauty in his work tells you he's as much an artist as a mason.

Norton said he didn't wake up one day and decide to become a mason.

“I started doing masonry, working for Dave McFarland, while I was going to college,” Norton said. “When I got out of school I started doing little jobs on my own, and it just kind of happened.”

Norton has never studied art or design. It comes naturally.

“All the women in my family are artists. My mom, my grandmother, my sister, my aunt and my great aunts are all artists.” His mother, Suzanne (Sanni) Norton is well known for her painted furniture and murals.

He said he plans his designs, at least in part, mathematically. “We usually find the center point (of a walkway), then figure out how the stones or tiles are going to fit together. I try to know ahead of time where I'm going with it.”

When he's not tiling, or building a walkway or a stone wall, Norton makes wall art and tables, using his favorite medium, stones, with some other found items thrown in. Though he has sold several of the striking abstract reliefs, he remains humble. “I can't paint or draw to save my life. I just like playing with rocks.”“I’m really not an artist,” he said.

Chris Fritz of Alison Evans Ceramics disagrees. “Just look around town and see the walls he's built. We've had some of his tables in here that have been sold, and people see them and will order another one. He's very talented in a lot of ways — stonework, tiling, tables. It's pretty impressive. And he's a great guy.”

Merritt Grover is in agreement with Fritz.

“Joe makes these tables with lobster designs and we'll fit plexiglass to them. They're amazing. He has done tile work at my house, and made stone walls for me. And he's such a quiet, unassuming guy you'd never know he's so good at what he does. He's the nicest guy in the world.”

Willie Morton, Norton's friend and employee, has been working with him for around three years. “I love doing the stonework,” he said. “It's awesome. And Joe bought me a really nice office.” His new office is an excavator.

Two years ago Norton and Morton built a stone wall for Margaret and Steve Branch, at the east side of the footbridge. The wall is a foot thick, with a flower bed built into the top, and rocks and stonework strategically placed to make it look like, well, art. “Ideally that's the kind of thing I'd like to do every day,” Norton said. “Unfortunately it doesn't always work out that way.”

Most of their work during the winter is interior. Norton said tile work, which he learned from his friend Heather Casey while working for her in Hawaii, keeps them busy.

Norton's website states: “We aim to design and build as soundly and as solidly as possible while adding special touches unique to each project.” The special touches are what make his work lovely to look at.

Most of Norton's jobs have been around the Boothbay region, including several pieces at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, but he has done projects in Damariscotta, South Bristol, Camden, Blue Hill, Cumberland and Cape Elizabeth.

Norton Stone & Tile’s website states “We like stonework that serves a purpose and feels natural to a site. We like tile work that exists in harmony with the rest of your home. Simplicity with a touch of the unexpected.”

“Working with Joe is always a pleasure,” Norton’s friend, Steve Berger of Knickerbocker Group said. “It’s not just that you can count on him to get the job done; it’s his blissful demeanor in doing so. He’s both artisan and artist in a world that is increasingly mass produced.”

Norton said one of his reliefs was recently 'liked' on his Facebook page by someone in Morocco. “Now something like 5,000 people in Morocco have 'liked' it.” But he's not an artist. “I am single though,” he said.

Norton can be reached at 207-380-1948 or joe@mainestones.com.