Island Still Life

This exclusive piece has the distinction of being Candace Lovely’s first still life. In the artist’s own words, this “list of ingredients tells the Nantucket story – with all Nantucket things.” The Nantucket basket speaks for itself, but most other pieces offer deeper layers of symbolism. The Canton China represents the Chinese imports to the island, with a long history of the shipping industry sailing into port “bringing foreign products back home to our land from other lands,” as Lovely imparts. More overtly, the scallop and conch shells, and marine life on the scarf, are offerings of the sea, while the whale in the foreground is a nod to the whaling community and perhaps the mascot of New England, both land and sea. The Nantucket doll recalls both the artisan culture of the island as well as (in Lovely’s half-joking storytelling) the fact that “Women run Nantucket.”

Dimensions: 16H x 24W  |  Medium: Oil on Linen