“Even when I’m not painting Nantucket, I’m thinking of Nantucket.”
– Candace LovelyThe American Impressionist called the “Grand Dame of Boston Painters” needs only a short ferry ride from the Cape to the Island to find her inspiration for, in her own words, “so much of what I paint.” Whether the canvas holds a stretch of land from her childhood home and alma matter in Vermont, or the shores and beaches of her current home on Hilton Head Island South Carolina, Candace Lovely gives credit to the inspiration of Nantucket.
While Nantucket and its foliage features heavily in her overall portfolio, it was a walk through the Frick Estate greenhouse that planted the seed of a painting (“Blooms Under Glass”) and ultimately her 2021 show, Nantucket in Bloom. “When you’re in a greenhouse, you can’t think about anything but the flowers; being under the glass steals all your thoughts to the beauty of the plants. The Garden rules.” This spirit of the pre-eminent garden and its effects is evident on Nantucket where gardens are a registered and featured part of the environment, history, and culture. The resulting collection, featured just after the annual flower show, is a tribute to the blooms and blossoms of the costal villas and villages – not only the flora itself but what it represents: Beauty and brightness, the fruit of the land, celebration (flowers as a central figure at weddings, parties, dinners), and the gentle expression and femininity that is the artist’s strongest voice. Those common threads tie together the story of Nantucket in Bloom, a lifestyle flush with growth and charm.
The string of pieces that unfold in the collection introduce viewers to local personalities like “Albert,” a man who prefers his work clothes even well past retirement, or to the handiwork of Nantucket Lightship Baskets made by resident artisans. Of the piece that inspired the collection Lovely explains, “you can find in a greenhouse” (or the sand dunes, or the gardens of Main and Union), “the same things that bring people to Nantucket – an environment in which you can regroup and regenerate positive energy." The 2021 exhibition at The Gallery at Four India shows a deeply ingrained sense of place. A place that embodies its history and culture in peaceful, rambling, coastal “loveliness.” A place that’s home to flowing summer dresses, wide-brimmed sunhats, and rose covered sand dunes and cottages. A place that inspires the sweeping, gentle arc of the artist’s entire body of work. This exhibit pays well-crafted homage to the storied influence and endless muse of Nantucket in Bloom.
The American Impressionist called the “Grand Dame of Boston Painters” needs only a short ferry ride from the Cape to the Island to find her inspiration for, in her own words, “so much of what I paint.” Whether the canvas holds a stretch of land from her childhood home and alma matter in Vermont, or the shores and beaches of her current home on Hilton Head Island South Carolina, Candace Lovely gives credit to the inspiration of Nantucket.
While Nantucket and its foliage features heavily in her overall portfolio, it was a walk through the Frick Estate greenhouse that planted the seed of a painting (“Blooms Under Glass”) and ultimately her 2021 show, Nantucket in Bloom. “When you’re in a greenhouse, you can’t think about anything but the flowers; being under the glass steals all your thoughts to the beauty of the plants. The Garden rules.” This spirit of the pre-eminent garden and its effects is evident on Nantucket where gardens are a registered and featured part of the environment, history, and culture. The resulting collection, featured just after the annual flower show, is a tribute to the blooms and blossoms of the costal villas and villages – not only the flora itself but what it represents: Beauty and brightness, the fruit of the land, celebration (flowers as a central figure at weddings, parties, dinners), and the gentle expression and femininity that is the artist’s strongest voice. Those common threads tie together the story of Nantucket in Bloom, a lifestyle flush with growth and charm.
The string of pieces that unfold in the collection introduce viewers to local personalities like “Albert,” a man who prefers his work clothes even well past retirement, or to the handiwork of Nantucket Lightship Baskets made by resident artisans. Of the piece that inspired the collection Lovely explains, “you can find in a greenhouse” (or the sand dunes, or the gardens of Main and Union), “the same things that bring people to Nantucket – an environment in which you can regroup and regenerate positive energy." The 2021 exhibition at The Gallery at Four India shows a deeply ingrained sense of place. A place that embodies its history and culture in peaceful, rambling, coastal “loveliness.” A place that’s home to flowing summer dresses, wide-brimmed sunhats, and rose covered sand dunes and cottages. A place that inspires the sweeping, gentle arc of the artist’s entire body of work. This exhibit pays well-crafted homage to the storied influence and endless muse of Nantucket in Bloom.
