Permanent Collection

Though no museum of contemporary Nantucket art exists, there is certainly an equivalent to such an institution--the Permanent Collection of the Artists Association of Nantucket. The Permanent Collection is equal to a local museum of contemporary art. Other island organizations collect older works in quantity, but, excluding private collections beyond the view of the public, no other lasting archive exists for contemporary Nantucket art.

The collection started with the AAN founders and their involvement in the Kenneth Taylor Galleries in 1945. This kernel of patrons and artists quickly metamorphosed into the Artists Association, and in the Forties important works began to gather at the association in a loose system, some donated and some accrued by purchase awards at AAN functions, until they were named as an official art collection. At first the art was stored under the attic eaves at the Macy Warehouse building, where the KT Galleries and the offices of the Association resided hand in hand. When the Galleries closed and the Association began its search for a permanent home, the collection moved about until it found its present, climate-controlled storage location.

The collection now consists of over 1,100 pieces covering the modern era, from the art colony roots of the 1920s to young artists active today. Media include sculpture, paintings, collages, ceramics, drawings, prints, photographs, and even sketch books and historic artifacts like photos and letters. The art is catalogued, watched over by committee, and, since 1992, has been actively guided into an ever-expanding entity. We continue to seek donations of important Nantucket artworks as well as seed funds to keep this legacy both preserved and exhibited on a regular basis.

Our most recent PC exhibition, Exiled on Main Street (see video tour), was held during the summer months and fall Arts Festival Week of 2011. Upcoming in the summer of 2012, we will present The Waterfront Artists: Painters That Changed Nantucket, hosted at the Maria Mitchell Association at 33 Washington Street, central to the studio locations for many of these artists.

   Ruth Haviland Sutton sits on a parade float (ca. 1940) for Island Service Co. that advertises the Sidewalk Art Show.