Kevin Foley, a legendary local schooner captain who has been plying the waters of the Caribbean and East Coast for half a century, has reinterpreted the traditional Victorian Sailor’s Valentine to create works with a modern, local, Key West flavor. Sailor’s valentines were originally created by local women in the Barbados, selling them to passing sailors to take to their loved ones back home.

The valentines follow a formal octagonal, wooden shadow box design, typically with a symmetrical pattern around a central motif Valentines are composed mostly of small sea shells with added playful embellishments . With references to Jimmy Buffet songs, Gay Pride, roosters, beaches and birds, pirates and Key West monuments, Kevin gives the Valentines a bit of Conch Republic love.