Artist capturing island and drowned valley (3)
I believe the answer is:
ria
'drowned valley' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'artist capturing island' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'RA' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'capturing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'island' becomes 'i' (geographical abbreviation).
'ra' going around 'i' is 'RIA'.
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for ria that I've seen before include "Coastal inlet" , "Drowned coastal valley" , "Institution for the promotion of art, in short" , "Coastline feature, a drowned valley" , "Irish academy for sciences and humanities, in short" .)