Editor’s Note

Those of us lucky enough to be part of Cape Cod Life Publications know how fortunate we are to work at something we love in a beautiful place that millions seek out every year for pleasure, inspiration, and solace. Yes, sometimes the winters are long, especially this last winter, which nearly sent some of us over the bridge in search of a less snowy country. It is also true that the summers—which we live for from Labor to Memorial Day—can be crazy, especially if you don’t know how to avoid traffic on main thoroughfares.

But we know that to work as writers, graphic artists, marketers, web designers, and photographers on Cape Cod is a gift every day. To be creative and get paid for it . . . that is about as good as it gets in our book. What is just as sweet—if not more so—is to touch a reader’s life with your words, or your images, in places near and far. Connecting with other people is what our magazines are all about. We are only as good as the readers who turn to us, especially in this media-mad world.

Each of the artists, writers, singers, and cultural organization leaders profiled in these pages feel the same way. Time after time in our profiles, these people say that while they create art because of their own unique inner inspiration, it is the desire to touch others—“to make the people who see my paintings happy,” as young painter Carlos Lopez says in his profile—that really gets them into the studio, or the office, or on the stage every morning.

Of course, those who are lucky enough to live and create on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket, feel doubly blessed. Just ask Brandon Newton, who came to Martha’s Vineyard for the first time several years ago after a lifetime of painting in Virginia—and found his true artistic muse painting en plein air—at night! Or Julia O’Malley-Keyes, who returned to Falmouth to open a new gallery this spring, despite a comfortable, idyllic life painting in Panama. Or Jung-Ho Pak, who so loves working as conductor of the Cape Symphony, that he recently bought a home in Sandwich, although he could have put down roots anywhere.

All of us know how lucky we are to create in an environment that comes alive every day with ever-changing, but always inspirational, natural beauty. Creating on Cape Cod and the Islands never gets old, whether you are a well-established artist making five figures on paintings—or a playwright who is just happy to see her work come to life—for free—on a Cape Cod stage. Art is here to savor for all of us—and for you, too.

We hope you enjoy our creation!

Susan Dewey, Cape Cod ART editor