Creative Life on WCAI

Eric Kaiser started wood carving for a simple reason: he wanted a creative challenge. He decided to focus on one subject only, over and over. Birds. This fascination gave Eric a career and a passion that has lasted him over thirty seven years.

New Bedford is well-known for its vibrant Portuguese cultural scene; more than half of its residents claim Portuguese ancestry. What’s less well-known is New Bedford’s place in the world of fado , the music known as the “Soul of Portugal.” The city is home to two of America’s most established Fado performers, Ana and Jose Vinagre.

The Youth Ambassador Program ( YAP ) is a project between the National Park Service, and Third Eye Youth Empowerment in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Founded by Ben Gilbarg and Frankie Barrows. YAP members communicate national park themes and local history through hip hop.

Kaycee Snowden and her mom Laurel have a lot in common. They are both natives of the Cape, they both love making things, and they both battled alcoholism for years. Now they’re both sober - Kaycee for 7 years and Laurel for 37. While Kaycee may never surpass her mom in sober time, she has jumped ahead in one key way: she’s really good at making stuff out of yarn. The student has become the teacher. She knits. She makes hats, scarves, even the occasional tank top. It’s a kind of therapy, creative outlet, and side hustle all wrapped up in one activity.

Growing up on the Cape, Jane Fay Baker developed an eye for objects and creatures that might otherwise go unnoticed. Later in life, her artwork became a reflection of her own life on the Cape. A recent woodcut series features navigational buoys.

Phil Mello has been photographing New Bedford’s working waterfront for over 40 years. He started as an amateur, documenting the inner world of the fishing industry in which he worked. His photography has become part of a major Library of Congress project to capture and preserve the faces of New Bedford’s fishing industry.

Cape Cod is a popular place to retire. But for 75-year-old actress and playwright Lynda Sturner, moving to Truro was a chance to start anew. In 2010, she packed up her apartment in Manhattan and moved full-time to her summer home in Truro. She's recently written - with playwright Jim Dalglish - one of the most personal plays of her career. It’s called “A Talented Woman.”

Brooks Angelini is a Fall River based photographer and artist. The asylums he photographs were shuttered in the 1970s after public outcry regarding practices like lobotomies, electroshock therapy, and forced confinement. Many of the buildings were left completely intact, like time capsules showcasing a mental health ideology gone by. Through his pictures, Angelini bears witness to the lives and struggles of the patients who were confined to these institutions.

In more ways than one, Mwalim sees himself reflected in blues music. Mwalim is a musician in Mashpee who has a mixed Black and Native heritage. He’s part of a growing number of people who share a curious theory of the origins of the blues—that the genre has both Black and Native musical roots. Through his music, Mwalim is on a mission to share this idea.

Bob Henry and Selina Trieff came to the Cape to paint in the 1950s. For six decades, they thrived in love and art. Bob’s work has always evoked a world that’s constantly shifting. Now, he’s navigating the shift of a lifetime

Chip Koser of Mashpee is a professionally trained chef who has worked in a number of famous restaurants. But Chip spends less time in kitchens and more time in freezers. Schuyler Swenson brings the story of a man who found a new life in ice sculpting . This piece comes from production partners Atlantic Public Media, through their media training program, the Transom Story Workshop in Woods Hole.

Arlo Guthrie’s song " Alice’s Restaurant" shone a light on Alice Brock and she became an icon for many during the 60’s. Alice returned to Provincetown and her friend Viki Merrick, also her former employee, spoke with her about one of her unusual projects.

Kevin King is an artist, and he’s been painting for a long time in his North Falmouth studio. He paints all kinds of things with different styles and techniques, but he uses an unlikely medium.

Monika Woods is a classical clarinetist from Transylvania. After studying clarinet in conservatory for over a decade, she fell in love, started a family, and moved to the Cape in 2006. But the move posed a challenge to her plans for a career as a professional musician.

Brianna LePage always wanted to study two things: music and medicine. It may seem that these two fields oppose each other and yet she has combined them for nearly twenty years.

Marie Canaves came to the U.S. from Cuba at age 7, when her family fled the Communist Revolution. Marie had trouble adjusting to America. She grew up to become a visual artist, focusing most of her art on the human figure. Then, in 2013 her parents died within a month of each other and soon after, her brother discovered a family treasure that her parents had saved from their time as exiles. This inspired Marie to explore her Cuban heritage in her art for the first time, and with it, her identity.

When Christine Ernst was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 34, she never expected that it would one day spark her own one-woman show.

Bobby Miller took photos of some very famous stars in New York City over his forty-year career. During his time in New York, he made a living as hair stylist and make up artist. Since moving to Provincetown in 2001, Bobby’s infused some of the glamour from his past life into portraits of ordinary people on the Cape. But now, he’s thinking about shifting his attention to a totally different subject

Brooklawn Park in New Bedford has a soccer field, a playground, and asphalt paths winding around a small, grassy hill. It also contains the buried foundations of several buildings, remnants of an estate that no longer exists there. With the help of some friends, a professional archaeologist, and the city government, a local artist named Carl Simmons uncovered these remains. And he’s shared the findings in some unexpected ways.

Catarina Avelar spends her days as a social worker in Fall River. At night, she sings fado, a style of Portuguese music known for its tragic lyrics and haunting melodies. And even though she once dreamed of becoming a full-time fado singer, there’s an unintended benefit to Catarina’s double life. The sadness she feels as she helps families struggling with poverty and addiction infuses her singing with emotion. Ironically the job that led her to give up her dream has made her a better singer.