Erica is an artist, a free thinker with an open mind, and driven by the community in which she calls home, Falmouth. Erica grew up on Cape Cod. She spent some time in Boston but moved back when the city life wore off. The world calls her name. Her life has taken her to numerous destinations around the world with her husband Ben. She continues to travel and enjoys the wanderlust used to feed the curiosity about other cultures and find inspiration in the many landscapes of the globe. The Cape is the perfect jump off spot for her.

“I have lived in Falmouth most of my life. I grew up in East Falmouth where we live now, and I moved to Boston for a few years. I think the Cape is really beautiful. There are places that we've traveled that are just stunning but I think on a daily basis here I find this to be really beautiful. To drive by the beach, I’m enamored with that. Sometimes I think it is fairly simple minded because I’ve seen it my whole life.”

Erica is an incredibly talented artist. She works in oil paints in her studio, has clay workings scattered around, and sketches when they travel. While she finds Cape Cod home, it is not her inspiration for her paintings or sketches.

“I don’t find the Cape artistically inspiring really at all. I like it. I like watching the birds in our yard and really simple things make me really happy. I love doing a lot of sketching while we are travelling and I don’t really sketch in this area. My oil paintings come from an internal place. I do have a theory that that people who are here and love it here are able to go out and make their own fun and do their own stuff. They make things. They're creative. They're making. They create in their own environments. It's building amazing landscapes in your yard. You have to be here a while to find these people but you have to seek them out. They may have a studio on their property but it’s not out in the business district. That I do love.”

Erica enjoys getting out in the town. They spend time at the local haunts grabbing coffee, watching a sunset, or driving by Nobksa Light and Woods Hole to see if they are still there. They enjoy live music and seeing people they know throughout the town. It is truly where she feels at peace. There is a simplicity to life with a nice pace that is slower than the rest of Massachusetts. But what makes it feel the most like home is the home. She beams with pride when speaking about their nest.

“We built this house our self. The foundation was poured and the framing done, but with friends and family we built this house. We had an electrician but he was a friend of my dad’s. My father is a plumber so he did the heating and plumbing. We did the shingling. Our carpenter friend did all the interior work. We did the flooring, the painting. We were the general contractors. This is the main reason that keeps us here. But I think it is a good home base for travelling. We’ve been really lucky to be able to travel and I’ve wondered sometimes in the past that if that hadn’t come into our lives whether we would be as happy here because you can be so insulated. “

While optimistic and upbeat about life, Erica does recognize issues on the Cape, and does her part to help out when needed.  She sees an issue with jobs, housing, and the need to keep the younger generation on Cape Cod.

As for advice for those reading?

“It’s an awe inspiring, surprising and stunningly beautiful world. Get out there and see it if you can. Travel and the people you encounter will expand your consciousness. Never forget that you can always make a difference by getting involved in your community – creatively, politically. However it works for you. I really believe each of us has the power to help build the world we want to live in. Appreciate every moment. The life we are given really is short so don’t wait to make the most of it.

Please visit Erica’s web page Wisha Studios.

I think a great reminder is if happiness is your backyard, the birds, the bogs, and hearing the fog horn from Nobska, it isn’t simple minded. It is the simple things that wrap you up in a blanket and make Cape Cod home.