Senator Ted KennedyÕs Mya, by Lance Walker, oil on canvas, 24Ó x 30Ó

After several years of publishing a twice-yearly arts edition, in 2009 Cape Cod Life launched a new annual magazine, ART of the Cape & Islands. A complete redesign, the new ART featured substantially better paper and more than twice as many artists' profiles. In addition to being sent to subscribers, the magazine was sold nation-wide for the first time at Barnes & Noble bookstores. When ART hit the stands, the editorial department started to hear from people from P'town--to Paris.

It became apparent pretty quickly that the response to the magazine was sparked by the magazine's cover painting by a famous Cape Codder, the late Senator Ted Kennedy. To showcase the inaugural issue of ART, the search was on for something really special to put on ART's cover. Cape Cod Life's publisher, Brian Shortsleeve, suggested one of Kennedy's paintings.

With the help of a Cape Cod Life board member, Boston Capital CEO Jack Manning, the editorial department was able to get a letter to the Senator, a close friend of Manning's. "Ted was a living phenomenon for those of us who had the honor of being called his friend," says Manning. "He truly was the rarest of men and whatever flaws he had paled in comparison to his warmth and concern for mankind and all of those who were close to him. Lots of people use the expression that 'there will never be another one like him', but I can say without any reservation that there truly was only one Ted Kennedy and I seriously doubt we will see in our lifetime another individual like him."

It was a good day when the editorial staff were told by Kennedy's Washington office, "The Senator is on board!" Within hours of the magazine hitting the street, Cape Cod Life's phones started to ring. Reporters called wanting interviews and the story soon popped up on the Internet. Boston rock station WAAF FM did an irreverent parody about the cover on their morning radio show. Cape Cod Life staffers learned--really quickly--about the power of the Kennedy name.

Sometimes stories like this seem to take on a life of their own, which is exactly what happened last summer, when Ted Kennedy's father-in-law, Judge Edmund Reggie called the North Chatham Custom Frame Shop to inquire about a painter whose work he had admired in ART of the Cape & Islands. Reggie wanted to commission South Dennis's Lance Walker to paint a special gift for Ted and Vicki Reggie Kennedy.

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When we contacted Judge Reggie, he spoke first of the Senator's love of Cape Cod. "Nobody loved the sea as much as Ted Kennedy," said Reggie from his summer home on Nantucket. "He not only sailed it, but he understood its nuances and how to get the most out of water and the wind."

Reggie, whose long political life has been closely connected to the Kennedys, also spoke of Ted Kennedy's deep affection for his sailboat. "His love of the Mya was indescribable," said Reggie. "I used to joke with Vicki that in Teddy's order of life there was first the Mya, then their Portuguese Water dog, Splash, and then, Vicki!"

Reggie admired his son-in-law's artistic talents. "Teddy was quite a painter. He took his painting very seriously," said Reggie. "He went many nights to the Capitol to take advanced painting lessons, and he used his talent to memorialize the things and places that made his life so full."

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The judge explained that after seeing Lance Walker's maritime paintings in ART, he and his wife, Doris, researched Walker. "We found that Lance Walker (who is represented by Chatham's Wynne/Falconer Gallery) was a painter of boats that appeared in some of the sailing contests that Teddy entered--and won so often--on the Nantucket Sound," said Reggie, referring specifically to the Cape and Islands annual Figawi race. "Walker's work was just the kind of expressive painting we wanted to have as a gift for Ted and Vicki."

Scott Turner, owner of North Chatham Custom Frame Shop, explained that Walker was selected to do the commemorative painting for the 2008 Figawi race. "Lance went on the Figawi press boat where he took pictures of all the boats, including Senator Kennedy's," said Turner. "I talked Lance into capturing the Mya in the Figawi. Our shop has an exclusive on his prints. I put an ad for one of his pieces in ART of the Cape and Islands last year and it had a Figawi image in it."

Turner explained that when Reggie called he said he wanted, "'a piece of the Figawi, an original' done. So I put him in touch with Lance. Reggie didn't tell me who he was--he just said the painting was for his daughter and her husband," Turner said. "He wanted a painting of the whole boat, but he also wanted to see Vicki and Ted's faces, so it ended up being a 24-inch by 30"-inch oil on canvas. We hand-painted the flat-panel frame the same color blue as the Mya, and then did a little brass plaque that said, 'Senator Ted Kennedy's Mya.'"

"The whole experience was pretty amazing," said Lance Walker from his Dennis gallery, Lance Walker Fine Art. "I work in the shop for Scott sometimes, and in 2008, a coordinator for the Figawi's charity committee came in, looking for someone to do a painting for the event." Explaining that the artist chosen to do the commemorative painting had decided not to do it, the coordinator told Walker the painting needed to be done fast--in just five weeks. "I said, 'I have five weeks. I'll have a painting for you,'" said Walker, who is a member of the American Society of Marine Artists.

Walker explained that Judge Reggie wanted a painting where you could see Ted and Vicki's faces. "As a maritime painter, you study the boat, you research it really carefully¬­--it's several weeks and months of research. I started the painting and e-mailed him several images¬­--the format then was 16 inches by 20 inches," said Walker. "The judge said he couldn't see Ted and Vicki's faces clearly, so we hit the brakes and went back to the drawing board. I enlarged the boat thinking that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I made the boat 24 inches in height by 30 inches long, so the faces could be the size of my thumbnail. Normally I wouldn't have taken such liberties expanding the boat. I spent a week trying to represent their faces."

Unfortunately, as Walker was finishing the painting, Senator Kennedy died. "I knew then, that I was really on a tight schedule," said Walker. "The judge was so happy with the painting and decided to give it as a Christmas present to Vicki and the family, but you know, it was a bittersweet experience because of the Senator's passing. I do wish Ted could have seen the painting, but I know the family is enjoying it," said Walker.

"It just was a serendipitous experience all the way around," Walker said. "I was asked to donate a framed print of the painting to this year's 2010 Figawi fund-raiser. Money from the sale of that print will benefit children's organizations on the Cape and Islands. It was just a really special experience that touched a lot of people."

Lance Walker's work may be seen at the Lance Walker Fine Art Gallery, www.lancewalkerfineart.com, the Wynne/Falconer Gallery, www.wynne-falconergallery.com, and the North Chatham Custom Frame Shop, www.chathamframeshop.com.

Susan Dewey is the editor of ART of the Cape & Islands. She sailed in the 2010 Figawi race, on Cape Cod Life's first-place team boat, the Eider Down.