from the editor
Written by Lisa Player
Just as the Bella team found artful adventures all over town for this issue, the need for creative inspiration has led me to explore museums everywhere I go: New York, Chicago, Portland, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Boston, Vienna. It was at the Belvedere in Vienna where I witnessed the power great art can wield. I walked into the gallery where Klimt’s “The Kiss” hangs — bigger and more breathtaking than I could have imagined — and standing there, wrapped in her partner’s arms, was a woman who was weeping, overcome with the emotion of being in the presence of the painting.
That experience taught me to tune in to the way art affects me. It can be tears or goosebumps at the sound of a great song or the calm that washes over me when I sit in the middle of a gallery and take in the light, color and shadow surrounding me. I’ve learned that I love to roam around a museum by myself with no agenda or time limit, stopping to ponder when something piques my interest, moving on when it doesn’t.
Last summer, my lifelong best friend and I had a girls’ weekend in Asheville, North Carolina, where we spent a whole day meandering through the working galleries of the River Arts District. It was fascinating to stop and chat with artists as they worked, and both of us fell in love with countless styles and mediums. But not long after we were there, flooding caused by Hurricane Helene destroyed 80% of the district. While the loss is hard to fathom, the thing about art is that it doesn’t need a place to survive. It lives in the imaginations of the artists. I’m happy to hear those particular creators are bringing back that wonderful place even in the wake of tragedy.
There is power in art: the power to heal, to move, to protest, to inspire. And we should fill our lives creatively, whether it’s where we go or how we listen to the world. I hope something in this issue inspires you!
— Lisa Player
