Today we’d like to introduce you to Crystal Johnson
Hi Crystal, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I always wanted to be an artist, I never wanted to be anything else. I grew up loving to draw, paint, sculpt, and explore new mediums and ideas, but all that soon fell away after graduation, and I entered the workforce and tried becoming an “adult”. I tried to do all the right things, work hard, create a family, become a worker bee defined by my productivity with the white picket fence and 2.5 kids. I tried for about 10 years before I fell off into severe mental illness, depression, anxiety, and found myself a single mother, living back at home with my mom after the world chewed me up, and spit me out. It took many years, therapy, and introspective work to piece myself back together, but I once again found myself at a crossroads in 2022. My mental health was declining along with my will to live, and I had a choice to make. I can either die trying to fit into everyone else’s world, or I could start to build my own. I established Love Bella Rei at the beginning of 2023 as an idea to create the art I needed to see in the world, connect with other artists, and to create the community I could never find. The main medium as of now is crochet and fiber art with the intention to grow
into a storefront with an artist gallery to help budding artists find their audience within a safe and inclusive space. In July of this year, I officially launched Love Bella Rei at the Soda City Market here in Columbia, SC, and as challenging as it’s been, it has also been the greatest thing I’ve done for myself. My slogan is “chaos crochet from a cluttered mind,” because I feel like art and mental health go hand in hand, and I would like to open the conversation of mental health within the art community and connect with others that have survived their darkness and use it to create beauty for others. So much emphasis is put onto the actual work of art, without ever considering the cost (mental, physical, or otherwise) to the artist who created it in the first place. I believe that to know art is to know the artist and I want to bring back the gallery showings and co working art spaces that not only focus on the art, but the artist behind it as well. This concept is something I feel has been forgotten about in this world of fast fashion and mass production and I’d like to change that by bringing back the authenticity and soul of art and artist.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My mental health is absolutely my biggest struggle, simply getting out of bed most days is considered a victory in my book. It’s a bit cliche but I do create my best work when I’m teetering on the edge. There’s a quote from somewhere I can’t recall by someone I can’t remember that said something like, “When you feel you want to take your life, sleep on it; should you feel the same in the morning, then do as you must.” That idea has saved my life more than I can say, as it creates space between you, the despair, and the perceived solution. They say that your health is your wealth but so many people neglect the real estate between their ears, not realizing that they’ve become a haunted house with a manicured yard.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I create “nostalgia pieces” through crochet to soothe the inner child. I focus a lot on cartoon/anime dolls and character themed hats and beanies. I try to remember the things I loved as a child and teenager and expand on that through my love of crochet. I am a completely self-taught artist, one of my grandmothers collected all the dolls outgrown by children in my family and the other grandmother crocheted blankets for the children in my family. I decided to honor them both through crocheting dolls and gifts that create joy and that nostalgic feeling of a time long gone. The name Love Bella Rei is a goodbye, of sorts, like the end of a letter, in honor of a child I lost years ago whom I intended to name Isabella Rei. I think we can all heal a bit through art creation and understanding of what it took to get here, and to honor those that inspire us along the way. I’m just a gal out here trying to heal, have fun, and chase my dream of becoming a full time artist and gallery owner.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Crochet (and art, in general) has skyrocketed in popularity over the last decade and I really believe that moving forward, it’s only going to get bigger and better in a way we’ve never seen. With the exhaustion of the fast fashion industry, and the lack of quality and care in mass production, I believe we’re going to see a huge decline in want for mass produced/cheaply made clothing and items that are literally made to fall apart. There’s a shift happening where people want to know where their products are coming from and if they were ethically sourced, especially in the fiber arts community.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://etsy.com/shop/LoveBellaRei
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/LoveBellaRei
