In the fall of 2019, Steve came to me with the basic scaffolding and idea of this album outlined, so that we could start discussing design ideas. To situate where we were emotionally, I was approaching my final trimester with my first child at the time and the passing of Steve’s father was still very raw for him. Both of our private worlds were undergoing tectonic change, and even though we didn’t know it at the time, our world was just around the corner from going through the events of 2020 that would polarize society in ways we had never experienced. Sitting there with Steve, with the passing of his father still an open wound, as I was on the brink of bringing a new life into the world — there were themes emerging around dichotomy, opposition, divisiveness and love.
Steve had said that the central idea of this album is to be about “knowing” and how we approach knowledge — that we can arrive at understanding through either the mind or the heart. He spoke about how these two ways of arrival are often dichotomized, but in reality, they can be alternate routes to the same place. These seemingly contradictory themes began to pop up throughout the entire album — a song about losing a father and about bearing new life. A song about the beauty of decay, and another about the anticipation and faith in spring’s return. A song about solitude, and then another about togetherness. In creating a design, I knew I wanted to capture the vastness of this concept, so that everyone who interacted with the album could pour their own experiences into this idea. I used the ideas Steve unearthed in this album as an antidote to the chaos of the world, and I wanted to do my part in helping others have a similar experience.
For the cover we decided on a keyhole, to underline this idea of wonder, and seeking knowledge — a child looking into a room through a keyhole and discovering something new. The keyhole is meant to signify love, that through this wonder, we can approach any unknown with love and a comprehension that even the most polarizing topic can be understood with the heart.
Using the keyhole motif for each song/chapter, I took the vibrant imagery directly from Steve’s writing to try to illustrate the theme of each song. Often the illustrations are simple enough, but they point to larger ideas found in the text. And the keyhole that houses each illustration is a reminder to look at each new mystery with love at the forefront.
As I read through the text, listened to each song, and spent time coming up with an illustration for each song, it became apparent just how timely this album is. As a society we see this binary thinking becoming more and more prominent, as the “gray area” gets smaller and smaller and suddenly we are polarized on topics and issues that can never be resolved from a single way of thinking. In his first chapter Steve writes, “It seems to me that our present social/political impasses, be they centered around BIPOC rights (Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Colour), environmental degradation, nationalism, partisan stand-offs, 2SLGBTQ+ rights, and the like, are not the consequence of not having known better, but of not having loved better.”
As I designed this book, and thought about the ideas Steve was illustrating, this idea was top of mind. When I got up from my computer, read the headlines, or felt the anxiety that comes with helplessness over these things creep in, I used that idea as a balm. We can always love better. We can turn down the volume on the bombardment of information and sit with the deeper wisdom of God—and our best selves—that comes from knowing with the heart. From this place can be found a profound sense of peace.
Leave it to Steve Bell, to gift us all with this kind of balm. Through putting imagery to his words, I hope that you can take this with you into your anxieties and ward off some of the hopelessness that may pop up in your life too.
