For the Edification of My Soul—And the Enhancement of My Writing Craft

By Laura Johnsrude

I go to art galleries for the edification of my soul.

I go to art galleries to gasp and moan and wonder and pause.

Pause, as I do at a good line on the page. Captivated, I read the good line again, to savor the craft and the way the prose makes me feel.

At an art gallery, I want to see through someone else’s viewfinder, see inside someone else’s mind, yes. And visual art—I find—can nourish a writer’s imagination, generating ideas for new work.

Reason enough f...