Lisa West Byers has made creativity her livelihood.
Lisa was born in Evansville, has lived most of her life in Boonville. She attended college at Indiana State University, but returned to southern Indiana soon after. She started her teaching career with the Warrick County School Corporation, where she has been for 32 years.
“I was the traveling art teacher for 18 years for Yankeetown Elementary and Tennyson Elementary schools,” she said. “I have worked the last 14 years solely at Tennyson Elementary School, where I teach art and music, as well as Title 1 Language Arts and Math. I am the Student Council Sponsor, girls track coach, dance team coach and School Improvement Chair for our school.”
Lisa said that while her roots are not in Tennyson, her heart is. The community that she loves so much supported her through some of her toughest times. Her husband of 20 years, Jay Byers, passed away in 2012. Jay worked for the Boonville Library and drove the Bookmobile for many years.
“I am not from the Tennyson area, but I live in Boonville,” she said. “I love the Tennyson Community very much.”
Several months ago, Lisa had the opportunity to do a little something for herself.
“I have always made jewelry, painted and also make pictures from antique jewelry using a collage technique,” she said. “Debi Neal approached me about selling my artwork at the 1901 Emporium. My daughter and I like to work and create jewelry pieces together.”
Isabella “Izzy” Byers, Lisa’s daughter, is a junior at Indiana University, majoring in safety. Lisa said the name for her business is partially inspired by her daughter.
“We came up with the name LaBella using a combination of our names Lisa and Isabella my initials are LAB which is also in the name and we feel it’s a name that describes the things we create as it also means ‘the beautiful.’ It just seemed perfect for us.”
LaBella Designs has given Lisa an outlet for her own creativity, all while still inspiring creativity in the youth of the community.
“I’ve enjoyed selling my pieces at the Emporium. I love having a local store that has nice merchandise available for the residents to be able to shop local. I love knowing that people enjoy my artwork and I’ve had an overwhelming great response to people buying my jewelry pieces. In the future we hope to offer some art/ jewelry making classes at the Emporium. I look forward to sharing my time and talents with others.”
Lisa was born in Evansville, has lived most of her life in Boonville. She attended college at Indiana State University, but returned to southern Indiana soon after. She started her teaching career with the Warrick County School Corporation, where she has been for 32 years.
“I was the traveling art teacher for 18 years for Yankeetown Elementary and Tennyson Elementary schools,” she said. “I have worked the last 14 years solely at Tennyson Elementary School, where I teach art and music, as well as Title 1 Language Arts and Math. I am the Student Council Sponsor, girls track coach, dance team coach and School Improvement Chair for our school.”
Lisa said that while her roots are not in Tennyson, her heart is. The community that she loves so much supported her through some of her toughest times. Her husband of 20 years, Jay Byers, passed away in 2012. Jay worked for the Boonville Library and drove the Bookmobile for many years.
“I am not from the Tennyson area, but I live in Boonville,” she said. “I love the Tennyson Community very much.”
Several months ago, Lisa had the opportunity to do a little something for herself.
“I have always made jewelry, painted and also make pictures from antique jewelry using a collage technique,” she said. “Debi Neal approached me about selling my artwork at the 1901 Emporium. My daughter and I like to work and create jewelry pieces together.”
Isabella “Izzy” Byers, Lisa’s daughter, is a junior at Indiana University, majoring in safety. Lisa said the name for her business is partially inspired by her daughter.
“We came up with the name LaBella using a combination of our names Lisa and Isabella my initials are LAB which is also in the name and we feel it’s a name that describes the things we create as it also means ‘the beautiful.’ It just seemed perfect for us.”
LaBella Designs has given Lisa an outlet for her own creativity, all while still inspiring creativity in the youth of the community.
“I’ve enjoyed selling my pieces at the Emporium. I love having a local store that has nice merchandise available for the residents to be able to shop local. I love knowing that people enjoy my artwork and I’ve had an overwhelming great response to people buying my jewelry pieces. In the future we hope to offer some art/ jewelry making classes at the Emporium. I look forward to sharing my time and talents with others.”