BIO:: Laura Land is a multi-media collage artist based in Waldron, Indiana whose work typically depicts biblical stories in modern landscapes. Creating the pieces have specifically become a place of worship and an extension of studying the Bible for her. Influenced by illuminated manuscripts, the 'quilting' technique involves layering laser printed color copies of photographs, painting, drawing, gilding, and hand-stitching through canvas.
She grew up in Marion, Indiana and went on to study architecture and eventually major in Graphic Design at Ball State University. She’s worked as an art director, taught in the Fine Arts Departments at Ball State University and Taylor University, dabbled in fashion design, attended the Indianapolis School of Supernatural Ministry, and currently works at a public library where she has done grant writing and public relations work part-time since 2005. She designs/paints/takes photographs in her free time and enjoys spending time with her husband Joe and their two cats, Samson and Elvis. Their home is a few miles from Laura’s Great-Grandmother’s former homestead in Shelby County. Joe plays mandolin and continues to develop a market vegetable and flower garden on their property.
MY TIME LIVING IN THE CHURCH HOUSE:
The idea of living in this home would have been awful to me at certain points in my life. 1). I can be a loner if I'm not careful 2). I didn't know --or want-- to learn how to use a cast iron skillet or how to garden or feed chickens 3). I was mad at our church and wasn’t sure if there was any purpose to organized church community anymore.
I had been a part of a Christian Missionary Alliance Church since 1998. I followed a church satellite of Muncie Alliance Church to Indianapolis in 2005 and eventually left in 2012. In 2013, I started attending again. A room was open in the communal church house next door at that time and I asked if I could move in. I lived there until early 2019.
I literally feel like I came into the house crawling. I had been sick off and on for about a year and the idea of another move exhausted me; however, most often, when asked about the house… I say, "It was healing."
Housemates fluctuated, but there were 2-5 of us living in the house at all times. We helped clean the church, host Monday night potlucks in the home, and often opened the home to guests. Everyone who lived there were good cooks (except me — though I learned!). Good food along with a slower pace helped me heal physically. Free rent enabled me to cut back hours that I was working at the library and paint. An old choir loft in the church next door to the house was offered to me to use as an art studio, so I was able to spend a great deal of time working on artwork and worshipping in an open, quiet sanctuary by myself.
Looking back, I realize how spoiled I was there but it was not a free ride. Engaging in other people's lives, wading through decisions together, knowing how to do simple things like share food, feeling comfortable when there were people in the home who you didn't know, or not feeling some sort of pressure as a representative of the church was not always easy.
Overall, though, it taught me that I'm not meant to be an artist who spends most of my free time alone. The neighborhood kids who were constantly running in the alley between the church and the house, leaving stuff on our porch, or talking to us through our kitchen windows never would let me. They and my housemates became another family to me and I miss them.
When we were asked to leave the home due to mold, I felt it best to live in the city where I worked part-time in Shelbyville, Indiana. Six months later I married. Five months after that we bought a house that needed gutted. It’s been a whirlwind. The pandemic, combined with a 45 minute commute have distanced me from the church but I will always be grateful for the generosity that was offered to me there. I will always believe that there is power in community and the church.
MORE RANDOM FACTS:: *I'm not sure that any of this is necessary but I hate how 'bios' and 'descriptions' can strip out all of the daily stuff that makes you human.
I often listen to somewhat obnoxious cinematic music when I'm writing or painting/collaging. Most of the time, I'll switch the station or turn it off and act like it was never playing if I hear someone within listening distance of my studio.
My bedroom, car, studio, and office are disastrously messy most of the time no matter how hard I try.
I did not enjoy reading novels until my mid-20s. I joined a book club with friends as a joke and became a librarian not too much longer after that. The book club is still meeting together 16 years later.
Most people make comments about the food that I eat because I like meals with lots of small portions of different things and always end each meal with the darkest chocolate that I can find.
I have moved multiple times within Indiana and lived with close to 50 housemates from the time that I graduated from college.
Joe helped me move into my apartment in Shelbyville, Indiana in January 2019. I only vaguely knew him then. He took me on ‘Shelby County Dates’ and proposed three months later in April. We married three months after that and bought a house that December.
I'm the younger sister of two awesome older brothers and the granddaughter of two farming families.
'Guenin,' my maiden name, is a German name that is pronounced like the 'Gui' in Guinness or [gin-in] or yes, Guenin Pig.
I'm a 'Marguerite'. It's my mom's name, her mother's middle name, her grandma's name, and my dad's mom's name. It's my middle name.
I love to make friends weird cards out of recycled materials. I feel completely at home at a kitchen table with some markers, pencils, and leftover junk mail that someone forgot to trash.
I read "People" Magazine almost every week. I'm not ashamed.
I like sports. My brothers are good athletes and I spent much of my childhood at baseball, basketball, and football games. I hated competing in front of people or otherwise I probably would have played as well. The gym is an extremely restful place for me. I like lifting weights and running (to a certain extent).
Swimming is one of my favorite things on earth to do.
I would love to go back to Israel, especially the Sea of Galilee. I've never felt as much at rest as I did by that shore.
When I'm thinking about a project or writing in my dream journal, I often write in tiny all-caps handwriting that I can barely read.
I like the letters that mom sends me via snail mail because they almost always include one random newspaper clipping and a handwritten note on the envelope that was an afterthought.
I like to write (if you can't tell by some of the long-winded descriptions). I do a lot of administrative and grant writing for the library, enjoy journaling, and would love to finish a novel I started years ago.