2021 Mayor's Arts Award Nominee: Laurie Lunsford

Why are the arts important in Muncie? What do the arts do for the community?

Arts bring value. It is a voice that says we want our creative endeavors known….the ones that say out loud that Muncie is beautiful and that we care. Every person in Muncie is a piece of the masterpiece that we display to others.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Laurie, who has grown up in Muncie, loves color, textures, nature, and life. Her life reflects this in her parade of occupations from childhood to motherhood to grandmotherhood . She has been an artist, art teacher, children’s book author, and interactive arts specialist with Alzheimer’s patients, and now interacts through the arts everywhere she goes, with friends, with children, with the homeless, and with recovering drug addicts.

I call myself a:

An Interactive Artist

What is your creative practice and how did you get started?

I have noticed through my art career, that art can be a creative form of social interaction. It is also a healing agent. I worked 10 years in Muncie Nursing Homes. The beginning years as a volunteer and evolving into a full time Interactive Artist Position. Presently, I am working interacting in the arts weekly with recovering drug addicts and then in every day life. I interact with every age, different sizes of groups and in a variety of situations. It is my language, as well as those who are interacting with me through art.

What do you wish others knew about your practice? What is a fun fact about what you do?

My life IS art in a variety of ways.

1. I believe everyone creates in some way and I have made it my aim to help others find his or her creative bend, be it gardening, room arrangement, dance, hair styling, manicures or painting on a canvas or working with clay.

2. At this point in life (retirement), I can take art wherever I go. My car is stocked with supplies for plein air painting, sidewalk chalk, and a box of supplies. I am always prepared to do art with others no matter where I am, be it paint, playdough, foil sculpture, etc.

3. I spent many spare moments at West Side park over the summer doing art with whoever was there. From watercolors, to graffiti (not illegal graffiti), pastels, and acrylics, I provided experiences for all ages. I paint with neighborhood kids.

4. I plein air paint at the Redtail Land Preserves. I gave my talents and service to create a book featuring the Redtail properties and my plein air artist colleagues. It promotes Redtail Land Preserves. They have the rights to the book.

5. I have written and illustrated 5 children’s books with a message of the value of nature, the balance of life, and encouragement in learning new things. I have given hundreds of them away through United Way.

6. I have designed rings “Transition Rings, Symbols of Hope for Life’s Transitions”. I also invented and marketed “Dancing Hands”, an instrument that was used all over the United States with Alzheimer’s patients.

Where can people see your work or learn more about you?

I am in the Minnetrista Open Spaces Art Show currently. I painted the electrical box on the corner of River Road and Tillotson at West side Park and have facilitated 4 groups of children in painting boxes. I have murals in nursing homes and churches. Sidewalk chalk is plentiful but fleeting. My books with my paintings and illustrations in them can be found on Amazon or in the trunk of my car. I have framed paintings in houses all over. Eight of them are in a Charles Street Air BnB. Several paintings have made their home at the Ball State Counselling Center in the New Building. We have all the art from “A Brush With Nature” at Cope Environmental Center in Centerville. It will travel to Minnetrista in January. My paintings are also all over my house and houses of friends and family.

What is your favorite part about being an artist or creative in Muncie?

It is all about loving Muncie. I want to highlight Muncie in every way.

What is your favorite arts memory? An amazing event? An experience? A place?

When I worked at Golden Living, one of the residents said that he used to work for Second Harvest and wished there was a way that all of us could support them. They decided they wanted to sell their art, mostly their canvas paintings. We had a silent auction and were able to give hundreds of dollars to Second Harvest. There was purpose in their lives through their art. I watched the light come into their eyes.

Who is your favorite creative inspiration or Arts hero (can be anyone/anything)? Why?

My principal from St Lawrence Catholic School – Rob Frey – who saw my passion and allowed me freedom to try new things with the elementary school art students. He gave me access to lots of supplies. I could take children outside, even in the rain, do creative movement, paint, make messes and go on lots of field trips. He encouraged me to do art outside and with nature all year during Covid. Last year was my best year because of his encouragement. He is also an artist and former art teacher.