Letters From a River Journey Trenton ReynoldsIt is Saturday, September 16th, 2017. This is Room in the Trees, a podcast about making art. and being an artist and everything else we have to be and making it all work somehow. The following was recorded on July 14th 2017. This is episode number 47 Geramenauts. Room in the Trees is hosted by Sabrina Harrison and me Trent Reynolds. Show notes including pictures, links, video and more for every episode can be found at RoomInTheTrees.com If you like this podcast, please consider showing your support. You can become a subscribing patron at patreon.com/room. And it would make us very happy if you would write a review or rate us on iTunes. This was an especially fun episode for me to record because we have Laura, my wife, join us and I am happy to get to introduce her to you she is she is a dangerous dangerous woman nothing like you she will find you. She is my favorite human being on this planet and someone whose presence has always felt like home. She cares deeply, fights fiercely, and giggles with a silliness that melts my heart. So, let's get to our conversation with Laura German Reynolds. We have a special guest today. It is Laura. Hi. Laura's my wife. Yes. She is a beautiful woman, a smart, intelligent artist, a commander of people, an organizer and manager of buildings, a Citizen of the world. Nah. She's looking at me like, where are you going with this?
Laura German ReynoldsI'm a citizen of the world. Yes. Yeah.
Yeah.
Trenton ReynoldsAll around great human being.
Thanks.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonThe people are going to be excited to hear. Yeah. Welcome, Laura.
Laura German ReynoldsThank you. Thank you. I love listening to the podcast. I'm a big fan.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonOh, thank you for all your support with making it happen by being so supportive of Trent, too. I know it must be so much work, too.
Laura German ReynoldsNo, it's not really a lot of work. I actually listen to a lot of podcasts. And so when you guys started recording this one, I just put it into my podcast. you know, subscriptions, but it's one of my favorites. And I, if you haven't posted in a while, I bug Trent and I say, Hey, Hey, when's the next episode coming? Cause I,
Sabrina Ward HarrisonI miss hearing you guys. What ones is there one or two that you, you've liked?
Laura German ReynoldsUh, the, I don't know the names or anything, but I liked the one where you, were thrift store shopping and schlepping like i think leather weather leather weather any time that you like just let you like let down your guard and kind of explain how i don't know just silly things get it yeah in sabrina land i just love it and i love the one with your friend that she's similar thing like where she went to go see the congressman and she wanted to get that unicorn and I was like you need to take the unicorn.
Trenton ReynoldsI do. I imagine like everybody listening thinking take the unicorn.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonI know. I know. It's become iconic now. Like where is that friggin unicorn? Yeah.
Laura German ReynoldsAnd I. Yeah, there's a few others that I've just listened to and that have inspired me as an artist. And I just thought that was a great conversation. And I've told Trent whenever, I can't remember the specific episodes, but I've told him, like, that episode really made me want to make art. Yeah, which is a big deal. 'cause I don't get to feel that a lot, that feeling of like, I gotta make something.
Sabrina Ward Harrison- Do you have a sense of what you have gotten that feeling recently, like what you want to make?
Laura German Reynolds- No, mostly it's just like I just wanna sit down in my, 'cause I do collage, I just wanna sit down and start cutting up paper, and there's like a kind of meditative state that happens. when I'm working on that stuff and that's what I crave. It's like the time, when like time stops and you just are in this kind of flow and that's what I miss about making art all the time.
Trenton ReynoldsIt is, it's kind of a rejuvenation and it's hard to explain exactly what that feels like.
Laura German ReynoldsI just have music blasting in my ears usually. I have headphones in. I just get really lost.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonWhat's your kind of go-to music for that?
Laura German ReynoldsI have a few. I like Ray LaMontagne. I don't know if I'm saying his name right. and then I listen to Feist and Wilco almost always Wilco love Wilco Wilco's just like an old favorite that's usually the one I go for the most but um Trit turned on Bon Iver this morning and That's great studio art making work too.
Sorry.
Trenton ReynoldsYeah, we went by, we had a little bit of extra time before we had to set up for the podcast. So we went over to the new studio space and sat in the sky lit, skylight lit studio space and listened to Bon Iver and Dr.
for a little bit.
Sabrina Ward Harrison- What do you guys talk about?
- Stuff.
Trenton ReynoldsWell, before we, I think, before we get into it, we need a couple updates. We need, Sabrina, did you wanna talk about the big news?
Sabrina Ward Harrisonis that not sure sure sure so last time we spoke there's a lot of fans going in the apartment yeah last time we spoke I was sort of working around kind of a kind of trying to do some photographing some artworks dealing with this space that I have got going on here in the living room I'm trying to make it sort of function and without having dog hair getting into the artwork and just it's really hot and stuff so we had okay I have to just side note I feel like I described this place like it's just it's just like it's a it's a complete shit show you posted
Trenton Reynoldspictures on Instagram it is as one would expect a fantastic space
Sabrina Ward Harrisonit's magical and lovely but it is just this is what it is it works and it's so cute and adorable when there's some sense of creative order to it. But when it's not, it's just like, whoa, whoa, lots happening in here and lots not happening in a very good way. Like meaning just like not, nothing is, nothing can, there's no way I can really work. Like everything's, you know that feeling when everything's just a mess so you can't, it's not like, oh, a good mess. I'm in the middle of something. It's a mess where you can't do anything. You can't sit down and focus on anything. Every day of our lives. Yeah, I was going to say. That's every day. I know. I know. Wow.
Trenton ReynoldsI don't know. Well, it's like you spend all day kind of trying to create this Faberge egg that is just perfect. And the minute you set it down, somebody comes by. with like a sledgehammer and destroys it. You know, it's like you work, and Laura can speak to this better than I can, but you think that you're like pouring all this time and energy into organizing stuff. And in a matter of seconds, it seems like, you turn around twice and it's back to just complete disorder again. So it's like this kind of depression that comes on where you feel like it's not, never gonna be clean or orderly around here.
Laura German ReynoldsYeah, I just got to the point where I don't clean until they're asleep. Yeah. Because it's just depressing. Someone has said that cleaning when your kids are awake is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos. Oh, yeah.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonOh, yeah. That is a great analogy.
Yeah. Yeah.
Trenton ReynoldsYeah. So you're in a situation though where you're trying to use it as a living space and an art making space.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonYeah. And then also, so with the heat, so it has beautiful light, but the sun pours in during the day and it gets so hot. And so we blocked off certain parts so that, anyway, it gets, it's really just hard and sounds so I'm gonna cut that out because it sounds so like it's just so hard there's no kids here it's just hard being an adult you have kids you've got fur babies they can destroy things too just yeah just so the bottom line is so we've been looking at apartments and it's big thing that we're going to move in together and one of the elements was I did need to figure out if we we want to spend each spend the same amount we were or less that we were paying currently in our own places so that we when we split it it would be nothing we weren't taking on anymore um and one of the things was if it I had to realistically either it had to be less expensive so that I could afford to get a studio space outside of the home or there had to be a realistic solution within the house the apartment right so we saw these apartments we fell in love with one that was on the water really weird dude really weird landlord he like kind of lived in the basement but we're like it's lakefront and they never come up, it has a dock, oh my gosh. But there were things like, yeah, you can't-- - No, you can't. - Put any nails on the wall, you can't paint. It just was, and it was no animals and he was gonna make an exception. And thank the Lord that he, we didn't get the apartment, but we waited about a week and a half. So then Corey saw a listing for like a little small house kind of on the other side of town And so we thought, oh, well, gosh, we could consider just renting a little house. So we went to that, and it was just like a-- I said, I'm going to kill myself if I lived here. It was so-- it was just so-- Just depressing? Depressing. Depressing and small and cramped and dirty and-- just smelly and bad and on a corner and so we then see this listing called the house of the seven arches yes yes so i remember last year walking with a friend gail and we walked this little street and it's right by the lake and it was like this little sort of hamlet of streets that didn't kind of weren't like big car driving through streets and this sweet little like people had gardens like vegetable gardens in their front lawns and so we go over there and this guy Ben this guy who owns it lives in South Africa and he runs a school for an orphanage for children of HIV AIDS and orphans and his he's like well my son will show it to you so we go over there we meet ben and there's this great like huge beautiful maple tree in this back kind of old barn like two two two car garage and it's this sweet house two-story house with these arches all through the main living room into the sun room and It just had this wonderful feeling to it. And we both were like, oh, my gosh, this would be so nice. And the price was sort of at the max amount, so it was still less than what we're each paying right now. But we'd have so much more space. And so afterwards, Corey, the guy called, Corey from South Africa and he's like, "You know what?" So we're thinking the application because also the issue has been with dogs and it said dogs are okay. And he called Corey from South Africa and he's like, "You know what? You don't even have to fill out an application. I just feel like it's, you guys are the right people to live there." What? Yeah. What? That's amazing. Yeah. He said, "I've been a potter since 1968 and I love the idea of an artist living here and I'd send him my website which I had just gotten launched the week before like I wouldn't have had anything to show and he was able to to see it and uh and turns out they're this wonderful known family in Madison that own a couple different beautiful restaurants here and just like a new it just felt like we I had been handing it over to God like they're just if this is all supposed to happen it's gonna to unfold and something's gonna you know it's gonna appear and it was just such a gift it was such so we and then we and we also just sort of we're like well I don't know when we get the key and he's like here just take the key now and like no deposit nothing oh no no no no we know we did we had the deposit we did once we gave him the deposit but at the time when we gave him the deposit and filled it did finish the application it had it said stated that to pay first months and deposit it at that time and we just didn't have both so he's like that's fine like okay okay it's a real he's gonna be out of town a lot he's not gonna be like exactly because the other places we lived looked at were just people like the owner lived upstairs I wanted to live downstairs we're like this is and and all of them were people that didn't want dogs but like they were maybe going to take it I'm like I've done this before where you live above or below the owner and it's just like you're sort of in someone's house and you feel bad the whole time like you can't really be in your own yeah that sounds perfect and you
Trenton Reynoldssent pictures and it looks oh pretty pretty magical yeah you're gonna you're gonna make that
Laura German Reynoldslook pretty special, pretty... It's like already set up for Sabrina Magic.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonThank you. It feels very peaceful. Very, very peaceful.
Trenton ReynoldsJust to review the details a little bit because I'm interested. The owner is heading an operation...
Sabrina Ward HarrisonA wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, yeah, school...
Trenton ReynoldsOrphanage school for kids with AIDS. in South Africa. Yes. Yes. He's an artist. He's an artist. He owns restaurants. And he feels good about it, not requiring, like, what is this? What is that?
Sabrina Ward HarrisonHe wants us there, he wants us there, which is such a different feeling when you feel like they want, and he, Ben said, he said, you know the next day someone came by and offered to buy it and he said no I just really feel like the right people are coming and moving in oh my gosh oh my god so God is good that is fantastic
Laura German Reynoldsit's so good to hear that so are you worried about moving out of your current place I had a little
Sabrina Ward HarrisonI had a little crying moment when I gave the notice yesterday I just felt Like, it's been such a good, good place for me. And, you know, it really was a really special spot for me. And it'll be for somebody else for sure, so.
Trenton Reynolds- And it's been a, a lot has happened there, right?
Sabrina Ward HarrisonYeah, a lot has happened there. A lot of chicken and sweet potatoes. A lot of apples. A lot of apples. I busted out, like, bulk cooking of sweet potatoes and chicken yesterday. I'm like, it's been a while, folks. We got roasted about eight sweet potatoes and eight pieces of chicken. Oh, my gosh. I'm like, I'm back.
Laura German ReynoldsAnd you can't, at least to me, they taste really good. And same brand, right? Yeah, it's the same brand. Yeah, nature, whatever that is.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonWow. That's good. So you've been doing the gluten-free thing.
Laura German ReynoldsYeah, reluctantly. But yes, I am committed. I've been doing it for, like, no looking back. It's like a lifestyle. I've got to do that for my body.
Yeah.
Trenton ReynoldsWell, that is so exciting. And what a fantastic story. Like, this is the real Harry Potter wand moment. Like, you found your fit.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonAnd the back is going to be such a peaceful place to make a studio. And just that they want me to, you know, one of his... like one of his wheels for pot. And he said, "If you guys would like a handmade dinner set, we'd love to make you one." - What? - Yes. - Yes. Yes. That does not happen. That does not happen. - So is there, there's a studio already set up in the backyard? - There's an, I'll send you pictures. It's like an old, you know, it just is a big space. It's a big space. It's got an A-frame roof. It's just unfinished, but it's going to work.
Trenton ReynoldsIt's like a shed or a garage?
Sabrina Ward HarrisonYeah, it's like a two-car garage. So it's big enough. It's not like a flat-roofed garage. It has the feeling of it. It's like an open-air high. And it's quiet, and it's not in the house, and it's not attached to the house. and I can put up some even rolling walls but I can put up some you know just make it because I I'm such an outdoor worker I just want to be outside and so can you work there in the winter nope it'll be too cold but it will be definitely like a three season kind of thing I think yeah and then because it's three bedrooms which is so there's upstairs so Corey will have an office and I'll have another studio room I mean it's just like what what so Roman Lucy don't get their own room I guess they should I don't know what they're gonna do they just want to sleep with you right yeah yeah so it's very special so we began the process of bringing stuff over. And I'm like more like, let's just sort of lie in the wood floors and just sort of talk, you know, just connect to the house. And Corey's like, let's get the walls, da, da, da, da. And let's get the things mopped and like, let's do this. So, and I kind of feel like all like, "Wait, just, but I just, I'm like, okay. That is the dance that you are going to be playing, right? Moving is a lot. Don't they say it's the most stressful thing outside of death and...
Public speaking.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonPublic speaking or something.
Laura German Reynoldsthere are so many things worse than public speaking
Trenton Reynoldsi've heard there's some statistic that like there are more people that are that fear public speaking more than they fear death or something like that oh wow so um one quick update on my uh on my side and then uh yeah we're short on time so i do i'm going to made some of these simple designs real quick just to learn how to use it. And I had a moment sitting there in the Fab Lab that was only the second of its type in my life. And that was where I kind of got choked. choked up and I'm gonna own this, I'm gonna admit it. - Yeah. - Got a little choked up at how, just at the, at technology. - At? - At just, I just was surrounded by these laser cutters and these CNC routers and these, you know all 3D printers, vinyl cutters, like all this just amazing equipment that you can make anything on and just the this the potential there and all you know it just made me like kind of get choked up about humanity. I don't know like like all this stuff that we're able to do, you know.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonOkay, you have to do the kip.
Trenton ReynoldsYeah, and so, well, the other moment, this was the only other moment.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonCan you elaborate just briefly on what you meant by choked up technology as far as in amazement, in a good way? Oh, in a great way, in the best way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you going to do it?
Trenton ReynoldsYeah, totally, totally, like, in a very embarrassingly nerdy way.
Laura German ReynoldsOkay, cool. - I love technology.
Trenton Reynolds- I love technology. - What's the next word?
Laura German Reynolds- But not as much as you love me. Or something like that.
Trenton Reynolds- From the "Folion Dynamite," there's a, Kip does this song. I don't know if you remember that movie one. - Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - So the only other time that I've had a similar feeling is during a Steve Jobs keynote. And it was not even the Steve Jobs keynote where he announced the iPhone. was just like one of the random ones before that where I just was overwhelmed kind of had a moment where I was just like wow humans are awesome and like these tools are amazing and how what kind of cool stuff can is possible now because we have these things. So anyway, I wanted to share my little nerd geeky moment.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonYeah, but what I want to say about that is it's emotionally and wonderful that you're there and that's going to be your match. You know, like this is going to be your job. I mean, it's just that's what I would think. so emotional is like you're in this i mean the name of it even like what you know it's just so
Trenton Reynoldsso meaningful yeah it really was amazing and and nobody really knows how to use this stuff like they built this thing with a ton of money and they have one guy that was certified in how to use the machines but really you know they're not very restrictive on it who use So it's like, you know, we just sat there. It was just Peter, my friend who is a teacher there already. And I just kind of figuring it out as we went along. And so there's not this kind of anxiety about doing things wrong. It's this open feeling of like, you know, just we want you to use this stuff. We want you to learn how to how to do it so you can. you know, help us really make this space work. - Oh, that's fantastic. - So it just, there are so many little things about this situation that are such a good fit that it made me really, really excited for the next year. Anyway, so that's the update from my side of things. We have to be, we have to be, you know, done at noon. So I wanted, you'd mentioned maybe a story from managing and I wanted to make sure that one story in particular was shared because I think it is such a good illustration of who Laura is as a person. And that is the incest. with a man in the dumpster and I'm gonna let Laura tell the story.
Laura German ReynoldsAlright, so we...
Sabrina Ward HarrisonCannot wait. Don't miss any details.
Laura German ReynoldsOkay, I haven't told the story in a while so I'm gonna do my best. But when we were first married we lived in a different building and managed that building and it's just a few blocks away from where we currently are. but a few blocks makes a big difference in LA and it's a little rougher neighborhood and It's right by a park that's called stoner Park so things kind of You know would that deserves its name? It deserves to see yeah, let's just say that so We did not the building was not gated It was not controlled access so people could wander in and one day I was in the back parking lot and there was a man digging through the dumpster looking for recyclables. And this was like before kids, all that stuff. So I just, um, I think Trent and I had been married like a few months, three or four months, something like that. I see this man, he had a clean white, shirt on and you know he didn't look crazy right so I said excuse me I'm probably like 20 feet away from him excuse me he's not responding I keep walking towards him hello still not responding. So I just was like, oh, this man must be deaf.
Trenton ReynoldsAnd like literally, I just was like, he can't hear me.
Laura German ReynoldsSo I lightly tapped his shoulder and he flung around. And this guy, I'm going to just do a description of what he looked like. so that everyone can understand. Okay, good. He was about my size. I'm 5'6", so I think he was maybe like 5'5", 5'4". He's a little smaller than me. And African-American, dark-skinned, and really, like, fit. Like, street fit. Like, he... Yeah. He looked, he looked, he just looked like-- - Scrappy. - Scrappy, like he could, I don't know, he just looked like, he didn't have a lot of fat on him. He just looked lean and he was probably 40 or 50. Anyway, I tap him on his shoulder, he spins around and starts, screaming in my face and I I was just a little naive yeah more than a little naive I've only lived in LA a few months and just uh yeah so he starts screaming at me and he's swearing and um telling me to hit him. Touch me again. Touch me again. Okay. And I was like, I don't want to hit you. I just need you to leave. But my adrenaline starts going. And this was just my natural instinct. I actually started to puff up my shoulders.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonOkay. You're such a badass, Laura. So I made myself bigger than him.
Laura German ReynoldsI put my shoulders.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonI'd be terrified. You're so cool this way.
Laura German ReynoldsI put my, well, I was honestly a little afraid that this was my instinctual reaction was not to run, but was to fight. So I put my shoulders get, big and I just start yelling back at him but kindly like I'm like you need to leave and he's like where's your pimp where is your pimp I'm gonna get you a pimp and it like he wanted to fight with my pimp and I'm like thinking in my head my pimp is at work anyway he like leaves he goes out the parking gate I am like shaking just completely um rattled and i say to him have a nice day yes yes i was trying so hard the whole time to just be kind and i was but i was frightened but i was also going to stand up for myself so
Sabrina Ward HarrisonThat's really brave in that moment just to have...
Laura German ReynoldsOh, telling it, I just think of how stupid I was and I could have just gotten really hurt, but... That's true. It worked out.
Trenton ReynoldsBut I think that is a pretty good indication of how Laura is... is, it's like when it comes down to fight or flight, she is definitely fight. Whereas I think I'm flight. I would step away. I would be like, we'll talk to you later. When you finish finding your recycles, please leave the premises and I'll be in your apartment. I'd be like, what are you finding?
Sabrina Ward HarrisonWhat are you finding in there?
Laura German ReynoldsMaybe some other questions. stuff. Oh, man. I went into my apartment and just, like, you know, shook and cried a little bit, I think, for the next three or four hours. I was just in shock. So, it was a very intense experience.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonThat was a really hard situation, wasn't it, that first building? Yeah, that, yeah. You had just moved to L.A.
Laura German ReynoldsYeah, and all of the, like, crazy stories are from that building, you know, the...
Trenton ReynoldsYeah, the guy shooting up in front of our building.
Laura German ReynoldsYeah, a guy doing heroin. Like, people drunk on the steps, peeing in the grass. Oh, man. Like, drug dealers and...
Parties.
Laura German ReynoldsThere was poverty, too. I mean, you could go from our apartment next door, and there was extreme poverty. Yeah. And so... that was just difficult but eye-opening yeah and yeah but at the same time
Trenton Reynoldsdefinitely a blessing like we needed we needed that that paved the way or made it possible for us to get the current management job anyway so I wanted while we've got a chance though I wanted to talk a little bit about Laura's our work because that's who she is.
Laura German ReynoldsOnce upon a time when Trent and I met, we were in art school.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonI know, we want to hear, I think listeners are going to want to hear a little bit of your side of the story of some of the we've heard the great meeting story or just some, a few from Laura's perspective moments too.
Trenton ReynoldsI will do my best to bite my lip and not...
Laura German ReynoldsYeah, he doesn't like the way that I tell that story.
Trenton ReynoldsThere are some details that she remembers different than I do, but anyway.
Laura German ReynoldsYeah, so we met in Chicago. We were both at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and I was a freshman, and Trent was an under... No, he was a freshman. - First year grad. - Yeah, he was a grad student.
Trenton ReynoldsSo.
Laura German ReynoldsAnd I was really lonely and I'd just come, left my family. I come from a big family and so I just, I guess I feel lonely. - Yeah. - So I would, Trent gave me his number and I just would go see him every day. after I was finished my classes, I'd go to his studio and just hang out.
Yeah. And talk.
Laura German ReynoldsHe was like just sitting there like, you know, pretending to paint or something. And I would just be like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, I was 19, 18. I was young.
Trenton ReynoldsAnd and for the record, I at this point, I'm not trying to hit on her. This is like. purely like yeah and i didn't see him she was she was the one one of the first people that i met and one of the first people that i that i knew so it was just like yeah you know we were both new to chicago yeah it's like having somebody to be able to talk to and visit with so yeah and we met at church so
Laura German Reynoldsjust knew like okay we've got that in common and felt comfortable and at ease with him but uh yeah so he was 26 i was 18 and um i just hung out with him every day and then you know it was maybe a month or two of that and and then trent one day was like um Uh, uh, uh, okay. wondering if I could uh do you want he said the word hunt I did say no he was basically trying to say can I pursue you it would it be okay with you if I like tried to date you oh I remember him saying the word hunt and I was like what do you mean
Trenton ReynoldsI used some kind of hunting metaphor I don't remember like can I go in
Laura German Reynoldsfor the kill or something.
Trenton ReynoldsI was just trying to. It was really awkward. Yeah, so awkward. Anyway. Yeah, I'm a little uncomfortable with it, remembering it.
Laura German ReynoldsSo, yeah, we just started dating and fell madly in love. We did five years of long-distance dating, and then we ended up getting married.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonYeah. And so were you doing art? What's your sort of, what was your experience?
Laura German Reynoldsdid really well. I ended up getting a few awards and then like was able to sell one of my pieces like through a newspaper photo. Like somebody called my high school, found out my art teacher, and was like we want to buy this photo we saw that I had done. So just kind of had a lot of I don't know just affirmation
Sabrina Ward Harrisonthat like yeah I'm good at this and like yeah yeah I should pursue this. So I
Laura German Reynoldsended up getting accepted to the school the Art Institute of Chicago which I just thought would never happen and went there for my freshman year and loved it. I just only had enough money for one year. So I knew kind of going in that it was, I would have to get a scholarship or something would have to happen because I wasn't willing to do the student loan deal. But I ended up just meeting Trent and then I transferred to BYU and really enjoyed my education there at BYU as well. So I missed the city, missed Chicago, missed that experience, but yeah I felt like yeah. Anyway so then through my education just kind of played, I would have said feed out that like bulk of drawing and painting you end up somewhere else. So I ended up doing collage which I just I don't know I think it's just the way my brain works like I I'm like a gatherer and then a cut and paster. Yeah. I mean even when I'm preparing to like speak or teach or something I prefer to actually, instead of using a word processor, to actually physically write things down, cut them out, and rearrange them. Oh, that's interesting. The same things you would do with a word processor, I just want to do it by hand. Yeah.
Trenton ReynoldsAnd she did these collages where she used her clothing and would do installations on a wall, so collaging
Laura German ReynoldsYeah, so that was at the Art Institute. I took my wardrobe, which was all funky, thrifted stuff because I was cool back then. And I made a collage up on the wall. It was big, and it was basically a self-portrait. Like, you know, these are the things that I wear every day. And I just stapled them up on the wall with like an industrial staple. So that was kind of the start of all that.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonI really love your juxtapositions that you do in your collages. That's what I've been really drawn to and the way you collage with the female form. I'm always really intrigued by that.
Laura German ReynoldsYeah, a lot of my art does center around like female identity and kind of my own exploration of trying to figure that what it what does that mean what does it mean to be a woman and also just like womanhood and sisterhood and stuff like that but I love when I'm making art I just kind of cut out pieces that I'm drawn to and then the story kind of starts to unfold as I'm working and so by the time I'm done, like, the piece has a story that is often centered around maybe someone that I know or something like a relationship in my own life or something like that, but it's just a way to figure things out. out a different type of therapy.
Trenton ReynoldsI'm sure I've mentioned this before in the podcast, but I've seen it happen so many times, and I think it's worth mentioning here. I've seen it happen with students that come into the art class, coming to learn how to they are introduced to other options, you know, or other, even other painting media, they'll find something, either a different way of using the same material they've always used, or they'll find a different medium that will just resonate somehow with how their brain works, how they're, you know, how they exist in the world and move their body around, like, something will happen where it just clicks and it feels right, and, you know, the floodgate's open and all of a sudden all all this creative energy is is able to be released because they found the right fit for them and and i feel like you know that's what laura's just been talking about is like the collage just fits how she sees the world and interacts with the world yeah both physically and uh psychologically right yeah that's what it sounds like that's yeah and i do
Laura German ReynoldsI mean, I do enjoy painting and drawing, and I'm competent and able to do that. It's just not the same sort of-- yeah, just easiness.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonHow do you organize your stuff? Collaging is a tricky thing that way, right? Because there's all the little bits, and you have little treasures. And organizing the bits and maintaining-- - You recognize very well. - Or just containing the bits.
Laura German Reynolds- I have a box that is just for like things that are cut out and small, and that goes into that box. And then I have a bunch of drawers that Trent, Trent is basically any organization in my life has stemmed from Trent. - Oh, I believe it.
Trenton ReynoldsI believe it.
Laura German Reynolds- 'Cause I think I'm a little more like you in that way, Sabrina, just like free flow and whatever. I'm a messy maker. Yeah. I make big messes. So I have these drawers, and the drawers are organized in, like, okay, this could be a background. This is just a color. This is a figure. These are... And so they're just organized that way, and if I get magazines, I just will tear out what interests me. Yeah. and then I kind of file them into like, okay, is this a background? Is this a texture? Is this a figure or whatever? And then when I'm ready to wanting to start a piece, I kind of pull out of those drawers, anything that's interesting me. And they usually all the colors kind of go together anyway, when I'm selecting the papers and then I cut things out and just start organizing them. have like a set format that I'm working on like the last one I did was actually on like a cradle wood board and so I just I already have the format like the mm-hmm the dimensions and then I just am working to solve the problem and puzzle of like making that composition work within that actual space that I've already so I love that yeah yeah and then I just use masking tape on the back as I'm sorting everything out so that it's not actually put down and then I can move it around and then when I've solved it I glue it down and I just use a u-stick or you know like really like a
Sabrina Ward Harrisonschool glue stick I'm yeah that's the thing in itself right is is a freaking
Laura German ReynoldsThat's a good idea. And clean that glue off so that it doesn't get sticky.
Trenton ReynoldsWell, and before, in the past, she's done collages on masonite and then poured resin over them, and the resin actually will spread or smooth out all the rippling.
Laura German ReynoldsSometimes, but another, something that happens with the resin is every now and then you'll get the... image on the back so if it's a magazine you get the image on the back of that magazine coming through the front which can work to your advantage or disadvantage sometimes it's been really cool to see what's come through oh yeah but I'm I'm not very careful with the resin either so and resin it's such a
Trenton Reynoldslike really smooth shiny surface that it's not always you know a good fit for
Laura German ReynoldsYeah, but that was once-- when I was in college, that was one way I was trying to just make them look a little more finished. Yeah, that's cool. How do you do that?
Sabrina Ward HarrisonHow do you apply that? For people listening.
Laura German ReynoldsYeah, the resin, it's like a two-part mix thing. You've got the resin and then the hardener. And I think it's one-to-one. You pour it in one-to-one. It depends on the brand you're using. Yeah. You can just get them at any art store. art store and then you have to mix it together really fast for a minute until and it's like full of bubbles and then you pour it on so when you pour it on it's like cover it's really bubbly and frothy and then my trick is I just take a straw and I blow out the bubbles. Oh that's good. So you go along the surface and you just blow and the bubbles pop as you blow on them. Otherwise you've got a ton of bubbles on top of your image.
Trenton ReynoldsI've heard that that heat gun also works really well for that.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonYeah it probably does work. What about the fact of going over the edges and so on like it I let it yeah too much I let it yeah no I let it spill
Laura German Reynoldsover the edges and then I as it's drying I just clean the edges just keep wiping them so it's a way to actually usually my finger a gloved finger I'm wearing
Trenton Reynoldslike latex gloves so she'll put like a roll of tape underneath the bottom so it It's you know, it's just dripping off the edges onto the you know paper underneath it
Laura German ReynoldsYeah, you have to like have a whole messy setup that it's like it can just bleed over like kind of like a waterfall it's going over and dripping onto like the newspaper whatever you have underneath and then Just it will stop drip. It's it's hard to harden pretty quick. Yeah, it does So, yeah.
Sabrina Ward Harrison- But it works really well. - Last question about that, do you have it elevated so it's pouring off, like is it kind of lifted off?
Laura German Reynolds- That's what Trent meant, was like a roll of tape under the collage. So the tape is like on its side and that's what's kind of popped up. And then one other thing you need to worry about is if you have a lot of dust in the air, which you might not even be aware of, but you cover it to let it dry. So I usually put a Tupperware or something over it so that the dust in the air doesn't settle on top because I've had that happen where I didn't think of it, and then I go, and it's all covered in little dust things. And it's really...
Trenton Reynoldsreally visible when it's such a perfect surface. You can't get it out. Right. You notice the
Laura German Reynoldslittle bits of dust. And also I've done it where my mixture wasn't quite one to one and it was tacky for the rest of its life. It never hardened. Oh yeah. I can see that happening to me. You have a big thumb print in the middle of it. Yeah. Yes. No, I've got thumb prints and stuff and all that. But when you're only done it does look like a like kind of a bathroom tile like it's yeah you know
Trenton Reynoldskind of like that there was one uh and I'm sorry for trying to push this along but there's one more project more recent that I wanted to make sure we got to but
Laura German Reynoldsthat was the book project my younger sister her name is Eve and she She was going through a really hard time and she asked me, "Can I write you letters every month?" Just as a way to kind of keep me accountable to somebody through this process that I'm going through. She was kind of losing her faith, wasn't sure if she believed in God. didn't really know she was kind of having a little identity thing going on but um so i was her her witness to that and she wrote me a letter each month and she asked me on the outset she said i want you to somehow make art to these she didn't she didn't specify how i was gonna do that she just was like Like, I want you to kind of illustrate these. - Wow. - And it was the coolest thing I've worked on in forever. So she would write me these letters and then I would make the artwork. I would take lines from her letters. She was an English major. She's very like kind of poetic and a little bit, of a bleeder in her in the way that she writes like just i wish i had the book with me i would love to read some of it but um so she she wrote me for 12 months and it ended up being this really pivotal year um she figured out her faith came back around like felt like she was comfortable with where she was and then ended up meeting her husband she wasn't expecting any of that yeah met met her husband and then I think by the end of the year was married so that all happened in that year and and that's all it within the book and that's all within the book wow I love that yeah it starts out where she's like not I mean just so not open to relationships or, I mean, she was very isolated. She was in midwifery school at the time and she just was, had kind of made herself a little bit of a hermit, like not connecting to people and then by the end, you know, she's in a relationship with a wonderful man and, uh, who was also an artist and also a lot older than her. Somebody that I knew when I was at BYU undergrad. Wow. Yeah. Someone that Trent was
Sabrina Ward Harrisonpeers with at BYU. So I love that. What's the title of it? Does it have a title? It's
Laura German Reynoldscalled, I think it's called The River Journey because she was living in the Pacific Northwest in... Washington State.
Yeah.
Laura German ReynoldsAnd, like, just outside of Seattle. And so a lot of it was her going out into nature and her healing and stuff. A lot of the...
Trenton ReynoldsDidn't it have some reference to a book or...
Laura German ReynoldsIt had a reference to... I wish I had the book in front of me, but, like, Tennyson or something. something like that like a T.S. Eliot quote about the river anyway it's honestly I wish I had it in front of me so I could read a little bit of it but she maybe we can record
Trenton Reynoldswe can record Laura reading a little bit of it and we'll attach that to the end she has
Laura German Reynoldswas actually written to our baby sister the youngest when she was getting married and it was her like just letter to her like before you get married this is your letter and it's a letter that would speak to any woman like it's just like one of those things that I feel like should be out circulating among all women
Sabrina Ward HarrisonI'd love you to read that. Yeah. Yeah.
Trenton ReynoldsIt was a wonderful project to witness, like, for me, because it was something Laura hadn't had time or energy or just bandwidth to make art for a long time.
Laura German ReynoldsThis is in the middle of having all the babies and stuff, so. By the end, I had 12 collages, and it was unbelievable. honestly some of the best work I'd made. - Wow Laura, that's fantastic.
Trenton Reynolds- And you made a book out of it.
Laura German Reynolds- And we made a book and so it lives as a book.
Sabrina Ward Harrison- Where can I see it? Like as a book? Where did you get it printed?
Laura German Reynolds- I got it printed. I have a physical copy and yeah, I think I can show you the online copy where I actually got it published. sits there so you could actually read it through on the online um and it turned out really well i would love that yeah yeah and then um so it just goes my collage and then her letter so my it would be like january and then her january letter and then february my february collage and then her february letter oh wow you must have felt so much closer to her after that yeah we were already really very close but what was cool is she had always kind of been my confidant growing up and so it was a time that i could be the listener and instead of so we switched roles for a little bit and i felt like i got to support her in ways that like when we were growing up i was maybe a little too selfish or blind or you know i was just the older one yeah So I took her for granted and so it was nice that that switched and I was able to, yeah, just be the quieter one and support her and watch her through something that we didn't know how it was going to end. I mean, it ended very happily.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonYeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you didn't starting in, yeah, exactly like the story's happening.
Laura German Reynoldshappening. Yeah, exactly. But it was a really cool collaboration and then I would consider her letters art as well. Like the things that she wrote are just as expressive and, you
Trenton Reynoldsknow. And the book has scans of her actual handwritten letters. It's not just the...
Laura German ReynoldsYeah, that was important. I didn't want to lose her handwriting. So her handwriting, in there and the preces in the paper in there oh I love that yeah oh thank you
Sabrina Ward Harrisonfor sharing that I would love I think that would be something for people listening that would be a wonderful project people could could do you know with it whether with a friend or someone in their family it's because also the lot there's that loss of that those kind of letters to handwritten letters to each other yeah there's a woman that i follow on
Laura German Reynoldsinstagram her name is um danielle carissa and she has a whole book called creative unblock and it has lots of like prompts on like how to get unblocked but i felt like that was what my sister gave me she was like hey here's a project you have to respond every month so it was like a creative yes and i you know I didn't have to sit there and think what am I going to do like I just was responding to her and it was so easy to do and it was really a rich experience for me and Trent and I made time for me to be in the studio, I was in the studio a lot at least once a week, sometimes more and towards the end trying to get it all done was working in a lot and then he was really a big help in helping me figure out the book and getting that all because he's, you know, Photoshop pro.
Right. So it was cool.
Trenton ReynoldsWell, we are unfortunately kind of at the end of our time, but maybe is there something, Laura, that. just can we make some hair sounds can we make yes god yes i love it it is it is that time do you guys want to sound of your hair yeah um are you do you want to do the sound of your own hair or do you want to do the sound of my hair i would like i would like you to do the sound of my hair Yeah, both.
Laura German ReynoldsOkay, so I'm going to start. Yeah, go for it. Okay.
Trenton ReynoldsI have no idea what my hair looks like right now.
Laura German ReynoldsI don't know. Totally. I can see that.
Sabrina Ward HarrisonI can see that.
Trenton ReynoldsYeah, what do you got going on there? What do you do?
Laura German ReynoldsYou know, you do my hair.
Trenton ReynoldsOh, my hair.
Laura German ReynoldsTrent's hair is curly, but he's got his headphones on, so he's got a little bit of frizz in the front, and it's looking a little Gene Wilder-ish in the top.
Trenton ReynoldsWhat you working with today, Sabrina?
Sabrina Ward HarrisonMy hair is-- I ran out the door to do this in this community center, and I'm sitting in this big room. My hair is... Okay. Da. Is that final da?
Trenton ReynoldsIs that like an insecure da? Or is that just a...
Sabrina Ward HarrisonIt's a resting da. It's a resting da. My hair is still wavy. and I have a scarf tied around it and then my earphones over it, big over the ear earphones. So I've got, it's, but I found this incredible life-changing hair powder that's from England that I've got already, two extra things on Amazon. I've waited my whole life. I've tried. - Like a dry shampoo? - It's something like that. And it is, it's a life changer for me. I'm like, it's a deal changer. I suddenly have just textured, volumous, satisfying hair that I've always wanted. I mean, because I have very, very fine hair. And so, anyway, I'm just... That's one for the show notes, I think. That definitely will be one for the show notes. I really... for me talking about bath hair from years ago, like that feeling of just like, not even that, just like, yeah, this is, this is like, this is like, this is how it sounds like. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Well, thank you so much, Laura, for joining us. Oh, this is fun. It's really wonderful to have you on. Yeah, it's a delight.
Laura German ReynoldsAnd this has been just a wonderful thing to participate in via, you know, via being Tread's partner. Just to support you guys and to see the growth for both of you as you've, like, done this. and and watch the audience grow and be like wow there's lots of people that care about this stuff. Yeah opens the conversation. So here's a letter from the book that I made with my sister Eve. The book is titled Letters from a River Journey and it was made in 2013, 2014. So this is the letter from June and this was written to our youngest sister, Mara. It was advice given to her before she got married. June 30th, 2013. Dearest Mara, you're getting married in a few days. I am filled up with thoughts of you. Think of it. You and I started out as just two little seeds. Our bodies formed and grew inside the body of a strong, pure woman, and now we are women. Time, life, and the hands of God took us up and grew us into what we are now. And we will keep growing from here, and as we grow, what has grown in us and around us will start to grow from and out of us. Having been given, we will turn around and give. We are women. Growth and giving are in the very deepest parts of what has been given to us and what we will give again. Mara, you have lived your life being surrounded by women. You have seen every kind and every definition of what that means. Some of us say that to truly be a woman is to make yourself free and choose your own path. Some of us say that to be a woman is to surrender and to serve. Some of us say that it is our bodies, the powers of our sex that make us women. And some say it is our nature, our purity and our compassionate souls. Some say it is these hearts of ours that somehow feel what others feel and so know how to care for them others that it is our wisdom our insight and the balance of heart with mind within us some say it is love that makes us women and some say it is strength there are many models and opinions of what womanhood means As you've grown they have surrounded you, but in the end you must decide what being a woman means to you. Look inside and realize that you are not only the identity, attributes, inclinations, and memories that make up yourself as you have come to know you. Look inside and realize that you are a woman. You are part of a life. legacy of women and you are your own legacy, your own woman. Whatever you choose and discover in yourself, always remember your strength. Strength can and it will manifest in us in a thousand different ways. It will stretch itself out reaching the full length of a lifetime of days and it will well itself up as a mountain from one crucial moment It will make itself into constellations to be connected together to shine through darkness as the seasons come and change in you and in your life. It will grow roots in your heart and make rivers in your blood. Your womanhood will stand as an alchemist within you, taking your strength and turning it in one moment and season into wool and the next moment and season into steel. Listen to your heart, the mighty she within you, as you always have, and you will know when to be malleable, when to shift, when to transform, and when to stand, stay, and be true. Mara, I've learned so much about our female bodies on this mid-wifing path that has been laid at my feet and on my shoulders. It's the women who have been my teachers. I have kneeled at their feet, been gripped in their hands, made witness to their pains, fears, joys, and labors, and they have taught me there what women and their bodies can do. Some day you will kneel with me there and be made witness as you watch life be born through water and blood. seasons of them are sacred creation dwells in us so many voices and so much of our culture makes our bodies and our cycles and our changing shapes and seasons disgusting strange or shameful never believe them reject them Mara and reteach them when you can. They are only beautiful. As you leap off this ledge, off this altar that is the place where your marriage journey begins, you will use and discover, view and think of your body in ways that you never have before. You have access to these things now. They will come to you, Mara, and you will know them. But they require you to set your hand and build them too. Build your witness, sister. Build your knowledge and your reverence and your awe of your body. Let it grow on and on in you and never be ashamed. Strength, creation, and a woman heart. well within you. Nourish them and give all your strength and peace to them. They will give endlessly to you and to any that you serve. Be ready to teach other women. You have many opportunities. Be ready to lay your witness at their feet and in one way or another lay hands on hearts and brow and reteach women their long perfect beauty value and strength. This work will be given to you throughout your life. I see it in you. You have been made to do it and you will do it well. Mara, you and I have been sealed and tied together. Our hearts are forever entwined. You know me in a way, sister, that no one else does. You have been part of my salvation because I know that I could not have survived the last few years so well without you. We are sisters now, truly, for all time. Always thank you for that. I love you deep and wide and long, and I honor you and I love you for the woman you have become. Our road goes on from here, and I will see you there. I love you, and I love you. I am so endlessly proud of you. I am always your sister. Love, Eve.
Trenton ReynoldsThanks for listening. We are glad you're there. I apologize for the delayed release of this episode. All my attention has been required to keep up with my new teaching job. Both Sabrina and I intend to keep going with this podcast, so I hope you will be patient as changes and transitions. settle back down into a new equilibrium. We'll be back next week. In the meantime, check out the show notes at roominthetrees.com. This week, you will be able to preview the book Laura read from at the end of this episode, so make sure to check that out. You can also follow Laura and see her artwork on Instagram. She is at geraymanolds.art, and the spelling on that is G-E-R-E-Y-M-A-N-O-L-D-S dot art. Germanals, by the way, is a combination of her last name, German, and mine, Reynolds. And finally, another thank you to Laura, the wonderful woman I get to spend my life with and who I get to build a family with. Now, go get hugging those you love and try to get some sleep. There's never enough sleep. Thank you.