About Laura
Laura Garrard is an artist, editor, nationally certified massage therapist, certified lymphatic therapist and Reiki master teacher who lives in Jackson, Wyoming. Her professional massage therapy membership and insurance reside with Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals. Garrard attended the Cumberland Institute for Holistic Therapies in Brentwood, Tennessee, where she completed her certification in massage therapy. While earning this degree, she contributed to fundraising endeavors at the League for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing as a part-time special projects assistant, grant writer and annual campaign manager. The mountains of the West called, however, so after several months of operating her own massage business in Nashville, Garrard moved to Jackson to pursue her careers in massage therapy and art. She now owns Attuned Healing Massage & Bodywork and teaches Reiki. Her education in bodywork has extended to include Thai yoga massage, body treatments, lymph drainage therapy and scar tissue work.
12×9″ acrylic painting on canvas.
In addition to her certification in massage therapy, Garrard holds a bachelor’s in advertising and public relations and a master’s in communications, with a journalism focus and a women’s studies concentration. Her academic honors include Magna Cum Laude undergraduate distinction, Kappa Tau Alpha journalism honor society membership in both degrees, and a full academic scholarship and stipend for graduate study at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
Following her undergraduate work at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth and an internship with the advertising department of Harcourt Brace Publishing, she joined a competitive advertising agency in the Dallas–Fort Worth area. Her first full-time professional positions of assistant media buyer and advertising executive prepared Garrard to work directly with clients and respond to their needs. This mid-sized agency, called Dally Advertising, presented opportunities for crossover work in design and copywriting. It was this combination of skills that earned Garrard her graduate assistantship at UT-Knoxville’s nationally recognized Journalism School.
Laura’s best hiking pal, Hannah.
16×12″ pen and ink on illustration board.
After completing her master’s program, Garrard decided to pursue employment in the field of book publishing. Her largest project as an editorial project manager was The Encyclopedia of Country Music – published by Oxford University Press – which included over 1,200 articles written by 130 authors. She also served as the editorial assistant and production manager of the Journal of Country Music, to which she contributed articles. A full-time position as editorial assistant of the Country Music Foundation Press in Nashville evolved into the role of graphic design production manager for the entire foundation. Garrard eventually managed and created over 300 print projects a year, marketing the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. These jobs often required her personal contribution of copywriting, graphic design, and illustration as well as print production management of brochures, signs, exhibit displays, ads, website imagery, banners, billboards, flyers, invitations and more.
Meanwhile, Garrard continued to flex her editorial skills through copyediting, proofreading and indexing for Rutledge Hill Press and Thomas Nelson Books in Nashville. She also contributed book revues to the Nashville Woman tabloid newspaper as a member of the Women’s National Book Association, where she served as Board Member for two years. She sold her black and white art drawings at a Nashville gallery and exhibited pieces in member shows of local art organizations. Plus, it was in Nashville that Garrard began to ballroom dance, replacing her childhood love of dancing ballet.
20×16″ Mixed Media on Canvas. 
In addition to art and dance, the outdoors has been a love of hers since youth, when Garrard traveled the West with her family on camping trips. She was born in Birmingham, Alabama, but also lived in New Jersey and then seven years in Northern California before her family moved to Nashville when she was almost 13. While living in California, the Garrards visited Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Lake Shasta, Big Bear, Yellowstone, the Tetons, and many other dramatic, western wilderness areas. As an adult, she took up cycling and backpacking to tour roads and trails in Alaska, Montana, Virginia, Scotland, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming. Her cycling culminated in a fundraising bike ride that traveled from Fairbanks to Anchorage, Alaska – she raised over $6,000 to support AIDS Vaccine research and participated in the 2001 Alaska AIDS Vaccine Ride.
As an environmental activist, Garrard organized events in Nashville for the Alaska Wilderness League in an effort to prevent oil drilling on the Coastal Plain of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She also served on the advisory board of Team Green, an outdoors recreational club in Nashville, and contributed through community volunteer work with SaddleUp! Nashville, the National MS Society and her church.
Laura’s first Jackson neighborhood.
In Jackson, Garrard sings with the choir and serves as a deacon at her church, and has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and St. John’s Living Center, where she and a fellow therapist lead an activity called “Music and Massage” with the elderly residents there. She is also a member of the Habitat for Humanity club, DIGS; participates in Bill’s Fun Run every year; and provides free services to several slient auction benefits for local nonprofits, as well as chair massage for donation at community events. Garrard has opened her own massage studio located in downtown Jackson on 430 South Jackson Street. Her office resides in a suite of offices with three other therapists, creating a healing arts center that offers community classes and health information, including the Teton Reiki Circle, Reiki training and Thai massage training. Garrard has performed massage in reputable spas, such as Amangani and Shooting Star, and participates in local holistic events such as the Wellness Institute’s Festival, the Eco-Fair and the Harvest Festival. Her recent massage education includes Certification in Manual Lymph Drainage and Complete Decongestive Therapy; Thai Massage training in Chiang Mai, Thailand; and Reiki Master Teacher training in Jackson. Garrard is beginning to practice and study crystal healing and cranio-scral work.
24×18″ pen and ink on paper.
The images and lines of nature and dance have influenced her artwork, both in her black and white ink drawings and also in her colorful acrylic paintings. The surrounding beauty in Jackson has inspired a new artistic direction in painting landscapes. In February 2011, Garrard’s abstract paintings created for a play set were shown at Shade’s Cafe.
Garrard says that her parents provided her with a strong work ethic, the desire to excel and the heart to help others. At the core of her life and work is a strong spiritual connection to God and the Earth.
Personal Life Statement:
18×24″ colored pencil on paper.
“My faith grows as my life progresses and I witness miracles happening in my life and in the lives of others, regardless of the difficult circumstances that we must weather. I believe that we are here on Earth to learn as spiritual beings, become the best of and give of ourselves, and experience the beautiful bounty provided to us by God our Creator. I also believe that humans have the responsibility to protect the world and its creatures, just as we care for our bodies, so that our spirits can carry out their important missions here. All of us have strong purposes in living, our unique paths to discover and follow, yet we depend on one another for love and learning. Everything I am, do and become is from the world unseen – the true journey is within.”
~ Laura Garrard, January 2006, Jackson, Wyoming