Holly N Tripp
I don't set out to produce art about one subject or another, but instead follow my internal
compass. As I find things interesting, I visualize and put it to paper in my sketchbook. There
the drawings are left until they are developed into more in-depth ideas and detailed images.
Other times I just see something in the paint as I am laying it onto the canvas. Sometimes
music plays a role in what I create.
I see myself as more of an abstract artist, but I work in many genres and am inspired by
everything from Realist to Dadaist. Some artists who inspire me are Anselm Kiefer, Vincent
Van gogh, Salvador Dali, Claude Monet and local artists Brian Frink, Shawn McNulty and Kyle
Osvog.
I've never liked to explain a certain piece of work - if you've created something, that's just how
you wanted it to be - hopefully it can speak for itself and whatever it says to the viewer is the
right message because there isn't a wrong message. Each person takes something a little
different from the same picture and I'm happy with that.
I received my BFA from MSU Mankato in 2007. Both my parents are artists, my grandmother
was a potter and fiber artist. My parents are more traditional/realist (landscapes, still life,
wildlife, and portraits). I don't like people telling me what I should do artistically or how I
should do it. Never have never will. I think my art shows that in its eclectic look. I am also a
crafter I enjoy doing bird houses, boxes, and wood nesting dolls. The nesting dolls are not the
conventional style. I do what I like and I like when there is more detail in them. If you put my
paintings next to my crafts most people think they are from two different artists.
A quote that I like: “The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is
boundless.”
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau—
