We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nell Tryst. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nell below.

Alright, Nell thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

In 2020 I finally stopped watering someone else’s garden and planted my own.
I took the risk of going full-time as an artist, trading certainty for curiosity and a paycheck for possibility. It was terrifying, but the moment I bet on myself, everything shifted.
The work had more soul, the wins meant more, and the path felt like mine for the first time.
Sometimes the biggest leap isn’t quitting a job, it’s deciding your own dreams are finally worth the gamble.

Nell, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Nell Tryst, founder of Tryst Trigger Artworks, is widely known for my striking reinterpretations of the anatomical heart, transforming a symbol of life into a vivid language of emotion, resilience, and human complexity. Through bold compositions and surreal visual storytelling, I have built a recognizable body of work where hearts become landscapes of experience, stitched, blooming, fractured, or illuminated, each piece exploring vulnerability, growth, and connection. Over the years, these distinctive heart motifs have become a signature of the studio, resonating with collectors and audiences who are drawn to art that wears its humanity openly and unapologetically. Recent collaborative works include designing for the WNBA, Art Basel, Project Chimps, Twin Cities Pride, and the Minneapolis Heart Foundation.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being a creative isn’t finishing the work. it’s the moment it finds a home in someone else. When a piece resonates with a viewer, it’s like a quiet frequency suddenly being heard. Something you felt, struggled with, or poured into the work travels beyond you and lands in another person’s chest. In that moment, the art stops belonging only to the artist and becomes a shared experience, a small bridge between two human stories.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

When someone chooses to buy a piece of art from a local artist, it’s never just a purchase. It’s a vote of belief. It tells the creator that the hours, the doubt, the risk of putting their inner world out in the open actually matters to someone else. That kind of support doesn’t just help pay the bills, it reshapes how an artist sees themselves. Suddenly the work isn’t just a private passion; it becomes something real, something valued, something capable of building a life. Community support has that kind of power, it can turn a quiet creative voice into a confident one, and sometimes it’s the very thing that convinces an artist to keep going.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://trysttriggerartworks.bigcartel.com
• Instagram: TrystTriggerArtworks
• Other: https://linktr.ee/trysttrigger