We were lucky to catch up with Nell Tryst recently and have shared our conversation below.

Nell , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I started painting at eight years old when I was diagnosed with a rare heart disease. I spent the past 30 years painting anatomical hearts to process the heart I was born with. I called myself an artist but it wasn’t my profession for my entire early adult life. It wasn’t until 2020 that I realized in isolation that being an artist was about taking the risk to dedicate your life to the expressional and vulnerability through my work. Instead of spending all my energy as a retail manager making other small businesses be successful it was time to focus on my own dreams. I wish I hadn’t of been so afraid to be a full time artist for as long as I was. These past three years have been more rewarding for my evolution as a human and a creative than the previous years. Now I get to share my story through my artwork and feel more valued and seen then I ever have. I shouldn’t have waiting so long to focus on what I knew I always wanted.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My Grandma gave me my first plastic painting easel at 3 years old. I have genuinely enjoyed my entire life using visual ways to communicate my emotions. As I mentioned earlier, I was diagnosed with a rare heart disease at age 8. When this happen, I was given a short life expectancy due to the nature and lack of knowledge on my condition. Against the odds, I am still here 30 years later. That experience carved an obession that I don’t think I’ll ever shake. Painting the human heart has become a brand for me, never painting the same heart twice. I am well in the quadrouple digits of variation by now and have no intention of stopping. I am a classically trained artist having gone to St Cloud State for Fine Arts for three years but didn’t graduate. I felt at 19 that I would learn far more about who I am as a creative from experience rather than a classroom. I didn’t know I loved painting large scale murals until 2019. I was invited to paint for the LynLake Street Art Series in Minneapolis and fell in love with process. I spend my winters traveling doing gallery shows and my summers on street art. I think one of the projects I am most proud of was in 2021 being asked to fly to GA to paint for Project Chimps, a nonprofit that helps retired chimpazees from research facilities live out their years in a wonderful 200 acre space in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I was given the incredible opportunity to paint of the chimpanzees bedrooms! It was one of my favorite and most proud projects to date.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I have used artwork as a way to process different events in my life so much so that I feel I can literally see my growth tangibly through my work over the years. I sometimes believe the universe rewards me with opportunities in the wake of tragedy. When I was hospitalized with my heart condition and told I wasn’t going to survive, I woke up wanting to create. I survived. When my Stepfather took his life I was asked weeks later to participate in an art event him and I would often talk about hoping I would get into one day. When I had to put my animal down after months of daily health care for him, I was then contacted by Project Chimps. I think being able to ebb and flow not just with my artwork but with my very existence will bring more peace than anything else I could try to chase.

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

I believe that in order to continue to support local artists and small businesses in the every expanding world of AI and self check outs, we need to be conscious about those that aren’t in the rat race. Those of us who took the risk and jumped off the standard life trajectory need to be appreciated just as much as those that stay the path. We artists are responsible for that awesome shirt you’re wearing, the music you listen to, the amazing new food spot. All of those things you love had an artist behind it. Don’t go purchase that over priced computer printed quote art from your local big box store, instead support and commission from someone local. Trust me, the money will go a lot further for them and you will love the work far more. You just gotta smart small. Go to local art festivals. Talk to us when you see us at vendor booths with our work, I bet we all have a pretty interesting story to tell. Creativity stems from the most multifaceted complex emotional space and we want to share it with you I promise!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://trysttriggerartworks.bigcartel.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trysttriggerartworks/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trysttriggerartworks/
• Other: https://linktr.ee/trysttrigger

Image Credits
My headshot was photographed by Lilly St. Laurent of St. Laurent Lens from Minneapolis, MN.