We were lucky to catch up with Traci Combs recently and have shared our conversation below.

Traci , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Every time I am commissioned to paint a piece for a client, I find it to be a special honor to try and capture their life and vision onto the canvas. They are very meaningful moments and connections. I love to hear others’ stories and what makes them who they are. I offer a package where I enter into a client’s story for a time and hold space to hear their hearts and turn their words, tears, joys, experiences, and hopes into a larger statement painting that they can cherish for years to come.
However, I would say that my newest endeavor that I have added to my studio is right up there with the impact it has on my heart and others. This summer I was blessed to open up my own private studio in Downtown Franklin. This is where I work on my commissioned pieces, my own original pieces, and also where my new venture takes place each week. I have opened up The Nest Restorative Art Spa – a unique healing environment offering creative modalities of painting/sculpture/drawing/collage along with soft music, and a safe atmosphere to nurture hearts and souls.
This idea was birthed from my own personal story and how my children and I have found healing from deep trauma through tapping into our creativity, but also a release from the demands of this fast-paced world.
I love to be a safe haven for others, to allow their hearts to breathe and enjoy the process of healing through art. In these sessions, it’s not about the product at all, it’s about the process. These sessions have ended with such beautiful stories that they have been quick to become one of my most meaningful projects I have worked on to date.
I’m excited to be able to share my studio space nestled up in the trees of quaint downtown Franklin to nourish souls.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have been a creative all of my life, so for the last 50 years, but had a large window of time that I was primarily focused on raising my 7 beautiful children. About 4 years ago, one of my older sons lost his life in a tragic accident at 15. At that time, I turned again to what I knew best to process all of my pain and feelings and trauma …painting, creating beauty where there seemed to be such a large void and where many difficult life-changing events had accumulated and weighed heavy.
I began working on my own original pieces and then quickly began once again being commissioned to paint for clients. I took what those who know me describe as my gift of holding space for other’s hearts and combined that with my gift of painting and started offering my custom commission packages. Each package offers varying degrees of time for me to really get to know a client and their story and their heart and soul and materialize that into a larger statement piece for their home or for a business.
I think what is unique about what I offer is my ability to truly care about each person that I cross paths with and to also truly understand and have compassion based on my own story and experiences. I am grateful for this gift I have been given as I feel it provides so much meaning and purpose to my life as an artist.
I have a strong faith, but I also enjoy meeting people where they are, to get to hear and know and care for the soul. I am told my composure and gentle tone has been a gift to others as they process their grief or trauma or stresses of the day. And I want to create something that nurtures, brings hope, inspires. To be a voice for others through my paint and through my studio.
My passion for these things just naturally moved into what my studio could also provide for the community, for heavy or hurting hearts or just those who need some restorative relaxation. So The Nest Art Spa experience was recently born and has been receiving many positive responses. It’s been overwhelming how it came together and how it is speaking to so many already.
My hope is that as my guests walk into the space and as they slip on the provided spa slippers, breathe in the essential oils, listen to the sound of instrumental music, enjoy the pure air of beeswax candles and Himalayan salt lamps, sip on their favorite beverage, that they can allow themselves to just quietly play with clay or paint or whichever modality they partake in for the session. My hope is that they will be able to breathe in the nurturing tone and hear my gentle words and receive permission to feel and heal and have their soul massaged.
The amazing location nestled up in the trees in Downtown Franklin is wonderful, and clients are sharing about how free they felt during each session and how restored they felt after they left.
There are packages to choose from such as the Franklin Art Flight which includes 4 restorative sessions with a rotation of modalities over the course of the 4 weeks. I believe and hope it will soon become a Franklin favorite for locals and visitors.
As for me, this feels as much of a calling as it is a service that I am providing. I hope to hold space for you one day soon.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My mission or goal is to nurture the soul, whether it be through my original art, a custom commission piece or The Nest Art Spa experience. I consider it an honor and my vision.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

A part of my story that illustrates resilience…well, I would say all that I do is out of resilience. A decision to keep going when life’s challenges and unspeakable pain and trauma want to suffocate you or cause you to just give up. I say “Just Keep Going” a lot. And I live by that. Every one of my hard things has made me stronger and has given me more of a desire to have compassion for others that have walked through their own set of challenges or are just trying to survive in this world. My passion is to thrive and not just survive, and to help others do the same. I believe it’s my way of having a voice where I don’t have one, and giving others a voice as well.
Some things cannot be shared easily here or when I meet sometime briefly, but it can be found in my art. That’s my voice, and it’s been a journey finding it. A journey I choose to be grateful for.

Contact Info:

• Website: tracicombsart.com
• Instagram: @tracicombsart
• Facebook: TheStudioAtTheBridge