Billy Tripp

William Blevins Tripp (born 1955 in Jackson, Tennessee), is an American outsider artist, poet, writer, painter, welder, and sculptor, [1] known primarily for his metal sculpture The Mindfield and his stream-of-consciousness autobiography novel, The Mindfield Years Vol. 1: The Sycamore Trees (1996).[2]

Billy Tripp (2011)


Born to Rev. Charles Tripp, a Methodist Minister [3] and business owner of the nationally recognized Tripp Country Hams store,[4][5] Billy Tripp attended trade school for welding as well as a number of college art courses.[3] He began building his life's work, The Mindfield, in 1989 [6] while simultaneously writing his novel The Sycamore Trees and keeping a journal that would later become The Mindfield Years Vol. 3: The Mindfield Notes [7]. Filled with symbols reflecting on his past and contemplations on life and death,[8] The Mindfield has steadily grown over the last three decades, and Tripp will continue to expand it until he is no longer physically able.[9] It is currently the largest sculpture in Tennessee.[6] He has permission from the city of Brownsville to be buried in his sculpture and has arranged for his work to be preserved by the Kohler Foundation.[4][6]

The Mindfield circa 2008

Biography and works

Billy Tripp is the creator of The Mindfield, located in the town of Brownsville, Tennessee in the Mississippi Delta. Its tallest section reaches a total height of 127 feet.[4] During the early to mid 2000s, Billy discovered a water tower on the grounds of a defunct factory in Kentucky, and he deconstructed and reconstructed it single-handedly to put in the Mindfield.[10][4] The Mindfield continues to grow and evolve, recently with the inclusion of several silhouettes depicting Billy's birth and death, and his "Mindfield Interpreter." In 2011, the artist added a 17 ft. canoe, used by author William Least Heat-Moon in his cross-country navigation of the United States inland waterways.[8]

Tripp has given numerous interviews over the years to newspapers, television stations, and radio programs, including National Public Radio. His artwork has been exhibited at the National Ornamental Metal Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, as well as the Dixie Carter Performing Arts Center (photographic representation). The Mindfield has been documented by the Smithsonian Institution.[4]

Billy Tripp (2007)

Bibliography

The Mindfield Years Vol. 1: The Sycamore Trees [11]

The Mindfield Years Vol. 3: The Midfield Notes - Notebooks One and Two [12]

The Mindfield Years Vol. 3: The Midfield Notes - Notebook Three [13]

The Mindfield Years Vol. 3: The Midfield Notes - Notebooks Four and Five [14]

The Mindfield Years Vol. 4: My Year Of Deena, Goodbye to Dad [And to Mom] Books 1 & 2 [15]

The Mindfield Years, FIRST DIARIES (Pre-Volume I)- Requiem for a Young Man [16]

References
  1. "billytripp". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  2. "The Mindfield in Brownsville, TN - Tennessee Vacation". www.tnvacation.com. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  3. "Billy Tripp Looking Below the Obvious". 2013-06-04. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  4. "The Mindfield Cemetery". Spaces Archives. 2013-05-24. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  5. "Tripp Country Hams, Old Fashion Award Winning Tennessee Country Ham since 1962". www.countryhams.com. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  6. "Billy Tripp's Mindfield, Brownsville, Tennessee". RoadsideAmerica.com. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  7. Tripp, Billy (April 2017). Amazon book listing: The Mindfield Years Vol 3: The Mindfield Notes. ISBN 978-0965223829.
  8. "Billy Tripp Profile". Alt-Stream Art. 2019-05-19. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  9. "Billy Tripp's Mindfield | The Folk Art Society of America". folkart.org. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  10. "Steel Cutter". Times Daily. Nov 14, 2002. p. 2A.
  11. Tripp, Billy; Tripp, William Blevins (June 1996). Amazon: The Mindfield Years Vol 1. ISBN 0965223809.
  12. Tripp, Billy (April 2017). Amazon: The Mindfield Years Vol. 3: 1 & 2. ISBN 978-0965223829.
  13. Tripp, Billy (15 April 2018). Amazon: The Mindfield Years Vol 3: book 3. ISBN 978-0965223836.
  14. Amazon: The Mindfield Years Vol. 3: 4 & 5. ISBN 096522385X.
  15. Tripp, Billy (11 April 2019). Amazon: The Mindfield Years vol 4: books 1 & 2. ISBN 978-0965223843.
  16. Amazon: The Mindfield Years Pre-Vol 1. ISBN 0965223868.
  • Marc Décimo, Les Jardins de l'art brut, Dijon, Les presses du réel, 2017, "Les autofictions de Billy Tripp", p. 232-250. ISBN 978-2-84066-912-8
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