Billy Tripp
William Blevins (Billy) Tripp (born 1955 in Jackson, Tennessee), is a nationally known practitioner of outsider art as well as the author of numerous poems and a novel, The Mindfield Years, published in 1996. ISBN 0-9652238-0-9
Biography and Works
Billy Tripp is the creator of The Mindfield, the largest outdoor sculpture in Tennessee. A work in progress, The Mindfield is located in the town of Brownsville and contains many individual artworks reaching heights over 125 feet. One of the latest additions, a huge, spherical water tower salvaged from a defunct factory in Kentucky, was transported and reconstructed single-handedly by the artist. The Mindfield continues to grow and evolve, most recently with the inclusion of several silhouettes depicting Billy's birth and death, and his "Mindfield Interpreter". Also, a 17 ft. canoe, used by author William Least Heat-Moon in his cross-country navigation of the United States inland waterways (River-Horse, 2001), was added to the structure in 2011.
Billy 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), and is documented by the Smithsonian Institution.
References and Links
- http://billytripp.googlepages.com/home
- https://www.facebook.com/pages/William-Least-Heat-Moon-Official/309951429035801
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD9TxcZ4FwI
- https://web.archive.org/web/20080114151156/http://www.arts.state.tn.us/artsTN/artstnwinter2004.pdf
- http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?uri=full=3100001~!312521!0
- https://web.archive.org/web/20090106152357/http://westtnculture.com/mindfieldInfo.html
- http://detour.webdatabases.net/artist_detail.html?ArtistID=10088&ArtID=10088[]
- http://www.tnhistoryforkids.org/local/haywood
- https://web.archive.org/web/20071010005627/http://www.tast.tn.org:80/Pages/attrac.html
- https://web.archive.org/web/20071207213259/http://www.dixiepac.net:80/tripp.htm
- https://web.archive.org/web/20080516203359/http://www.studio360.org/yore/show110103.html
- https://web.archive.org/web/20070912204119/http://www.haywoodcountybrownsville.com:80/Brownsville/Attractions.aspx
- http://tennesseeguy.wordpress.com/2007/08/16/the-expanding-universe-of-billy-tripp/
Marc Décimo, Les Jardins de l'art brut, Dijon (France), Les presses du réel, 2007, p. 232-249.