Meet David Tripp

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to David Tripp. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

David, so great to have you with us today. There are so many topics we want to ask you about, but perhaps the one we can start with is burnout. How have you overcome or avoided burnout?
This question, to me, is closely related to “How do you keep your creativity alive?” My personal philosophy is grounded in “Journey Inward, Journey Outward”. I believe that creatives must maintain that balanced tension between intake and output. My mornings begin with “executive time”–Over coffee, I pour out my ideas in a daily journal and read only material that will fuel creativity and inspiration. This executive time will take at least an hour; it could range for several hours. But I try to fill up my fuel tank before I begin expending energy in creative tasks.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Retired now for six years following more than three decades as an educator, I now pursue a satisfying life of creating watercolors, writing a book, owning and operating a gallery, maintaining a partnership in a second gallery, teaching watercolor classes, participating in art festivals and exhibits, and offering demos and workshops to art organizations upon request.

What fulfils me the most is the freedom of setting my own agenda, first and foremost working in my private Studio Eidolons in my own home. This studio, to me, is the biggest small room in the world, where I am afforded the richness of creating art.

My winter schedule will be quite full, with several gallery talks and special shows held in my Gallery at Redlands, 400 N. Queen Street, Palestine, Texas. The Polar Express is the headline feature of the Texas State Railroad, and more than 60,000 tickets will be sold, many of those patrons visiting my gallery located on the first floor of the historic Redlands Hotel.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I believe each creative artist should dare to carve out his/her own special unique niche in this world. It took me years to develop my own unique brand, and I’m happy that I never decided to imitate some other successful artist. My own personal triad of qualities I would describe as follows:

1. The philosopher Immanuel Kant once wrote: “sapere aude” (dare to know). I offer no apology for feeding an appetite for knowledge. I possess a Ph.D. in New Testament and Greek, but throughout the decades of my life, I have soaked myself in art history, philosophy, literature (especially biography) and history. I firmly believe that focusing on theory avoids what Andrew Wyeth once called a “round-shouldered art”. Though out of the classroom for six years now, I still study hard as though I were still prepping for lectures and public speeches.

2. Emerge NOW, if you haven’t already. If you wish to share and sell your art, send your stuff up the flagpole as often as you can, so others can salute. Dare to reach out to galleries, fill out applications for festivals, for competitions, for participation in public art events. Lean forward in expectation of that solo show. It will come. Social media I now offers now more chance of exposure than ever before, and it’s free advertising.

3. Be prolific. Nobody cares about your talent. They only care to see what you have. And if you hope to hang your work in galleries, participate in festivals, and hold private exhibits all at the same time, you need a large body of work. And, as you probably already know, the more prolific you become, the faster you will improve in the quality of your work.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
Yes, absolutely. First, I am not looking for artists to add to my gallery; I already have a long waiting list of worthy artists. But I perceive a burgeoning creative movement across East Texas that I refer to as our New Byzantium (taking my cue from William Butler Yeats when he authored “Sailing to Byzantium”). There are art galleries, playhouses, concert venues and literary circles popping up in cities and small towns across several counties, and I would love to find better ways to network with these folks. I am currently talking with creatives in the cities of Palestine and Tyler, but we want to expand our circle. So if anyone is interested in talking with me about what sort of activities we can plan, please reach out to me.

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