Billy Tripp

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

Born to Rev. Charles Tripp, a Methodist Minister and business owner of the nationally recognized Tripp Country Hams store, Billy Tripp attended trade school for welding as well as a number of college art courses. He began building his life's work, The Mindfield, in 1989 while simultaneously writing his novel The Sycamore Trees and keeping a journal that would later become The Mindfield Years Vol. 3: The Mindfield Notes. Filled with symbols reflecting on his past and contemplations on life and death, The Mindfield has steadily grown over the last three decades, and Tripp will continue to expand it until he is no longer physically able. It is currently the largest sculpture in Tennessee. 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. His life and work is documented in the film The Steel Garden.