My Artist Life

The arts have always been central to my being. Despite the many tangents of family, personal and academic life and work, I always curved back using art activism for social change. 

My earliest memory of writing an essay that intrigued my literature teacher was in 8th grade, but then I broke her heart by tracking into science.  But science served me well, I could still continue art by drawing details of plants and animals, and then ethnobotany became a fascinating subject that brought me to unique cultural adventures.

I draw on my rich life experiences as a Southeast Asian/Singaporean Eurasian immigrant from Singapore.  My writings explore the myriad ethnic and cultural intersectionalities of my identity, challenging the isms of this society.

One of my first involvement in the world of words and designs was in 1974, as production editor of “Petroleum News Southeast Asia, Singapore” a monthly magazine on the offshore petroleum industry in Southeast Asia.

Before coming to Minnesota I helped in the production and distribution of documentary videos on environmental and social justice issues, increasing the awareness of the dangers of nuclear power nationally and internationally. A special project with the Green Mountain Post Films was assisting in the research and post production of a film about the ecocide from Agent Orange during the Vietnam war.

I arrived in the deep green fall of St. Cloud in 1989. The years passed with nurturing family and people networks in the community. 

However, it is in Central Minnesota that I began establishing myself as an emerging artist, poet and writer, encouraged by various grants, especially from the Central Minnesota Arts Board, thanks to funds by the McKnight Foundation; and from the Minnesota State Arts Board thanks to a legislative appropriation by the Minnesota State legislature and by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.  

I became the Artistic Director of St. Cloud’s Multicultural Children’s Art Connection (MCAC) in 1995, creating programs that enriched the social, physical and cultural development of children of color and White children in Central Minnesota. I directed several successful public art performances commemorating Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Black History Month, Asian cultural celebrations, St. Cloud Human Rights Day, and Kwanzaa. In 1998 I produced “Racism No Way, Let’s Celebrate Today” the first public acknowledgement of racism in our schools and community. I was awarded the Virginia McKnight Binger Award in Human Service for this work.  

My very first spoken word poetry reading was in the summer of 1997, when the authors of “Seeing the World through Women’s Eyes” anthology came to St. Cloud through a poetry project of the Arts Commission. This has led to many poetry readings at a multitude of events locally, statewide, nationally and even in Cambodia. 

Meanwhile, In 2000, I was commissioned by the Mayor to be part of the St. Cloud Arts commission. In 2011, the Governor of Minnesota appointed me to the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans and I was the liaison to the annual Dragon Festival planning committee.

I have been on the Board of Directors in numerous cultural and civic organizations, like the Asian Pacific Cultural Center of St. Paul, MN; Marnita’s Table; St. Cloud Area Somali Salvation Organization; St. Cloud Area American Indian Center, Multicultural Children’s Art Connection; National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum;  American Friends Service Committee, Great Lakes Region, Illinois; and an Advisory Board member (representing Ethnic Minorities) for the the Stearns County Community Corrections Committee, Stearns County, MN.

I have co-facilitated antiracist workshops for the CARE (Community Antiracism Education) Initiative at St. Cloud State University.

My advocacy work has always been through an antiracist lens.

• Create CommUNITY of St. Cloud gave me the opportunity to organize and facilitate annual conversations on race that continue to today. 

• St. Cloud Times has published my op-ed pieces on subjects ranging from dogs to colorism. I was also a contributing writer for the Asian American Press and Minnesota Spokesman Recorder.

• St. Cloud State University provided me with more opportunities:

Coordinating the pre-college summer programs for students of color and girls from 3rd to 12th grade infused arts learning in mathematics and science.

“Critical race” realities was basic in the teaching of Ethnic Studies and Asian American studies as an adjunct lecturer.  

I have co-facilitated antiracist workshops for the CARE (Community Antiracism Education) Initiative at St. Cloud State University.

• In the wider community, I am one of the many facilitators of the Minneapolis YWCA’s Forums on Race and Create CommUNITY’s Forums on Race.

Now, in my “retirement stage,” I have settled into being 

• an Antiracism Advisor for Lyricality in St. Cloud, and

• An elder leader in progressive Asian American communities.

Over the decades I have published editorials and articles in various newspapers, magazines and newsletters, with my latest works in Lyricality.com, #MinneAsianStories 2020 and in the Minnesota Women’s Press. There are three important publications that I have been involved with:

• “Rice, Rupees, and Ritual – Economy and Society Among the Samosir Batak of Sumatra” by D. George Sherman with the assistance of Hedy Bruyns Sherman (that’s me! - in editing and illustrations) was published in 1989 by Stanford Press, CA.   

• “SOURCES: The Multicultural Resource Directory for Central Minnesota” in 1996, with some of my illustrations and where I was on the task force.  

• As part of my healing as a breast cancer survivor, I self-published “emPOWERmeent: Asian American Women & Breast Cancer”

The pandemic years have been brutal. It is my art that refreshes me, inspires me, and urges me to take more journeys into familiar and unknown, uncharted spaces. Spaces that are uniquely mine.

This website was created by Open Voices LLC with funds from the Minnesota State Arts Board

Hedwidge (Hedy) Tripp is the recipient of Creative Support for Individuals grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Tripp is also recipient of grants from the Central Minnesota arts Board, thanks to funds provided by the McKnight Foundation.

She has presented writing workshops sponsored by Lyricality and by the Great River Regional Library, an activity made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Central MN Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.