Interview with Taryn

I have a set of questions that I came up with that are a little bit Krista Tippett, a little bit Danielle Krysa, and a lot bit my own curiosity. I think talking about our creative stories is a way to bind us together and encourage us to keep going on our own creative path. I’m excited to be asking these questions and to be sharing these creatives’ answers with you. This month’s interview is Taryn.

Tell my readers a little bit about you.

I’m Taryn — originally from Western New York, but 20 years ago I met my husband in grad school and we lived in Virginia and North Carolina before moving to Northwest Alabama where we live in an old house full of weird collections and 2 adorable dogs, Maple and Ginkgo.

By day I’m a grant writer, working remotely for a company based in Washington, D.C., but creatively I’m a jill-of-all-trades. I majored in Humanities in undergrad because I didn’t want to choose between English, Art, or Music—and I try to keep all three in my life in some way.

I have an MFA in Creative Nonfiction and still love choral singing, but for the last few years, I’ve been digging more into analog collage and mixed media art. 

What is your first memory of creativity?

Visual art probably came first: I was obsessed with color at a very young age — Crayola crayons, Lite-Brite, M&M’s… Then came music: I was raised in the church with lots of singing and my family had an old spinet piano that I loved despite its banged up, jagged keys. But once I started to read, the local library became my favorite place and I remember convincing a neighborhood friend that we should write a collection of ghost stories. 

I feel like convincing a neighborhood kid or a cousin to go in with us on our creative schemes is a rite of passage. I convinced my two younger cousins to make a fake newspaper with me and do audio recordings of fake news stories. Weirdly what I remember were the many ads for lost dogs. -Misty

What did you love to make as a kid and are you still making some variation of that now?

Collage was definitely something I did as a kid, although I didn’t know it was called that. I would collect images I liked from magazines and TV Guides and put them in photo albums. Later, in the early ‘90s, my friends and I created a zine (a DIY publication, for those not familiar) called The Halcyon Club where we wrote about our favorite bands and authors with original art and poetry. I spent a good bit of my career in publishing and still do a fair amount of writing for fun.

What is your favorite creative supply and why can’t you live without it?

One of the things I love about collage is that it requires very little in the way of supplies—but I’m still fanatical about Fiskars scissors. I have a bunch of different styles and sizes but since they came out with glitter-handled ones the collection has grown….For writing, I’m very committed to my Pilot Precise v5 Rolling Ball Extra Fine and buy them by the box.

Oh man, I wish they made those glitter-handled scissors in a left-handed version. -Misty

What is a creative question you ask regularly?

This was a hard question because it’s more intuitive than explicit for me. I value authenticity as a driving force, so throughout the process I think I’m asking whether the work is truly reflective of my experience and expresses what I’ve learned. As a writer (and sometimes teacher) of personal essay and memoir, we think about mining the specifics of an experience to get to the universal heart of a narrative. Collage is similar for me, in that each piece doesn’t necessarily represent all of who I am, but it captures a facet, a momentary truth. So cumulatively, it’s all self-discovery.

What does your creative practice show you over and over?

That everything’s connected… I love the challenge of making connections where they don’t seem to exist—whether it’s images or ideas—and creating new meaning in the process. Visually, I’m drawn to surrealism, in part because I love the elements of surprise and humor, but ultimately I want to make work that both resonates and challenges viewers, spurring self-reflection or a re-examination of what they thought they understood.

What gets you to start a new project?

To a certain degree I feel like projects find me—I do try to pay attention and look for the synchronicities, hints and themes flashing like neon signs. But the internet has really complicated the process. It’s a double-edged sword—on one hand you can find your people, get inspired, learn new things, and even participate in art challenges… but on the other, it’s so easy to fall into a spiral of negative comparisons (everyone else is so talented! everything’s been done!) or waste time watching when you could be making. I try to remind myself that my job is just to stay open and listen, and when the noise gets too loud, remember to unplug. 

What is a book on creativity that you come back to often? Why?

I’ve read so many of these, and it’s cliche but The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron still holds a dear place in my heart—I’ve gone through it solo numerous times, facilitated groups, and given away loads of copies. Coming out of a high-demand religion, I had a lot of healing to do and Cameron’s book trained me to hear and trust my own intuitive voice—and helped me meet like-minded, creative folks along the way. It also helped me to cultivate a creative life, rather than being focused on achieving a particular career. But I just finished Martha Beck’s new book, Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life’s Purpose, and now I want to buy copies of it for every creative person I know! It’s very much the book we need at this moment. Beck explains that creativity is the remedy, not just for our interpersonal struggles but for societal ones. Highly recommend!

I have a post a few weeks back about why most of us quit The Artist’s Way. I am delighted to hear that it’s been such a good book for you. Maybe I need to do a facilitated group with you so I can catch some of your magic!! -Misty

How did we meet?

We met at an art exhibition for the Alabama Women’s Caucus for Art in Decatur, and immediately hit it off. I was truly blown away by how welcoming everyone in the group was (and continues to be) and I’m honored to have recently joined you in serving on the ALWCA board!

Special Question: Talk a bit about Grimrose Manor, your Substack.

Thanks so much for mentioning this! Just over a year ago, my husband and I started a weekly substack called Grimrose Manor: “a place to explore the macabre, spooky, dark, and mysterious aspects of life.” Since neither of us writes for magazines or newspapers as a day-job anymore, it was really an excuse to write regularly about our weird shared interests: cemeteries and the paranormal, mystical spiritual practices, the darker bits of pop culture, etc. It’s pretty niche but we’re having fun. It’s free to subscribe, and we just published a list of our top 10 favorite pieces, if people want to check it out!

How can people find you?

I’m on Instagram as @anyslyenchanter and you can see more of my collages on my website. I have two upcoming online exhibitions — one with Mari Art Collective called “Women Who Collage” and another with Collage Artists of America, “More Than Meets The Eye.” I currently have several collages in the ArtWorks member show at the Tennessee Valley Museum of Art in Tuscumbia, AL, showing through August 23 — and a handful of pieces at the Grey House Gallery in Sheffield, AL. In addition to our Grimrose Manor substack, my husband and I have co-authored a couple of nonfiction books: one is an Images of America photographic history of a Weaverville, a North Carolina town where we lived just north of Asheville; and the other is a Guide to the Natchez Trace Parkway—and an updated version (4th edition) will be published in early 2026.

Taryn, thank you for sharing your art and your creative stories with us! I had so much fun reading your answers to my questions. And I know my readers will enjoy it too. (These photos belong to Taryn. She graciously allowed me use them for this interview.)

If you want to know more about this series read the post What about these Interviews? Or find the whole series of interviews here. If you are non-binary or women-identifying artist and are interested in sharing your answers to these questions and be featured here on the blog, I’d love to talk to you about it!! Let’s connect via email.

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