Meet Chris Tetreault | Don’t Miss Chris

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris Tetreault and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I have been creating art as far back as I can remember and in as many forms as I could get my hands on. I come from a family of creative people on all sides. Throughout my adult life, regardless of what work I was doing at any given time, I’ve always spent a majority of my free time on creative projects in a range of mediums and styles. Around the beginning of the pandemic, I started creating a prolific amount of fluid art. I saw what other people were doing and it intrigued me, so I thought I would try and do something more with it. Rather than just making random pours, I tried to create planned compositions from ranging from abstract, to depictions of nature like my hummingbird and beta fish chain pulls. As I was posting these paintings every day, I started to gain a following on Instagram. I am not the type of person to do just one thing though. I have always gone from one creative outlet to another. From pen and ink to traditional acrylic painting, to paper craft. I tend to dive in, do a lot of one thing, then move on and try something else. So after over a year of creating an acrylic pour or two almost every day, I started getting more into woodworking. Being in construction for the last 10 years or so, I had begun to build up quite the collection of tools, so naturally I started to create with them. More recently, due to wear and tear on my body from years of construction work, I have had to significantly slow down and pretty much stop my construction business. I figured if I wasn’t going to be able to continue doing construction. I might as well try and turn my art into a full-time business. I branded myself as “Don’t Miss Chris”. started doing crafts fairs and putting my work in galleries, and local stores, and to help put some art into the community and spread some brand awareness at the same time I have displayed my work at local public libraries, coffee shops and pretty much anywhere that will take me. I added a Facebook and TikTok presence to my already existing Instagram and YouTube pages and have tried to post consistently and create engaging videos that show some of the process behind the art as I create each new project. Everything I am doing is on a shoestring budget, using my cellphone to create videos and many old and used tools to create my works. It has not been easy. We are definitely still waiting for things take off financially and we are hoping that it continues to grow fast enough that we can keep holding on while we wait for success.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Art has always been a very deep part of who I am. I don’t think I will ever stop creating new pieces and exploring new creative avenue or that I even could. It has definitely not been easy even getting this far and there are still many challenges left to overcome. The thing is regardless of what level of success I am able to achieve I will never stop creating and sharing my art with the world. So, I figure I might as well try and give it my all and see what I can make of it. At the very least, even if I don’t succeed financially, I will have put more art out into the world and left something behind for people to remember me by and that is its own kind of success.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love nature. I would be taking them on kayaking trips giving them tours of the Somersville Pond and Scantic River in Somersville CT. I might take them on a hiking trip up Talcot Mt to the Heublein Tower in Simsbury CT. Or take them to my favorite park Stanely Park in Westfield Ma. And I would have to make a stop at my favorite ice cream place; Grass Roots Creamery in Granby CT where I grew up. Aside from that my home is one of my favorite places to be and I would invite them to come and visit my zoo of animals (chickens, lizards, dogs and cats) and maybe hang out in my workshop and take on a creative project together if that was something that interested them. Or maybe play some pool and darts in the basement or hang out by the fire pit in the back yard. I’m definitely a bigger fan of more intimate settings over crowded ones… and deep conversation over small talk.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are so many people to thank for helping get me to this point. My parents always encouraged me to explore my creative abilities right from the very beginning and inspired me along the way with their own creative pursuits. My wife, Christina, has been an amazing partner and as hard as it might be at times, has stood by me through various struggles and continues to hold on and keep the faith that my art business will succeed. My kids (12 & 15) have always been encouraging and have shown pride in my work rather than embarrassment. That has been pretty awesome. And I have met and had the pleasure of working in various capacities with all sorts of creative people and small business owners over the years who have all been wonderfully supportive and encouraging. Currently I have a pretty extensive display of both paintings and wood art at the Pearl St Library in Enfield CT. I have a number of woodworking products for sale at Karenough Crafts + Boutique at 11 High St #104 in Suffield CT. We now have art prints available at Inspired in Southwick, MA

Website: https://linktr.ee/dontmisschris

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dontmisschrisart/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DontMissChris

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@dontmisschris7248

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@dontmisschrisart