Karla Trinkley Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1956 -

Karla studied at the Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania as a painter, and she received a B.F.A. degree in 1979. Graduate study at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1979 brought her into the sphere of Dale Chihuly who eventually became her advisor. But rather than pursue the art of blown glass, Trinkley determined to work with pâte de verre or glass paste that she had seen in an exhibition of works by Minne Rosenblatt in a New York gallery. This glass appeared more like cast sugar than the shiny glass that came from the hot glass studio “glory hole”. She told Dale Chihuly that she intended to create both interior and external forms of pâte de verre in large scale. When Chihuly claimed that this was an unattainable goal, Trinkley accepted that as a challenge. Within two years she had developed technical methods to make it possible. Karla’s sculptural glass is intricately patterned with geometric lattice designs that permit the viewer to see the shapes both within as well as on the outside. Contrasting colors are used both within and without to enhance the architectural and aged look of her cast glass.