Will Dexter and Karla Trinkley conceived Taylor Backes in 1982 as a studio, gallery, and teaching facility dedicated to the creation and production of fine, functional, architectural, and sculptural glass art designs.
Will and Karla both received BFA degrees from the Tyler School of Art and MFAs from the Rhode Island School of Design. They’ve lectured and taught at Tyler, RISD, the Pilchuk Glass School in Seattle, and at the Penland School of Craft in Penland, NC.
Their work can be found in the permanent collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the American Craft Museum, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Smithsonian Institution as well as respected collections across the globe.
About the Artwork:
“Glass is material I love, I’ve always loved it. I like the fact that it drinks light. It absorbs light, it reflects, it refracts, it’s transparent, it’s opaque…
I try to utilize what glass can do–the properties of glass–to capture and convey ideas…I’m familiar with the ocean and oceanic imagery, and sitting on the edge of the sea can be extremely relaxing. If this [work] gives someone a sense of calm, that’s the best you can hope for.
I like making figurative work because a big molten blob of two-thousand-degree liquid, with a few deft moves, will start looking at you, it talks back…”