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Studio art glass (blown glass and other techniques) is enjoying unprecedented appreciation. Among the leading studios in this country is Boyertown's Taylor Backes Studio.
The studio, located at Second and Washington streets, is a partnership between husband and wife glass artists, Karla Trinkley and Will Dexter. The studio, incidentally, isn't named for any particular personInstead, Taylor and Backes are family names of relatives of Trinkley and Dexter.
The artists have BFA degrees from Temple's Tyler School of art, and master's degrees from the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design. They have works in the permanent collections of the Philadelphia Museum Of Art, The American Craft Museum and the Chase Manhattan Bank Collection. Trinkley also has work in the Smithsonian. They have both lectured and taught at Tyler, and at the world famous Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle (Dexter worked alongside Dale Chihuly, who is considered one of the top glass artists in the world).
When most folks think of glass blowing, they think of Coming, Venice (Murano), or Seattle, all well-known centers for art glass. But in recent years, Southeastern Pennsylvania has emerged as another hub of established and emerging talent.
TO an extent, talent has followed training. Three Delaware Valley colleges teach glasswork, and Temple's Tyler School of Art, the first school in the area to establish a program, enjoys an enviable reputation. About 25 "hot shops" encircle Philadelphia - more than surround Coming. Of course, the area also hosts a solid and growing core community of collectors to bolster the market.
Dexter comments that art glass is "art for everybody" as it is produced in all price ranges, from simple $20 Christmas ornaments and drinking tumblers, up to custom installations costing many thousands, Chihuly...