Rex Trimm's Profile

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I was born in 1974 in Ukiah California as Rex Trimm III. At an early age I enjoyed fishing and music. Our family moved to Oregon in the early 80's where outdoor living and a good climate for creativity was established. I began to take music more seriously throughout my highschool years and studied jazz and classical music. I attended the prestigous music school at the University of Oregon in the early 90's and on my 21st birthday I was offered a job touring and recording for one of my all time favorite bands, The Cherry Poppin' Daddies. Struggling to find my own voice after leaving the comfort of the very popular band led to alot of musical experimentation in other well known groups and then I was exposed to the craft of flameworked glass in 1996. I was immediately hooked and worked long hours to try and not only make a living in production, but to search for a way to make meaningfull work outside of my saleable goods. Working with glass and attempting to "stay in shape" musicaly was frustrating in these days.

In May 2000, I attended my first professional class at the Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass on the advice of a close friend. It was there that I got launched into an accelerated learning curve. The instructor of the class was Paul Stankard and his assistant at the time is my now life and business partner, Milissa Montini. Paul continued to work with me and overwhelmed me with projects and reading assignments. He tore me away from the comfort of production slowly at first, but it was becoming clear that I needed more technichal and historical information if I was going to be able to live up to the intensity of information that both Paul and Milissa had to offer. My skills were less than adequate with glass at this time.

I went to SOFA Chicago in 2000, it was there that I met with one of my most influential teachers. Maestro Cesare Toffolo of Murano was exhibiting his work. I could see he had a special gift for flameworked glass so I asked if I could study with him. I moved to Western Pennsylvania in July of 2001 and then shortly thereafter I attended a workshop of Toffolo's in Venice at Centro del Vetro on the island of San Servolo. I felt like I knew nothing about glass during this workshop, but I found that the Maestro's of Murano were more than willing to teach the level of excelence that seemed "otherworldly". I consider those involved in the Centro del Vetro movement to be not only great masters, but fantastic people.

After returning from Venice to the new shop, I was excited to put alot of energy into my work. By July of 2002 I was in my first group show at the Snyderman/Works gallery in philadelphia with my new oversized goblets. They were recieved well. I found myself exhibitng with the Snydermans at SOFA Chicago and NYC shortly thereafter, participating in the Renwick Gallery's auction and becoming a regular in the Snydermans exhibitions for several years. I even had the distinct honor of demonstrating and participating in a panel discussion at the International Flame Conference when Cesare Toffolo was the main attraction.

Rex Trimm
Aliquippa PA

Profile Link: http://www.GlassArtists.org/RexTrimm