Biography

Janice Trimpe lives and works in Grosse Pointe Park , Michigan , a suburb of Detroit . Her ample studio, 2000 square feet with ceilings 17 feet high, allows her to complete the large monuments. It's also a mere two blocks from her home, allowing her to more easily work the long and irregular hours often necessary for her commissioned pieces. As the creation of artwork depends on vision, emotion, and energy, all of which are dynamic in nature, the timeframes imposed by projects frequently require Janice to maintain a flexible schedule.

For the last ten years Janice has focused her energies on large outdoor bronze works. These commissioned pieces, primarily located in southeastern Michigan , are predominantly figurative in nature and adorn such public sites as municipal offices, the grounds of historic buildings, and downtown pedestrian malls.

Looking back, Janice's career has spanned three decades, with a wide variation in artistic endeavor. A mother of three, Janice solely supported herself and her family first as an oil painter and a potter, and then she went on to study sculpture at Detroit 's prestigious Center for Creative Studies (CCS) in the 1970's. After only twelve weeks of schooling, the CCS faculty recognized her talents and awarded her with a full time studio in which to work and create. Janice studied at CCS for three and a half years and in 1977 went on to set up a studio in downtown Detroit where she sculpted portrait busts in the window. Her work there attracted the attention of many prominent people and in the next few years, Janice was asked to sculpt over 200 portrait busts. Her assignments included former Michigan Governor G. Mennen Williams and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Janice, trained as a classical sculptor, entered new arenas of sculpture in the mid 80's when she produced a contemporary line of art which debuted at the New York Expo in 1989. Her fifteen sculptures made of bonded marble look like a cross between Arp and Henry Moore. Ready for a change from her contemporary work, Janice began a new sculpture collection of classical women. All About Being a Woman is a remarkable collection of bronze sculptures depicting women's thoughts, feelings and actions at various times of the day. This extremely life-like collection has been displayed in galleries in Canada , Florida and Santa Fe , New Mexico.

In 1994, Janice's visit to the Toy Fair at the New York Javits Center inspired her to explore yet another venue of artistic interest. Janice began sculpting and producing life-like porcelain dolls. By August of 1995, Janice's doll, Ellie, a portrait of a close friend's first grandchild, was featured on the cover of the national magazine, Doll Crafter. Seeley's international magazine, Doll Pro, featured Janice's porcelain doll, Alexis, in their July/August 1996 issue.

Janice's 1996 collection on My Inner Child went back to the basics. These sculptures, ranging rom 14 inches to 3 feet, capture children's thoughts and feelings as they experience life. Emotions of happiness, curiosity, playfulness and fear characterize the trials and tribulations of childhood.

In 1996 Janice created yet another new collection of ten pieces called The Human Spirit. The sculptures included, among others, a waiter, a bag lady, and a wood carver.

Janice Trimpe has always had challenges in her life and career. She thrives on the challenge to push beyond the limits of her abilities with each new project.