Biography

Lynne Vantriglia has been a creative person her entire life, starting as a young girl making beautiful and intricate quilts. She attended the Rhode Island School of Design 1972-1973, majoring in textile design. In 1988, following sight-restoring eye surgery, she developed an artistic medium she calls Clothworks, sewn and painted textile collages. She has used this medium to render numerous house portraits from around the world. Most recently, she has added hand-painted glazed/fired ceramic house platters, tiles, and mugs to her repertoire. She also creates hand-painted house quilts, house stationery, and more. Her house portraits are in collections worldwide, and can be viewed online at www.vantriglia.com.

Having been a victim of a violent crime at knife-point years ago, she became a volunteer victim advocate through the State Attorney's Office in 1991. She was honored twice by ZONTA [a women's service organization] for her work as an advocate. It was in her capacity as an advocate that she took a tour of the new Monroe County Detention Center in Key West when it first opened in 1994. As a result of that tour, she developed the idea for Art Behind Bars, and soon thereafter the program was started. In 1999, she was honored as Zonta's Woman of the Year. In 2002, she was honored for her support of the art program at South Florida Reception Center. In 2003, she was awarded "Woman of Integrity in the Arts" from Samuel's House Women's Shelter. In 2008, she taught her 1,000th class at MCDC. At the end of 2009, Lynne retired from Art Behind Bars after 1, 150 classes, and 8,250 students. To view a video of Art Behind Bars, click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MotcNVGQj5U.

Since retiring from ABB, Lynne continues to work on commissioned house portraits. She shows her other work at ART@830 in Key West, and in the Florida Keys Council of the Arts' annual show.