The Collection

Wayne Trinklein is a self-taught sculptor best known for his distinctive metal tree sculptures, which combine scientific precision with poetic storytelling. A former family physician, Trinklein began making trees over fifty years ago as a gift to honor his four brothers, translating their personalities into arboreal forms. What began as a personal tribute evolved into a lifelong artistic practice that fuses his knowledge of biology, metallurgy, and chemistry with his love of narrative.

Working primarily in copper wire, tin, and other alloys, Trinklein developed innovative processes to recreate both the microanatomy and sweeping gestures of trees. By heating metals to their eutectic point, he discovered ways to shape bark-like surfaces, creating textures that evoke growth, healing, and history. He also experiments with patinas, resin, mica, and gold leaf, applying them through unconventional methods—including static voltage—to create surfaces that shimmer with life and movement. Each tree is individually composed on a stone base, allowing every sculpture to tell its own story of resilience, adaptation, and connection.

In the 1990s, Trinklein left his medical career to pursue art full time. His “Signature Series” trees explore themes of hope, reconciliation, and survival, offering allegories of the human condition through natural form. His work has been collected worldwide, from governors’ offices and corporate boardrooms to private homes, and has been recognized in Sunshine Artist Magazine and by numerous national art awards.

For Trinklein, tree-making is both craft and calling: “I can live my passion, tell my stories, and make a difference in the lives of others.”