Trent is a native of Birmingham and graduated from Ramsay High School in 1961. She acquired a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a focus in metal sculpture from the University of Alabama in 1965. She then spent several years doing a postgraduate study with Bob Tucker at Birmingham-Southern College. She had two sculpture shows in the 70's and continued welding sporadically over the years. In the 90's, because of a health condition, Trent gave up welding, but began working with ceramics and discovered a love for painting in acrylics. She has participated in many exhibitions and Art shows over the past 11 years, including a one-man show at the Altamont School Gallery.

Today, Trent paints everyday, sometimes in the middle of the night! Her enthusiasm for Art began quite by accident. The Registrar's Office at the University of Alabama mistakenly enrolled her in the Department of Art, rather than her intended Department of Interior Design. Being too complicated to change majors, she was advised to wait a semester to do so. This very fortunate mistake was the beginning of her lifelong love for art.