Preston Singletary
Born1963 (age 60–61)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
NationalityTlingit
EducationPilchuck Glass School
Known forGlass art
MovementNorthwest Coast art
Websiteprestonsingletary.com

Preston Singletary (born 1963) is a Native American glass artist.[1]

Biography

Preston Singletary was born in 1963 in San Francisco, California.[2] He grew up in the Seattle-area listening to stories told by his great-grandparents, who were both full Tlingit.[3]

Shortly after graduating high school, Singletary (who was actively pursuing a career as a musician at the time) was asked by Dante Marioni to work as a night watchman at what was then the Glass Eye, a Seattle glass-blowing studio. Singletary quickly moved from being night watchman to working the day shift to eventually joining one of the studio's production teams. In 1984, Singletary took part in a workshop at Pilchuck Glass School for the first time. He has since been involved in Pilchuck as a teacher, student, and more recently as a member of its board of trustees. Singletary has blown glass around the world in countries such as Sweden, Italy, and Finland. In the late 1980s, Singletary began incorporating traditional Tlingit themes into his work and reaching out to other Northwest Coast Native American artists.[4]

Work

Safe Journey (2021) at the Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC in 2022

Early on, Singletary's work drew heavily from European glass artworks, especially those done in the Modernist style. Today he is perhaps best known for his use of glass to express and explore traditional Tlingit themes.[5] Many of his works reference clan crests, including the killer whale, which his family claims. Singletary has worked extensively with other native artists creating glass art works such as the Founders Totem Pole (2001)[4] and Devilfish Prow, one of a series created in collaboration with Maori artist Lewis Tamihana Gardiner (2007).[6]

In 2018 Singletary received the Washington State Governor's Arts and Heritage Award.[7] In 2022 Singletary's work was featured in an exhibition entitled Raven and the Box of Daylight at the National Museum of the American Indian.[8] The same year Singletary became a Fellow of the American Craft Council.[9] Several of his pieces were acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of the Renwick Gallery's 50th Anniversary Campaign.[10]

Collections

References

  1. ↑ Kastner, Caroline, ed. Fusing Traditions: Transformations in Glass by Native American Artists. Museum of Craft and Folk Art, San Francisco.
  2. ↑ "Preston Singletary". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  3. ↑ "Preston Singletary."
  4. 1 2 Ganglehoff, Bonnie. "Glass Act." Southwest Art.
  5. 1 2 Smith, Sarah (March 4, 2022). "Artist Preston Singletary Sheds New Light on the Tlingit Raven Tale". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  6. ↑ Museum of Glass, Preston Singletary: Echoes, Fire, and Shadows, exhibition proposal for traveling exhibition.
  7. ↑ "Preston Singletary". ArtsWA. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight". National Museum of the American Indian. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  9. ↑ "Preston Singletary". American Craft Council. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  10. ↑ Savig, Mary; Atkinson, Nora; Montiel, Anya (2022). This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World. Washington, DC: Smithsonian American Art Museum. pp. 228–238. ISBN 9781913875268.
  11. ↑ "Guardian of the Sea". Brooklyn Museum. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  12. ↑ Tepper, Leslie (2014). The Grand Hall: First Peoples of Canada's Northwest Coast. Library and Archives Canada. p. 101. ISBN 9780660202792.
  13. ↑ "2003 Rakow Commission: Preston Singletary". Corning Museum of Glass. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  14. ↑ "Spirit Box". Detroit Institute of Arts Museum. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  15. ↑ "Raven Steals the Moon". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  16. ↑ "Works – Preston Singletary". Seattle Art Museum. Retrieved December 31, 2022.

Bibliography

  • Kastner, Caroline, ed. Fusing Traditions: Transformations in Glass by Native American Artists. Museum of Craft & Folk Art, San Francisco, c. 2002.
  • Ganglehoff, Bonnie, "Glass Act," Southwest Art, c. 1999,
  • Museum of Glass. Preston Singletary: Echoes, Fire, and Shadows," 2009.
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