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

Preston Singletary
Born	1963 (age 58–59) San Francisco, California, U.S.
Nationality	Tlingit
Education	Pilchuck Glass School
Known for	Glass art
Movement	Northwest Coast art
Website	www.prestonsingletary.com

Biography

Preston Singletary was born in 1963 in San Francisco, California. He grew up in the Seattle-area listening to stories told by his great-grandparents, who were both full Tlingit.[2] In high school he met and became friends with future glass artist Dante Marioni, son of glass artist Paul Marioni.

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.[3]

Work

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.[4] 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)[3] and Devilfish Prow, one of a series created in collaboration with Maori artist Lewis Tamihana Gardiner (2007).[5]

Singletary also plays bass in the band Khu.éex', which features spoken word, Native storytelling, and singing, performed with an experimental approach with rock/funk aspects. The band also performs in traditional regalia and NW coast masks and released their debut album, "The Wilderness Within" in 2016.

Collections

• Alaska Museum of Natural History, Anchorage, AK
• Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY
• Canadian Museum of History[6]
• City of Seattle, Portable Art Works Collection, Seattle, WA
• Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY (Rakow Commission)
• Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
• Group Health Cooperative, Seattle, WA
• Handelsbanken, Stockholm, Sweden
• Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA
• Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
• Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN
• Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, NC
• Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
• Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA
• Museum of the Red River, Idabel, OK
• National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC[4]
• Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
• St. Paul's Cathedral, Oklahoma City, OK
• Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
• Traver Gallery , Seattle, WA
• Washington Mutual Savings Bank, Seattle, WA
• Washington State Arts Commission, Olympia, WA [7]

References

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, ^{[permanent dead link]}
• Museum of Glass. Preston Singletary: Echoes, Fire, and Shadows," 2009.

External links

External images
Preston Singletary portrait
"Spawning Salmon" (detail), 2013
"Black Thunder Being Headdress", 2011

• Official website
• Preston Singletary, Museum of Glass, slide show from 2009 exhibition
• Preston Singletary art at Google Images

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