A Prodigious Conversation with Preston Singletary

Courtesy of artist

Preston Singletary is a Seattle-based Alaskan Native Tlingit glass artist whose art explores the relationship between Tlingit culture and fine art, for which he has come to be known. His glass sculptures deal with themes of Tlingit mythology and traditional designs. Preston also uses music to shape his contemporary perspective of Native culture. Preston has studied with Lino Tagliapietra, Checco Ongaro, Benjamin Moore, Dorit Brand, Judy Hill, Dan Daily, and Pino Signoretto. Preston's artwork has been exhibited internationally widely in galleries, museums, and other artistic spaces. Most recently, at the Traver Gallery, Seattle, WA.; the Sandra Ainsley Gallery, Toronto, Canada; Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; Stonington Gallery, Seattle, WA.

Preston has received many awards for his art, including the Arts Innovator Award, Artist Trust College of Fellows Award, American Craft Council, Master of the Medium - James Renwick Alliance for CraftArtist Laureate – The Rainier Club, Seattle, WA., Governor's Arts Award – Individual, Washington State Arts Commission, Olympia, WA, National Artist Fellowship Award, Native Arts & Culture Foundation, Vancouver, WA, Mayor's Art Award for "Raising the Bar," Seattle, WA, Honorary doctorate, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA, National Native Artist Exchange Award, New England Foundation for the Arts, Boston, MA,1st Place Contemporary Art, Sealaska Heritage Foundation, "Celebration 2004," AK, Rakow Commission, Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY, Seattle Arts Commission, Purchase Award, Seattle, WA.

In 2000 Singletaryreceived an honorary name from elder Joe David (Nuu Chah Nulth). Singletary artwork is held in public and private collections around the globe, including in Anchorage Museum at Rasmussen Center, Anchorage, AK, The Autry National Center, Los Angeles, CA , Château-Musée de Boulogne-sur-Mer, France ,The British Museum, London, UK, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY, The Burke Museum of Natural and Cultural History, University of Washington, Seattle, WA,City of Seattle, Portable Works Collection, Seattle, WA, Corning Museum of Glass, Corning NY (Rakow Commission), Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA,Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO, Ethnografiska Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, Detroit Institute of the Arts, Detroit, MI, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, Fred Jones, Jr, Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK,Group Health Cooperative, Seattle, WA, Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA, Imagine Museum, St. Petersburg, FL., Microsoft Art Collection, Redmond, WA., Mint Museum of Art & Design, Charlotte, NC, Museum of Art + Design, New York, NY, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA, The Museum of Natural History, Anchorage, AK, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, U.K. National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, WY, Newark Museum, Newark, NJ, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, Rockwell Museum, Corning, NY, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, St. Paul's Cathedral, Oklahoma City, OK, Washington State Arts Commission, Olympia, WA,

Since 2018, Preston's Solo traveling exhibition – "Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight," has been traveling to The Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA. (2018), The Wichita Art Museum (2020), The National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. (2022) and the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA. (2023) and the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma (2024).

Preston is represented by the following galleries Blue Rain Gallery, Schantz Galleries, and Traver Gallery.

I had the honor and pleasure of asking Preston what a day in the studio looks like for him, what is the essential tool as a glass artist, and so much more.

UZOMAH: Can you explain how your time at the Benjamin Moore Studio has influenced your work?

PRESTON: began working with Benjamin Moore in 1985 or 86. I’d been working at the Glass Eye Studio factory, which is where Benjamin established his studio. Although I worked at the Glass Eye for about six months, I always joke that I came with the building. It was there that I developed a majority of my experience and skill. Each week we worked for someone different, Dante Marioni, Richard Royal, Dan Daily, Dale Chihuly, and many others. Each artist or designer who came through demanded a different sensibility to the material. In the early years, my work was influenced by the people I worked with, especially Dante Marioni. We held each other to high standards in terms of process, and we developed many different ways of executing classical vessels. Later I tried to bring that attention to detail into the work that I’m known for today, the Tlingit cultural objects.

U: You have worked with Venetian glass masters like Italian legends Lino Tagliapietra, Cecco Ongaro, and Pino Signoretto. How would you suggest and describe to a young artist the importance of studying past masters and working with them?

P: I was very fortunate to work with the Italians in different capacities. I am closest to Lino, who I saw blow glass in 1983. I later worked for him intermittently at Benjamin Moore's (BMI, we call it), Chihuly's Pilchuck, and elsewhere. Dante and I had a keen interest in Venetian wine glasses, and we watched Lino and added to our knowledge whenever we could. There is no substitute for working with these Masters and learning how to execute the techniques. Gathering glass, bringing bits, and pulling cane are all so specific. The foundation of getting good results is to understand it on a deep level. It's important to mimic every little detail of starting a gather, bringing a punty, and everything else. There is an economy of moves in every step of working in an Italian way. No matter how you work, you can always learn something from Italian processes. You can apply the knowledge of gathering to make your work easier. The thing is it is very subtle, and it's hard to find teachers who can articulate it. In the beginning, we were given simple instructions, but we had to use our intuition to adopt the technique correctly.

The Calling, Blown and sand carved glass, 20.5" x 14" x 4", Photo credit: Russell Johnson, #S22-25

U: How important has it been for the development of your artwork to teach and collaborate with glass with other Native American, Maori, Hawaiian, and Australian Aboriginal artists?

P: My work as an Alaskan Native glass artist has given me a rich life. I’ve come to see myself as an ambassador of glass to other Native or Indigenous communities. Each time I work with an artist I learn about how they interpret their art and how they represent their communities in today’s society. Indigenous people have many shared experiences both good and bad. The process of making art is usually a healing process we can go through together to create a body of work. It inspires me and informs my own approach to my work.

U: You have been making glass for forty years. What would you say about your career to someone who knows nothing about glass or indigenous art?

P: I became an artist through glass blowing. I found my approach by attending the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, WA. Once I decided to cojoin my cultural background with the material of glass I found my ultimate path. I found that I had a unique opportunity to bring another dimension to Indigenous art. The material is so special it represents strength and fragility at the same time. It could break, or it could last for a thousand years. I see the glass as a transformational medium, changing from a liquid to a solid. It has the potential to transform our notion of what Indigenous art is.

Tlingit Dance Staff, Preston Singletary & David Franklin, Metal and glass with custom lighting, 25 feet tall, Public art in Portland, Oregon, Photo credit: Russell Johnson, #C18-01

U: What was the hardest thing about designing symbols and elements usually done on wood?

P: I had to learn to design in the Northwest Coast style, it was like changing horses in the middle of the stream. I found teachers and mentors to help me develop my design style so that it looked authentic. I like to equate it with calligraphy where there are rules to the lines and serifs, but over time a personal style can emerge. I adapted a sandblasting technique to carve all my designs into the glass. It is nothing that I invented, but it gives me a lot of control. In some cases, I try to mimic traditional forms but in others, I let Modernist Art influence my work. This work can be a simple organic form that is then ornamented with Northwest Coast art designs.

U: What does a typical day in the studio look like for you?

P: If I’m not traveling, I’m usually working. I have 3 assistants who help me with the execution of almost all my work, from blowing, cutting stencils, or sandblasting. This allows me to be more prolific. I also have a Studio Manager who helps with correspondence and fielding calls. I can make several blown objects in a day, and it takes me several days to design and finish the work after the piece has cooled. I’ll work in my hot shop 1-2 days a week between September and the end of May. Three to four days a week I’m drawing on to the pieces or cutting out the stencils for sandblasting. Having my studio team help with the finishing of the pieces allows me to be able to travel for shows and lectures. The team is very dedicated to my process. Most of them have been working with me for over 15 years.

Raven Crescent, Blown and sand carved glass, 20" x 12" x4.5", Photo credit: Russell Johnson #S22-13

U: As a glass artist, what is the most essential tool in terms of what helps you best create?

P: Aside from the furnace I’d have to say the Sandblaster. It’s where the work comes to life and I’d say that’s about 80 percent of the work, if not more!

U: What are the most challenging parts of selecting materials for use based on strength, color, texture, balance, weight, size, malleability, and other characteristics?

P: When I’m trying to create a historical form such as a rattle, canoe, or bird form I have to think about the proportion, of how the forms integrate. I’ve long been very conservative with my color use, but now I feel like I’m taking new risks. Generally speaking, my pieces are on the thicker heavier side because of the hot glass sculpting and maintaining the shape during the reheating process. It’s a lot of trial and error, but the exploration is always the fun part. I have pieces on my shelves that sit there for 10 years and then I see how I can adapt a design to it. So, patience is everything in some cases.

Two Ravens, Cast lead crystal, 35.5" x 8.5" x 9", Photo credit: Russell Johnson, #CZ22-02

U: To respect ancient traditions, how do you cut, shape, fit, join, mold, or process materials using hand tools, power tools, and/or machinery?

P: I have been making lost wax castings from wood carvings to create totemic forms. They range from 1 meter to 2.5 meters tall. I work in the Czech Republic to create these pieces. Other than that, I’ve been also getting into bronze casting and fabricating larger public art forms. Usually, they are waterjet steel with glass inlays. With the blown sculpture I have metal mounts fabricated. These are all jobbed out to contractors. I’m only a hands-on glass blower and designer in my studio.

U: What is the hardest part of choosing colors, and how do you make them present while blowing the glass?

P: I usually use a transparent interior color and an opal powdered exterior. I can make it opaque enough to maintain the integrity of the outside surface to appear as though the form is that particular color.

When I carve through the color it exposes the transparent inner color to allow it to glow when the light is just right. I was using earth-tone colors for a long time to mimic traditional wood objects, but now I’ve been exploring newer and unusual color combinations. It’s part of why I dislike doing glass demos because it usually looks like a random blown form when it’s unadorned by my design work.

U: If not art, where would you be?

P: I would probably be a burned-out rock musician, which was my first love. I still play music, but it’s more of an elated hobby. I maintain a 10-piece band, Khu.éex’, and we record music and make vinyl records!

For more information about Preston’s art, please visit his site and follow him on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok.