Spencer Museum of Art Highlights
Preston Singletary works in the European tradition of glass art while incorporating motifs from his Tlingit heritage. Stability and transience are held together in “Eagle Hat,” as light shines through the carved glass, resulting in detailed projections of an eagle. By shaping a traditional Tlingit hat in glass and turning it upside down, Singletary renders it unfunctional, focusing attention on the meanings of its form and design. Singletary said: “My work with glass transforms the notion that Native artists are only best when traditional materials are used. It has helped advocate on the behalf of all Indigenous people—affirming that we are still here—that that we are declaring who we are through our art in connection to our culture.”
Intersections
The flared rim and cylindrical base of this sculpture are modeled after a traditional Tlingit hat, which would have been woven from spruce root. Here, Tlingit artist Preston Singletary inverts the form of the hat, positioning it upside down. As light shines through the rim, an eagle is projected in the formline style used by the Tlingit and other Indigenous communities of the Pacific Northwest Coast.
Artistic knowledge is often passed down through generations within Indigenous communities. Preston Singletary fuses his Tlingit cultural heritage with European glassblowing traditions to create new hybrid forms of artistic expression that defy categories and expectations. Singletary studied glassblowing at the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington, which was co-founded by Anne Gould Hauberg, John H. Hauberg, and Dale Chihuly, whose work Persian Wall is displayed in the staircase.
Intersections
The flared rim and cylindrical base of this sculpture are modeled after a traditional Tlingit hat, which would have been woven from spruce root. Here, Tlingit artist Preston Singletary inverts the form of the hat, positioning it upside down. As light shines through the rim, an eagle is projected in the formline style used by the Tlingit and other Indigenous communities of the Pacific Northwest Coast.
Artistic knowledge is often passed down through generations within Indigenous communities. Preston Singletary fuses his Tlingit cultural heritage with European glassblowing traditions to create new hybrid forms of artistic expression that defy categories and expectations. Singletary studied glassblowing at the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington, which was co-founded by Anne Gould Hauberg, John H. Hauberg, and Dale Chihuly, whose work Persian Wall is displayed in the staircase.
Roots and Journeys: Encountering Global Arts and Cultures
The eagle image, seen on this contemporary rendering of a traditional hat (which is inverted here), demonstrates the artist’s clan heritage.
Among the Tlingit, the right to depict a clan totem is exclusive to members of that clan. By making, or wearing, such an image, members convey information about their family history through time. Family lore is shared through generations in stories pertaining to each clan totem.
Roots and Journeys: Encountering Global Arts and Cultures
The eagle image, seen on this contemporary rendering of a traditional hat (which is inverted here), demonstrates the artist’s clan heritage. Among the Tlingit, the right to depict a clan totem is exclusive to members of that clan. By making, or wearing, such an image, members convey information about their family history through time. Family lore is shared through generations in stories pertaining to each clan totem.
Exhibition Label:
"Roots and Journeys: Encountering Global Arts and Cultures," Jul-2011, Nancy Mahaney
The eagle image, seen on this contemporary rendering of a traditional hat (which is inverted here), demonstrates the artist’s clan heritage.
Among the Tlingit, the right to depict a clan totem is exclusive to members of that clan. By making, or wearing, such an image, members convey information about their family history
through time. Family lore is shared through generations in stories pertaining to each clan totem.
Exhibition Label:
"American Indian Art at the Spencer Museum," 6-Sep-2003 to 19-Oct-2003, Andrea Norris
Urged by his friend the glass artist Dante Marioni, Preston Singletary went directly from high school to study at the Pilchuck Glass School outside Seattle. Inspired by another glass artist, Tony Jojola, Singletary searched in his own background for inspiration and found the art of Alaska and the Northwest Coast. He uses Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimtsian objects and styles as sources for his glass objects. Singletary shaped the traditional form of a Tlingit hat in blown glass, then etched it with the forms of a Tlingit Eagle. Turning the hat upside down makes it possible to create a shadow image of the eagle on the surface below. The Eagle is one of the clan signs for Singletary’s family and is thus one of the images he has the right to use in his work. Others are the Killer Whale, Brown Bear, and Wolf.
Exhibition Label:
"Time/Frame," Jun-2008, Robert Fucci, Shuyun Ho, Lauren Kernes, Lara Kuykendall, Ellen C. Raimond, and Stephanie Teasley
The eagle image, seen on this contemporary rendering of a traditional hat (which is inverted here), demonstrates the artist’s clan heritage. Among the Tlingit, the right to depict a clan totem is exclusive to members of that clan. By making, or wearing, such an image, members convey information about their family history through time. Family lore is shared through generations in stories pertaining to each clan totem.
