Goode Glass FINAL (6-26-23) - Flipbook - Page 40
Preston Singletary
D
ESCENDING from the Tlingit people of Southeastern Alaska, Preston Singletary
(born 1963) is an indigenous artist who uniquely melds Native American cultural
traditions and European glassmaking techniques in his artistic practice. His
training centered in glass studios in his native Seattle and in Sweden, where he
assisted in making both unique sculptures and production work. This unique background
underlies his finely honed technical skills and clean, minimal approach to design that
characterizes his sophisticated and distinctive sculptures. Since the early 1990s, he has been
adapting traditional designs from Tlingit art and culture in his work, sometimes including the
symbol of the killer whale from his own family crest.
This raven sculpture pays tribute to the transformation masks used by
Native People (First Nations) of the Pacific Northwest coastal areas
in ritual performances. Traditionally carved from wood, the
masks often represent important animal spirit heads
covered in symbols and linear elements. They are
either worn by performers or mounted on a
totem pole, symmetrical in construction
and hinged like a clam shell.
Symbolizing the act of
transformation of a
supernatural being
(like Raven the
Trickster), the hollow
head is animated by
strings and opens to reveal the face of another animal, an ancestor, or a mythical being at its
center. Singletary’s sculpture symbolizes Raven the shapeshifter moving from the supernatural
realm to the human world represented by the stylized face. His Raven Transformation Mask
honors the sensitive ritual material used in Tlingit ceremonies in what the artist calls “modern
heritage art.”
34
