The Powers of Convergence and Dissemination:Collaborations in Glass with Preston Singletary

The Powers of Convergence and Dissemination: Collaborations in Glass with Preston Singletary

There is an incredible power inherent to bridging cultures and individual personalities; there is also a palpable power inherent to creating a consensus of understanding between varying artistic traditions and mediums. These powers are often only wielded by those artists who are strong and wise enough to transcend their own boundaries and adapt to the processes of cross-fertilization. The artistic diplomats who possess these powers also tend to have a special mission within their careers and their ambitions are inextricably linked to the collective intelligence found in artful conversations with others. Preston Singletary is one such notable emissary as he is a true artistic advocate for the glass medium in the contemporary art world today. Clearly, Singletary possesses transformative powers as a visionary glass artist working on his own, yet he also brandishes the powers of convergence and dissemination in his collaborative ventures with other equally talented artists.

Success sometimes comes not just from what you know but from who you know. Given the very cooperative nature of the glass-blowing tradition itself, where it often takes a team of artists working together towards one goal, Singletary has long been equipped with the talents of flexibility and compliancy. His many years of mentorship under European and American art glass masters — including Dante Marioni, Lino Tagliapietra, Pino Signoretto, and Benjamin Moore to name a few — armed Singletary with the knowledge of glass techniques that are

The Powers of Convergence and Dissemination: Collaborations in Glass with Preston Singletary

necessary to explore both traditional and innovative styles with the medium. The base of experience reaped from working with many glass gurus resulted in an internal change for Singletary as it gave him purpose and direction for his own artistic voice. It furthermore sparked within him the optimistic ambition to ‘pay it forward,’ so, over the last fifteen plus years, Singletary has introduced this knowledge and shared his buoyant enthusiasm for glass with other artists:

Through teaching and collaborating in glass with other Native American, Hawaiian, and Australian Aboriginal artists, I’ve come to see that glass brings another dimension to indigenous art. It has helped advocate on the behalf of all indigenous people — affirming that we are still here and declaring who we are through our art in connection to our culture.

P R E S TO N S I N G L E TA R Y

Success sometimes comes from the people you surround yourself with and the company you keep. Perhaps much more than other contemporary artists, Singletary has entered into numerous collaborative artistic relationships throughout his career. Along the way, he has proudly embraced the role as an ambassador of glass and, as a result, he has forged new artistic paths with many of the artists whom he has invited to participate in his studio. Among the most notable collaborations are with other indigenous artists: Santa Clara

Pueblo potters Tammy Garcia and Jody Naranjo, Choctaw beadworker Marcus Amerman, Nuu-chah-nulth carver Joe David, and Maori carver Lewis Tamihana Gardiner. Another stand-out collaboration is with his long-time friend, Dante Marioni. Across the board, these alliances have opened doors to unforeseen opportunities and have been integral in the process of the democratization of glass as a medium, particularly within the Native American art world. All in all, these couplings have yielded a vital shared artistic success for Singletary and his collaborators, and it is most evident in the unwavering collectability of the artwork itself.

Success sometimes comes from being in the right place at the right time.The studio art glass scene has been present in Santa Fe, and the greater Southwest, since the late 1960s, but it never really made a larger impact for art collectors until the last twenty years or so. Preston Singletary, through his representation at Blue Rain Gallery for the last sixteen years, has helped to bring a clearer and more obvious focus to glass in the region. At Blue Rain Gallery in particular, Singletary opened the floodgates for other prominent Seattle/Northwest-based glass artists to find a home in the Southwest, and, as such, they have jointly surpassed the success of other regional American art markets. Blue Rain Gallery now boasts a roster of some of the most innovative and reputable glass artists working today. Moreover, the concentrated attention of the Native American Art market has been permanently enriched and expanded thanks to Singletary’s major contributions in glass.

Preston Singletary and Tammy Garcia:Visions in Glass I, II, and III (2005, 2008, and 2009)

When Preston Singletary and Tammy Garcia embarked on creating their collaborative collections in glass, a veritable “supergroup” of artists was forged and the Native American art collecting community has reeled ever since. Themes, shapes, and patterns, steeped in Southwestern Pueblo traditions, emerged that had never been seen before in glass and traditional ceramic collectors were quickly converted into glass collectors. These beautiful vessels are still considered an artistic summit of iconic proportions and the triumph of the entire Visions in Glass series vaulted Singletary’s name throughout the Southwest and confirmed Garcia’s boundless talents with any medium. Many of the pieces from the Visions in Glass series have found placement in prominent private and public museum collections and will remain there to inspire and be enjoyed by many generations to come. Beyond enduring in the long-term canon for both of these artists, this collaboration will continue to stand the test of time as it primed collectors to expect prodigious opportunities from future collaborative ventures involving Singletary.

Untitled by Preston Singletary and Tammy Garcia, blown and sand carved glass, 9" h x 15" d, $25,000

Untitled by Preston Singletary and Tammy Garcia, blown and sand-carved glass, 20" h x 16" d, $100,000

Untitled by Preston Singletary and Tammy Garcia, blown and sand-carved glass, 20" h x 7" d, $25,000

Horse and Arrows by Preston Singletary and Tammy Garcia, blown and sand-carved glass, 8.75" h x 11.5" d, $27,000

Untitled by Preston Singletary and Tammy Garcia, blown and sand-carved glass, 9.5" h x 9.5" d, $18,000

Preston Singletary and Lewis Tamihana Gardiner: Fire and Water, Visions in Glass and Jade (2007 and 2012)

The many leagues of the Pacific Ocean between the Northwest Coast of North America and New Zealand cannot disprove the synchronicities extant between the indigenous traditions of both geographical locations. In fact, the convergences of these artistic sensibilities are no more clearly evident than in the collaborative work of Preston Singletary and Lewis Tamihana Gardiner. In creating their collection, each artist drew upon the strengths of their Tlingit and Maori cultures along with the complementary nature of their chosen mediums of glass and jade, which share similar yet contrasting properties. Drawing upon the elements of fire/water and glass/jade, Singletary and Gardiner fruitfully advanced a contemporary global conversation of living indigenous knowledge and artistry.

Flute by Preston Singletary and Lewis Tamihana Gardiner,blown and sand-carved glass with jade and flax fiber, 24.25" h x 8" w x 4.5" d, $14,000

Bringing Light to the World — Raven by Preston Singletary and Lewis Tamihana Gardiner, blown and sand-carved glass with jade, 32.5" h x 16.5" w x 9" d, $25,000

Fish Club by Preston Singletary and Lewis Tamihana Gardiner, blown and sand-carved glass with flax fiber, 17" h x 6.5" w x 6" d, $9,000

Preston Singletary and Marcus Amerman:Voices from the Temple Mound (2010)

Preston Singletary and Marcus Amerman traveled across both cross-cultural and cross-historical boundaries in creating their collaborative glass collection for Voices from the Temple Mound. Through consensus, the artists chose to draw upon Amerman’s Choctaw tribal roots and found contemporary inspiration from the enigmatic archaeological artifacts (like shell engravings, clay vessels, and burial effigies) found throughout the Mississippian river basin of the Southeastern United States. The resulting artwork connected human interactions over several thousand years as Singletary and Amerman’s figurative digging of the past unearthed a modern interpretation of early prehistoric cultural aesthetics.

Falcon Warrior by Preston Singletary and Marcus Amerman, blown and sand-carved glass, 23.25" h x 22.75" w x 4.75" d, $16,000

He Who Drinks the Juice of Stone by Preston Singletary and Marcus Amerman, blown and sand-carved glass, 8.25" h x 8.5" w x 7.75" d, $13,500

He Who Drinks the Juice of Stone by Preston Singletary and Marcus Amerman, blown and sand-carved glass, 8.25" h x 8.5" w x 7.75" d, $13,500

Walks Between Worlds by Preston Singletary and Marcus Amerman, blown and sand-carved glass, 9" h x 8" w x 7.5" d, $15,000

Preston Singletary and Joe David:Ka Ka Win Chealth, Transformations in Glass (2011 and 2014)

Compatibility was never in question when these two artists came together —Preston Singletary (Tlingit, Killer Whale clan) and Joe David (Nuu-chah-nulth, Wolf crest) had a long-established relationship founded on the shared ideologies and cultural traditions of their neighboring Native Northwest Coast tribes. The title of their collaborative collection, Ka Ka Win Chealth, translates to “Wolf Transforming into Killer Whale” and it proudly epitomizes their artistic interaction, exchange, and subsequent reinvention. The resulting artwork in this collection sits as the embodiment of harmonized contemporary Native Northwest Coast artistic style as translated from wood to glass.

Dancing Wolf Headdress by Preston Singletary and Joe David, blown and sand-carved glass with cedar bark, 16" h x 30" w x 12" d, $25,000

Dancing Wolf Headdress by Preston Singletary and Joe David, blown and sand-carved glass with cedar bark, 16" h x 30" w x 12" d, $25,000

Preston Singletary and Jody Naranjo:A Collaboration in Glass (2013)

The stage was already prepped and set for Preston Singletary and Jody Naranjo to come together, since the path for pairing a glass artist with a clay artist was well-proven ground. Both the mediums of glass and clay vessels share a dependency on understanding volume and shape in relation to surface decoration. Their shared goals yielded a fluid collection filled with new shapes and mesmerizing patterns. In essence, Singletary and Naranjo came together to create exciting new artwork that would continue to redefine the landscape of contemporary Native American art.

Peacocks on Parade by Preston Singletary and Jody Naranjo, blown and sand-carved glass, 14.5" h x 7.5" d, $12,000

Beetle Mania by Preston Singletary and Jody Naranjo, blown and sand-carved glass, 8" h x 11" d, $11,000

A Canadian Landscape by Preston Singletary and Jody Naranjo, blown and sand-carved glass, 11.25" h x 13" d, $17,000

Preston Singletary and Dante Marioni:Primitive–Elegant I, II, and III (2011, 2012, and 2014)

After so many years of friendship, it was inevitable that Preston Singletary and Dante Marioni would come to the design table as equals and peers in order to create wholly new collections of glass forged from both Native North American and European aesthetic sensibilities. The three ensuing Primitive–Elegant collaborations prove that the power of blending the “Old World” and the “New World” produces a modern, dynamic well of visual artistry and social richness. It also adroitly exemplifies that Western art history’s concepts of Primitivism and Modernism actually go hand in hand and that each is fundamental to understanding the other.

Eagle Screen by Preston Singletary and Dante Marioni, blown and sand-carved glass, 18.25" h x 12.5" w x 3" d, $22,000

Lightning Pattern by Preston Singletary and Dante Marioni, blown and sand-carved glass, 16.5" h x 13.5" w x 10" d, $19,800

Eagle Crest by Preston Singletary and Dante Marioni, blown and sand-carved glass, 14.75" h x 8" d, $19,800

Music of the Wolves by Preston Singletary and Dante Marioni, blown and sand-carved glass, 15" h x 13" w x 4" d, $19,800

Music of the Wolves by Preston Singletary and Dante Marioni, blown and sand-carved glass, 15" h x 13" w x 4" d, $19,800

Eagle Totem by Preston Singletary and Dante Marioni, blown and sand-carved glass, 28.75" h x 12.5" w x 3.75" d, $22,000

Amber Moon by Preston Singletary and Dante Marioni, blown and sand-carved glass, 22.5" h x 13.5" w x 3" d, $19,800

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