Preston Singletary

Purchased directly from the artist in Seattle in 1995, executed the year before the series was launched.

Preston Singletary (b. 1963) is a Native American glass artist from Seattle.

Singletary began blowing glass at the Glass Eye studio in Seattle, WA, in 1982, where he grew up and still works and resides. He developed his skills as a production glassmaker and attended the Pilchuck Glass School. Singletary started working at the glass studio Benjamin Moore, where he broadened his skills by assisting Dante Marioni, Richard Royal, Dan Dailey, and Lino Tagliapietra. It was there that Singletary began to develop his own work. In 1993, he travelled for work to Sweden, where he was influenced by Scandinavian design and met his future wife, Åsa Sandlund.

Singletary's art has become synonymous with the relationship between Tlingit culture and fine art. His glass sculptures address themes from Tlingit mythology and traditional patterns, while he uses music to shape his contemporary perspective on indigenous culture.

In 2000, Singletary received a name of honour from elder Joe David (Nuu Chah Nulth), and in 2009, Singletary was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Puget Sound (Tacoma, WA). Forty years of glassblowing, creating music, and collaborating with elders have placed him in a position as a keeper of cultural knowledge, while he paves new paths within new materials and concepts for indigenous art.

Singletary's works are represented in the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA), Seattle Art Museum (Seattle, WA), and the Swedish Museum of Ethnography (Stockholm).