Preston Singletary: Raven Visits SFO

Preston Singletary: Raven Visits SFO

Preston Singletary (b. 1963) combines imagery, forms, and storytelling from his Tlingit heritage and culture with modern studio glass—fusing Indigenous traditions with contemporary art. By reinterpreting Tlingit design and mythology, Singletary’s work is both inspiring and cautionary, reminding us of humankind’s place in the world and the consequences of modernization on our cultures and the environment. Singletary also validates the significance of Indigenous art: “my work challenges the notion that Native artists must only use traditional materials. By embracing glass as a storytelling medium, I seek to affirm our presence and identity, reinforcing that Indigenous cultures are dynamic, evolving, and rooted in resilience.”

Singletary was introduced to glassblowing in 1982 at the Glass Eye Studio in Seattle. Shortly thereafter, he began fifteen years of study at the nearby Pilchuck Glass School with Lino Tagliapietra (b. 1934), Benjamin Moore (1952–2021), and other leading glass artists. At Pilchuck, Tony Jojola (1958–2022), a glass artist from the Isleta Pueblo in New Mexico, encouraged Singletary to explore his Indigenous roots. Singletary studied Tlingit culture and artistic traditions, carefully developing the unique style for which he is known. Through teaching and collaboration with other glass artists and with Native American, Māori, Hawaiian, and Australian Aboriginal artists who focus on more traditional Indigenous media, Singletary initiates a cross-cultural “exchange of ideas” that “continues to inform and inspire.”

Working with a team of artists at his studio in Seattle, Singletary finds innovative ways to push the boundaries of modern Native art and glass sculpture. First, objects are created in the hot shop by glassblowing, hot sculpting, and casting. Singletary then draws onto an adhesive masking that is carefully cut with a precision knife and peeled away—revealing layers of color and design that are sandblasted in relief. His striking, curvilinear, and pictorial designs reinterpret traditional Tlingit formlines found in weaving and woodcarving. Singletary’s current work focuses on Raven, a mythological figure central to Native cultures of the Pacific Northwest. Known as a trickster for the various forms he can take, Raven was responsible for creating the world and for illuminating the universe by releasing the sun, moon, and stars into the sky.  

Preston Singletary: Raven Visits SFO features examples of his recent work, some of it on view for the first time. The project is from a series of new exhibitions that incorporate narrative text by Garth Stein (b. 1964), a New York Times bestselling author who is also of Tlingit ancestry. Singletary views their unique collaboration as “a new direction in my own work: imagining the stories of what Raven is up to these days.” Pointing to a disturbance in Native cultures after thousands of years, Singletary states, “I have long wondered when Raven’s next story might be entered into the annals of Tlingit history. Did Raven just stop doing things, or is he perhaps some kind of spirit around us who is trying to affect changes, knowingly or unknowingly?”

A very special thank you to Preston Singletary and Garth Stein for making this exhibition possible.

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[inset image, top]
White Raven  2025
Preston Singletary (b. 1963)
blown and sand-carved glass, bronze
Courtesy of the artist
L2025.0601.004

[inset image, bottom]
Raven’s Ladder  2024
Preston Singletary (b. 1963)
blown and sand-carved glass
Courtesy of the artist
L2025.0601.002

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