The Adele and Leonard Leight Series: Art, Design and Innovation presents Preston Singletary

Sunday, September 11
1- 2 pm, Grand Hall

Free to register

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The Speed Art Museum is pleased to welcome Preston Singletary as the 2022 speaker for The Adele and Leonard Leight Series: Art, Design, and Innovation, a program generously founded and endowed in 2014 by Jenna, Jonathan, and Peter Leight in honor of their parents.

Reflecting on his work, Singletary has written, “when I began working with glass in 1982, I had no idea that I’d be so connected to the material in the way that I am. It was only when I began to experiment with using designs from my Tlingit cultural heritage that my work began to take on a new purpose and direction.”

In the years since, Singletary’s work has become synonymous with the relationship between European glassblowing traditions and Northwest Indigenous art. His artworks feature themes of transformation, animal spirits, and shamanism through blown glass forms that incorporate sand-carved imagery.

Please join us as Preston discusses his practice, his inspirations, and his working methods.

Lecture title: Eagle’s Journey With Raven

I will share my creative process in glass, music, and Tlingit culture. From the Glass Eye Studios to assisting Benjamin Moore and attending Pilchuck glass school, my path seemed to be established. In an effort to find my own style I looked to my cultural background which in the end was the most fulfilling thing I could have done. I will share highlights of my 39 years of working with glass and interacting with Indigenous communities from around the world.

Artist Biography

The art of Preston Singletary has become synonymous with the relationship between European glass-blowing traditions and Northwest Native art. His artworks feature themes of transformation, animal spirits, and shamanism through elegant blown glass forms and mystical sand-carved Tlingit designs.

Singletary learned the art of glass blowing by working with artists in the Seattle area including Benjamin Moore and Dante Marioni. As a student and assistant, he initially focused on mastering the techniques of the European tradition. In 1993 he traveled to Sweden and was immersed in the Scandinavian design community where he met his future wife Åsa and lived there for 6 months.

Learn more about Preston Singletary’s work featured here in the PBS series, “Craft in America”.