PRESTON SINGLETARY

- PRESTON SINGLETARY -

Tlingti, 1963—

Preston Singletary is a contemporary Tlingit artist from Seattle, Washington, internationally recognized for revolutionizing the field of glass art through the integration of Northwest Coast Indigenous design, oral history, and cultural knowledge. Raised in an urban Native community, Singletary developed an early interest in art and music before discovering glassmaking in the early 1980s. He apprenticed with influential artists in the Pacific Northwest and refined his skills at the renowned Pilchuck Glass School, where he became immersed in the studio glass movement. At a time when Native American artists were rarely working in glass, Singletary recognized the medium's potential to express Tlingit cultural narratives in a contemporary visual language, forging a path that would redefine expectations for both Indigenous art and contemporary glass.

For more than three decades, Singletary has explored themes of transformation, ancestry, spirituality, and cultural resilience through sculptures, installations, and architectural commissions. His work incorporates traditional Tlingit formline design, clan crests, and stories of Raven, Killer Whale, Eagle, and other figures central to Northwest Coast cosmology. By combining ancient visual traditions with the luminous and transformative qualities of glass, he creates works that bridge past and present while challenging conventional distinctions between fine art, craft, and Indigenous cultural expression. His acclaimed projects include large-scale installations and collaborative works such as Raven and the Box of Daylight, which brought Tlingit oral traditions to broad museum audiences through immersive storytelling environments.

Singletary's work has been exhibited extensively throughout North America and internationally and is represented in the collections of major museums including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Museum of the American Indian, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Seattle Art Museum, Heard Museum, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Eiteljorg Museum, and the Anchorage Museum, among many others. Widely regarded as one of the most influential Indigenous artists working today, Singletary has played a pivotal role in expanding the visibility of Native American art within contemporary museum and gallery contexts while demonstrating how Indigenous knowledge systems can thrive through innovative artistic practice.