Digital Cover Story - Sculpting a Career

Sculpting a Career: Internationally Renowned Artist Preston Singletary on Voice, Process, and Raven

Now through March 9, 2025, Preston Singletary’s Raven and the Box of Daylight is on display at the Eiteljorg Museum. The holidays are behind us, and we’re ankle-deep into a fresh year. So, do yourself a favor this January and make it over to the Eiteljorg for this exhibit. The immersive experience, the story, the truly stunning glasswork . . . the whole thing. It’s gorgeous, and you may just walk away with a renewed sense of wonder and connection. 

Based in the Pacific Northwest, Singletary is a well-established and internationally famous artist who uses unconventional methods of working with glass as he brings fine art into conversation with his Tlingit culture. In December I had the opportunity to talk a bit with Singletary and am excited to share part of our conversation with you. 

Per usual, we’ve edited the transcript for clarity and brevity.

Jenny Walton: I get that this is a strange opener, but I would love for you to talk about the journey toward financial stability through your career as an artist.

Preston Singletary: Oh, sure! So, I didn't finish high school. I mean, I went for four years, but I didn't have enough credits to graduate. And so for whatever reason, I just left. I thought I was going to be a musician, but then I fell into glass blowing around 1982, and I realized it was something I could do with my hands. I started off charging the furnaces in the glass studio, and I worked my way from the bottom up. I did that job for about six months before I started making simple items on the glass-blowing floor. 

I eventually ended up at the studio of Benjamin Moore, who has passed away now, but he ran a pretty high-level studio. Every week we were working with a different artist or designer making lampshades or whatever. And I gained a lot of skills through the approach of practical experience. 

I’ve got to say that Seattle at the time, though, was a pretty affordable place to live. I had a one-bedroom apartment for $375, so the money that I was making in the studio felt like a living wage. But what really kind of turned the tables for me was when I finally developed a body of work that was based on the Native American or the Alaskan Native Designs. 

I was in the studio all the time to improve and develop my work. Then I had my first show in this style in the late 90s, and it was an instant success. I sold almost every piece in the show, which I rolled forward into new projects. By the end of the decade, then, I was able to shift away from working for other people and to just focus on my own projects. 

And that’s when I got involved with shows, group shows featured in museums, and traveled around the country a bit. I was also going down to Santa Fe during the Indian Market time. I never did the Market itself, but I would show in galleries in Santa Fe during that time. So that's where I got a lot of exposure and probably what solidified my career. 

JW: Hang on, did you say that you sold almost all of the items from your very first show?

PS: Well, it was the first batch of Native American work. I’d shown in galleries with vases and bowls, but this was the first show that was more related to what I do today. Once I put myself on that path, it really just led me to my ultimate success. 

JW: I see! So would you describe that as when you found your voice as an artist?

PS: I think so. You know, people recognized that there was something more personal going on with the work. I actually could explain my connection to the work and what I was studying through it. And that piqued people's curiosity. 

I put a piece onto a pedestal, and I realized that people were drawn to the object and wanted to know more about it. So once I did that, I saw there was definitely a path for me to develop this work. And that's ultimately why I’ve stuck with the material of glass, it brings another dimension to Indigenous Art. And it's something new and unexpected. 

JW: What would you say is something that you think people aspiring to full-time creative careers like yours get wrong? 

PS: You're never gonna excel if you don't apply yourself. For me, I worked six or seven days a week for years because the weekends were the only time the glass studio wasn’t being used. All of us assistants at the studio were kind of scrambling to get a day to make our own stuff. But we would help each other. And sometimes I even went and worked for free just so I could experience working with a different glass maker who had different techniques in their tool belt, so I could learn from them. 

And so I think it's about perseverance. Not only that, but you have to dig deep into yourself to really understand what it is that you want to do. What do you want to say with your artwork? 

I know plenty of glassblowers who are great technicians, but they don't have a lot of original ideas. And there's nothing wrong with that, I love the tradition of glassblowing, but I feel like sometimes you need to really dig deep to find that inspiration where you can bring something new to the arena, to the modern art world. 

JW: Following that, what would you say is the best professional advice you've received? 

PS: Within the practice, it’s being very organized. It's being accountable. When you're reaching out to galleries and you want to show your work, it's important to be highly organized and very communicative with them. I know a lot of artists have a hard time following through with certain details or making an application. But you can’t put it off until the last minute. When you're trying to apply for a fellowship or a grant, you gotta think about it. You gotta articulate it. 

JW: Are there particular practices that have helped you along the way? 

PS: I couldn't do what I do without having mentors and teachers to give commentary on my work. But I’ve done a lot of work to educate myself around a particular design system, and I had to really study the culture, my own culture, through books and talking to other people and then practice and practice.

I’ve always been more of a three-dimensional glass-blowing guy, so I didn't draw much before. That also meant I had to train myself so that the work would look authentic even though it wasn't in the traditional material. So it's really just applying myself, forging new paths, and repetition. 

JW: When you say “traditional material,” is that wood or something else? 

PS: Yeah, typically it's mostly wood. But there's weaving and bone carving and sheephorn spoon making. Those are all traditional materials, but the most common would be cedar and alder wood. 

JW: Got it. So that transitions well into talking about this exhibit, Raven and the Box of Daylight, I am interested in what you see and understand as the value of exploring mythology in our contemporary world. 

PS: Ultimately, it’s about the story and stories through time have these recurring themes. I’ve worked with a Tlingit elder who impressed upon me the importance of these mythologies and unlocking the symbolism within them and understanding the archetypes within the story. 

I think of it through the lens of Jungian psychology, through dream analysis, through studying surrealism. Not deep dives, mind you, but just trying to have a base to understand it.

When you understand how your mind actually works, it’s incredible how relatable things become.  These archetypes that we all find ourselves in—these little boxes, and how we react and how we behave—these are elements of mythology and theology. And so I think that it's fascinating once you start to think about it. 

If I were to tell you that my life has been this sort of journey, like a movie or a story, then you know there are all these archetypes contained in that story about how I started off very humble and I found mentors and teachers. 

Star Wars is a great example of this. Luke Skywalker loses his parents and then he meets Obi-Wan Kenobi. And Obi-Wan Kenobi helps him, teaches him. Finally, you know, he emerges victoriously after he destroys the Death Star. Or The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy is surrounded by these three archetypes of characters, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Lion. Those are all metaphorical, and they’re on a journey together.

Everybody is a story. Everybody has a story. And not any one person's story is more unique than the others. When people are telling me, Oh, you know, you're so lucky to have this Alaskan Native background. I hear that a lot and my reaction is always this: What makes my story more interesting than your story? We're all a story. So that's what you can think about when you're going through your creative process. 

JW: Okay, that makes a lot of sense. As the artist, what do you hope people experience through Raven and the Box of Daylight?

PS: Well, I hope that they take away a sense of wonder and astonishment. I suppose that they can relate to the story in some way in their own life, that they can feel that they were immersed in the thread of the story that was the intention to sort of have this video and have these sounds in this language that's being spoken. 

JW: Is there a piece of insider information about this exhibit that we won’t be able to read on a wall card?

PS: Well, I guess it would have to be the music. I still moonlight as a musician, and I worked with different musician friends of mine to create soundscapes throughout to enhance the experience. And I don't think that's fully emphasized in the context of the exhibit.

JW: Any parting words for people early on in their creative careers? 

PS: Yeah, I would just say this: don't shut yourself off from new experiences or trying new things. You never know what might click with you. I mean, I thought I was going to make it as a musician, but I ended up excelling as a glass artist. I never would’ve figured that out if I hadn’t been open to something new.

JW:  Preston, thank you so much again for your time. I know I speak on behalf of many of our readers when I say that this has been an incredible conversation.

PS: Thank you. 

Stay Connected

This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our friends at Life in Indy.