The work of Preston Singletary graces the cover of the Fall 2010 edition of GLASS: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly
The new issue of GLASS: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly has hit newsstands and subscriber mailboxes. On the cover: The Native American-inspired artwork of Preston Singletary, who has a mid-career retrospective exhibition of his work set to travel after a year at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington. Using deep sandblasting, Singletary recreates traditional Tlingit tribal form-line woodcarving as elements on glass vessels. Frequent GLASS contributor Victoria Josslin examines Singletary’s achievements, his success in the tribal art field, and his bid for a place in contemporary art.
Mining an idealized past can be a risky proposition for an artist, and Josslin asks some pointed questions about whether Singletary sees himself as a spokesman for Native American culture in general; how he navigates between Native culture, glass culture, and wider contemporary culture; his use of ceremonial objects as material for works of art; and what kind of feedback he gets from the Tlingit people he identifies himself with most strongly. Singletary’s answers, as well as a thoughtful examination of the work, lead off this issue that focuses on three artist-explorers.
In Singletary’s case, the journey is back to an idealized time, and one that takes a detour from the painful historic conflict between Native American and European American cultures, on its search for connection to a universal language of shamanistic spirituality.In the case of Oben Abright, whose work is examined by GLASS contributing editor William Ganis, the journey is to Southeast Asia, where Abright has researched the plight of the oppressed ethnic minority of Burma. Bringing back photos, sketchbooks, and vivid impressions, Abright creates realistic molds which he blows into to create sculpted figures whose faces literally glow with uncanny inner light. Rubbing oil paint into the finishes, and adding actual clothes to the cement torsos add texture and a lifelike effect that cannot help but elicit empathy, and possibly action, for the injustices taking place in this troubled nation.
A third artist-traveler in this edition edition is Paul Marioni, who went west to take part in the California funk scene in the 1970s, and stayed, becoming a fixture at Pilchuck Glass School. Marioni’s four decades of sculptural exploration have been marked by a restless and relentless search for expression through glass, taking on political themes, abstract shapes, and even kinetic sculptures. Frequent GLASS contributor John Drury examines Marioni’s muscular imagination and restless creativity that continues to boldly evolve.
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