AT LEFT: Marcus Amerman, Glass Horse Mask, 2008. Multicolored glass. RIGHT: Tammy Garcia and Preston Singletary, Night Hunter (from "Visions in Glass III"), 2009. Blown and cold-worked glass.
As has been reported in the Hot Sheet, some of the top sellers at this year’s SOFA Chicago were collaborative works that paired Tammy Garcia and Preston Singletary—a dialogue, let’s call it, between a ceramicist and glass maker. Both artists are of Native American descent and inspired by tribal forms and motifs: from Pueblo traditions, in the case of Garcia, and Tlingit in the case of Singletary. Their most recent “Visions in Glass III” series is firmly rooted in these traditions, seemingly distanced from contemporary art forms and themes. The use of blown glass, however, a technique and material perfected in Europe, is a decidedly untraditional twist, although if one looks at the historic relationship between Native American tribal art and European materials and technology, it can be seen as only the latest in a long history of technological exchange through art. Continue reading
