Groundbreaking visions

Glass art was a late development in the practice of contemporary Indigenous artists, but in the past half century, it’s had a profound impact, bringing international recognition to artists such as Preston Singletary (Tlingit) and Dan Friday (Lummi). For some, it has become a medium to express personal and collective visions drawn from their tribal heritage. But no wide-ranging survey existed until author and curator Letitia Chambers wrote Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass, a book that inspired an exhibition of the same name at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. On the cover is Singletary’s Tlingit Baskets from 2013 (blown and sand-carved glass, photo Spike Mafford, courtesy Preston Singletary Studio, Seattle).