Photograph by Ed Pollard, Sony a7R II 2023.

Sky Blue Tlingit Glass Basket

Artist Preston Singletary (American (Tlingit), born 1963)

CultureAmerican (Tlingit)

Date2020

MediumBlown and sand-carved glass

Dimensions8 × 9 1/2 × 9 1/2 in. (20.3 × 24.1 × 24.1 cm)

SignedOn the base, the artist’s signature is incised into the glass in script: Preston Singletary 2020.

Credit LineGift of Virginia and John Hitch

Object number2021.21.1

Not on view

DescriptionThese two glass vases are in the shape of traditional woven Tlingit baskets; the
smaller one is further described as a berry basket. Both glass vessels are blown and sand-carved (sandblasted) on their exterior.
The larger of the two baskets has a slightly conical shape with gradually tapering
sides. It is blown from translucent, sky blue glass with a lip wrap of opaque dark blue glass. The glass has an all-over raised pattern of small dots, gridded on the exterior surface to give the glass the appearance of a woven texture. A single, broad, horizontal band of geometric patterning (zig-zag lines, triangles, stepped lines) wraps around the exterior, in a contrasting metallic-brownish glass; the brown glass began as an overlay, which was then sand-carved to reveal the blue glass beneath. On the base, the artist’s signature is incised into the glass in script: Preston Singletary 2020.
ProvenanceThe two vases were purchased by Virginia Hitch from Stonington Gallery in Seattle. They were selected by the Curator of Glass from available works by the artist, using photographs and the help of FaceTime video calls with the gallery, and in consultation with Virginia and John Hitch.Published ReferencesPreston Singletary’s work has been published extensively and collected by many major institutions (for example the British Museum, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of the Arts, MFA Boston, Newark Museum, Museum of Art + Design in New York). The artist’s berry baskets are a particular favorite for collectors of contemporary glass and of Native American art. A collection of Singletary’s glass baskets are included prominently in the current traveling exhibition Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight, which will also be shown at the Chrysler Museum of Art in 2022 (previously shown at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, the Wichita Art Museum, and the National Museum of the American Indian).