Indigenous glass artist opens immersive exhibit in OKC during Native American Heritage Month

Through a sorcerous fusion of light, shadow and sound, a string curtain forms a fantastical landscape, with starlight twinkling, blue-green water falling and silhouetted mountains and evergreens looming tall.

From his high perch, a glowing white bird seems to watch intently as visitors pass through this thin veil into what seems like another world — or, rather, the transporting telling of a story about this one.

"Everything I do is connected to my cultural background, my Tlingit background, and I was working with aspects of this story for many years. Raven is a big figure in our culture. There's a lot of stories about Raven and his adventures and the things that he did to set the world in order," said groundbreaking Native American glass artist Preston Singletary.

"It was an adventure putting it all together."

The multisensory traveling exhibition "Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight" landed at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art earlier in November, which is Native American Heritage Month, and will be on view on the museum's third floor through April 28.

Why must 'Raven and Box of Daylight' be seen in person to appreciate it?

Organized by the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, the innovative exhibit showcases the Seattle artist's glass sculptures among immersive projections and video, original music and Pacific Northwest coastal soundscapes to tell his tribe's origin story of Raven bringing the the sun, moon and stars to the world.

"We are a major venue for glass in the United States. ... But we don't have any works by Preston, and he's somebody that exists very much in that same community of glass artists. So, first, it was an opportunity to expand on what we had in our own collection," said OKC Museum of Art President and CEO Michael Anderson.

"Beyond that, we also don't really have the opportunity to do too many Native American exhibitions — and a part of that is by design with First Americans (Museum) and the National Cowboy Museum, both of which have collections and expertise in those areas. But this is an exhibition that seemed better suited to us. ...  It's an important enough contemporary glass exhibition that it just needed to be in Oklahoma City."

Since it debuted at the Museum of Glass in 2018, "Raven and the Box of Daylight" has traveled to the Wichita Art Museum in Kansas, Chrysler Museum of Art in Virginia and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

The glass artist, who was born in San Francisco in 1963, collaborated with the company zoe I juniper to create the projections and soundscapes for the experiential exhibit.

"The still photos of these works, they just can't do them any justice. ... It is immersive, and that's by design. So, you're not seeing these glass fishes in a white box on just maybe on pedestals," Anderson said.

Ahead of the OKC opening for "Raven and the Box of Daylight," Singletary spoke with The Oklahoman about developing the immersive exhibit, working in glass and sharing the culture of his Tlingit tribe, which hails from southern Alaska:

Q: Can you talk about what it takes to bring together a big, immersive show like this?

I'd been thinking about it for many years and working with Raven imagery, and then I met a man named Walter Porter, who was a Tlingit elder and mythologist. ... He would read into the symbolism and identify the archetypes of the symbols, and then he would compare it to a broader mythological point of view. And he shared lots of insight to the story with me.

So, we had an endeavored to work on it together and create this exhibition, but then he passed away (in 2013). So, I was left to work on my own and try to remember all the things that he had shared with me.

Then, I worked with another curator, Miranda Belarde-Lewis (who is Zuni/Tlingit), and she helped me put the show together and figure out how to string it together and tell it like a story.

Q: Can you talk about working with other artists to tell this story?

I worked with Dorothy Grant, who is Haida, a sister tribe to the Tlingit, and she makes garments and dresses and fashion haute couture. So, she makes these beautiful dresses, and she does also some of what we call regalia.

So, I asked her to create these dresses and robes ... that we could cover these mannequins with, to bring a little bit of human presence into the space with the idea of the people that live inside this clan house.

Then, Juniper Shuey was the videographer, so he helped me design the exhibition. I told him about the elements that I was interested in having, and he came up with the video and was able to bring that all together. So, it is very much a collaboration with Juniper.

Q: How has it been for you as an artist and an Indigenous person to share a story with everyone that's such a big part of your heritage?

This was a real opportunity to share a cultural story with a broader audience. For me, it brings a little bit of an awareness of the culture and the stories that go with it.

This is just one story of many stories, but this was one that I chose to focus on, because it was probably the best-known story.

Sometimes I kind of lose perspective on it, because it was such an endeavor to put it all together. It took about three years to make all these pieces, aside from my studio practice, where I'm trying to have gallery shows and make money and keep the studio running. So, I had to make these pieces and put them away and stockpile until I had all the collection together.

A lot of the objects are actually Tlingit (in that) they're all based on tradition. So, what I tried to do is mimic the objects that were typically either a basket weave or an object that was carved in wood that I replicated to some degree in glass. ... Everything, like the baskets that you see in there, they're all traditional designs. For this exhibition, I wanted everything to look like it came from ancient times, but it's obviously modern in the material.

Q: What do you like about working in glass?

I started as a glass blower in 1982, and I started in a production factory and was doing pretty basic objects like Christmas balls and paperweights and things like that.

I started going to the Pilchuck Glass School, and that's where I learned how artists work with glass. People from all over the globe would come to this school in the Northwest, and I just happened to be there. So, I ended up just following that thread.

I realized that this was an opportunity that I could showcase the (Tlingit) culture. In the end, that's what it's come to be, that I'm getting a lot of attention for what I'm doing, because it is a new material (for Indigenous art).

So, I just decided to stick with the material that I knew best. ... I tried woodcarving, but I realized it might take me a whole other lifetime to get good at woodcarving. So, I just decided to stay in my lane and see what I could accomplish with this new material. ... I've studied the design work for many years, obviously, and how to make everything anew: How to use the elements but create new designs within that sort of architecture of the design work.

Q: How is it to bring this exhibit to Oklahoma, where we have 39 tribes headquartered?

This is really exciting, because there's a big Native population here. So, I've had a great opportunity to go to the First Americans Museum and see what they're doing there. ...  It's (the Tlingit tribe) is from Alaska, so this is definitely a little out of place for this Midwest area. ... It's an honor to be able to share with such a broad audience.

'Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight'

• When: Through April 28.

• Where: Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive.

• Admission: $16.95 for adults, $14.95 for seniors 62 and older and college students, $9.95 for active duty military. Children ages 17 and younger and museum members admitted free.

• Information: https://www.okcmoa.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC museum opens immersive exhibit 'Raven and the Box of Daylight'