Tlingit Crest Hat

Label

Two-dimensional formline design—such as the painting on the model canoe paddles in this case—is the distinctive style of Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian communities in the Pacific Northwest. It emerged from existing sculptural traditions, which, like formline art, continue to be practiced today. Contemporary artist Preston Singletary derives the direction and purpose of his work from his Tlingit cultural heritage. Yet he utilizes an unexpected medium to perpetuate the visual language of his people. Drawing on more than thirty years of experience working with glass in Seattle, Sweden, and among Venice’s legendary artisans, Singletary employs a mastery of European glass-blowing techniques and etching to intensify and enliven the formline designs in his works.

From the 2022 exhibition Unbroken: Native American Ceramics, Sculpture, and Design, curated by Dillen Peace '19, Native American Art Intern and Sháńdíín Brown '20, Native American Art Intern 

Course History

ARTH 16, ANTH 50, Australian Aborigional Art, Howard Morphy, Fall 2012

NAS 30.1, ARTH 17, Modern Native American Art History, Joyce Szabo, Summer 2013

NAS 37, ANTH 47, Alaska: American Dreams and Native Realities, Sergei Kan, Winter 2014

NAS 37, ANTH 37, Alaska: American Dreams and Native Realities, Sergei Kan, Spring 2015

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Sienna Craig, Winter 2022

Writing Program 5.24, Photographic Representations, Amanda Wetsel, Winter 2023

Writing Program 5.25, Photographic Representations, Amanda Wetsel, Winter 2023

Exhibition History

Native American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 8, 2011-March 12, 2012.

Native Ecologies: Recycle, Resist, Protect, Sustain, Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26, 2019-January 5, 2020

Unbroken: Native American Ceramics, Sculpture, and Design, Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 22, 2022-March 12, 2023.

Publication History

George P. Horse Capture, Sr., Joe D. Horse Capture, Joseph M. Sanchez, et al., Native American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2011, ill. on p. 71 and p. 143, no. 29.

Provenance

The artist; Blue Rain Gallery, Taos, New Mexico; sold to present collection, 2007.

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Subjects