Bronze Totem depicting Killer Whale
by Preston Singletary, Tlingit Nation
Bronze, edition #7/12
17” high x 4.5” wide x 2.5” deep
Provenance: Private Collection of Wayne Redmond, Santa Fe, NM. Purchased at Blue Rain Gallery in Santa Fe, NM. This limited edition bronze immediately sold out when first offered for sale at Blue Rain Gallery. This piece is featured in Quintana Galleries full page ad in the Fall 2025 Issue of First American Art Magazine.
Preston Singletary is descended from the Tlingit Nation of southeastern Alaska. Singletary grew up in Seattle, and learned about his Tlingit heritage from his great grandmother, who was from Sitka, Alaska. Singletary's work is imbued with the sophisticated and vibrant artistic traditions of the Northwest Coast. He studies ancient designs made in traditional materials, such as cedar, shell, and bone, and he re-creates them in a modern, nontraditional mediums of glass and silkscreen prints.
Singletary began his research into Northwest Coast art and his cultural heritage by learning traditional formline design. (Ovoid and U-shaped forms are characteristic of formline, which is used in all Northwest Coast art.) He proceeded slowly in his new work, and he asked other Native American artists to critique his designs. He was careful to develop images that related to the totem of his family and clan.
Singletary considers the traditional designs of the Tlingit to be similar to a jazz improvisation. Although there are rules for the flow of the line, and its thickness and balance, there are also cultural and personal styles. Formline design may also be compared with calligraphy, in which there are many variations, and in which a unique, personal style might begin to emerge after years of refining the art.
Singletary’s artworks are included in museum collections such as the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian, Washington D.C., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY, The Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, and the Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ. Singletary is a member of the Board of Trustees for Pilchuck Glass School and the Seattle Art Museum.
"My work continues to evolve and connect my personal cultural perspective to current modern art movements, and I have received much attention for striving to keep the work fresh and relevant. I have been honored that my success has inspired other artists from underrepresented indigenous cultures to use nontraditional materials in their work, and hope that I can continue to encourage more innovation in this area as my career progresses." - Preston Singletary
