Wichita museum exhibits Native American creation tale before it heads to the Smithsonian
Before heading to a Smithsonian museum later this year, a unique traveling exhibition that tells an important Native American tale is stopping at the Wichita Art Museum.
Billed as an immersive theatrical gallery experience because it combines glass art with video projections, sounds and storytelling, the exhibition “Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight” opens Saturday, Feb. 1, at the museum, 1400 Museum Blvd. It runs through Aug. 30.
Singletary, who incorporates elements from his Tlingit heritage into his glass art, will attend the exhibition’s opening party Feb. 1 and give a 90-minute artist’s talk Feb. 2.
The heart of the exhibition is the Tlingit creation story of the raven and how he transforms the world from darkness by stealing the light being hoarded by an old man in his clan house and bringing the moon, stars and sun to the people. The Tlingit — pronounced either Tlin-git or Klin-kit —are indigenous to the Pacific Northwest, primarily in Canada and into Alaska.
To follow the storyline, visitors will go through the exhibition sequentially, as the story progresses through four different settings.
It’s an art exhibition unlike any other that’s been featured at the art museum, said Patricia McDonnell, the museum’s director.
“Part of our job at the Wichita Art Museum is to help the city experience some of the amazing things going on in the art world and this is a show that is unusual since it’s part theatrical performance and part exhibition,” she said.
It’s also an opportunity to see work by a pioneering artist in what can be called “modern heritage art.”
Singletary has become well-known both nationally and internationally for using a nontraditional medium — glass — to depict indigenous imagery and art. Singletary, who studied at the famed Pilchuck Glass School co-founded by Dale Chihuly and with famous European glassblowers, started working with glass in 1982.
“Once I realized this connection I had with the material, I decided to stay with it and see how far I could go with it,” Singletary said in a phone interview from his Seattle studio.
He started using his skills with glass to express his culture and has worked with other indigenous artists, including the Maori in New Zealand and Aborigines in Australia, to explore glasswork as a contemporary medium.
For this exhibition, Singletary’s glass sculptures provide the 3D elements to tell a story that is of great significance in the Tlingit culture. The glassworks vary from the white raven to a carved canoe and busts of the Tlingit people who’ve been brought into the light.
Visitors also will see images projected onto string screens, along with light and shadows, while simultaneously hearing sounds, including the traditional Native American art form of oral storytelling. Together, they create a multisensory, theatrical experience.
“I wanted to have all these elements to transport the viewer to a different place,” Singletary said.
Singletary brought in other collaborators to help create different aspects of the exhibition. During the installation in Wichita, Juniper Shuey, from the production company zoe | juniper, was busy overseeing “how the journey happens,” he explained, as he was programming some of the projected images that will help depict the forest and river setting of the second stage of the story.
Matt Starritt was also on hand during the installation. Starritt created the soundscape mix that includes bird calls, coastal water sounds, blowing wind, a storyteller talking in the Tlingit language and even music that Singletary composed and created.
Raven stories are well-known in Native American lore. To create this exhibition, Singletary worked with Tlingit elder Walter Porter, who shared his interpretation and research of the Tlingit’s origin story featuring the raven.
“He helped me unlock the symbolism behind it,” Singletary said.
Porter died before the exhibition was finished so Singletary worked with Miranda Belarde-Lewis, an independent curator of Tlingit and Zuni heritage, to complete the exhibition. It premiered last year at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington.
After the exhibition closes Aug. 30 at WAM, it will head to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C. for a yearlong show.
The exhibition’s opening party Feb. 1 at WAM will feature a Native American student group singing a welcome to Singletary, who will sing a response. Representatives from the Mid America All-Indian Center also will be at the party to welcome Singletary, McDonnell said.
In conjunction with “Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight,” WAM is showcasing some works created by indigenous artists that are part of its permanent collection. “Native Voices” features prints, paintings and ceramics by artists from more than a dozen tribes. That exhibition runs through May 10.
‘Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight’
What: A theatrical gallery exhibition combining glass art, film projections, sounds and storytelling
Where: Wichita Art Museum, 1400 Museum Blvd. (While the museum’s main entrance is undergoing renovation, visitors should use a temporary entrance near the Tom Otterness sculpture on the east side of the building.)
When: Feb. 1-Aug. 30, hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays and noon-5 p.m. Sundays, closed Mondays and major holidays
Admission: $10 adults, $5 for those 60 and older, $3 for college/university students with ID and youth ages 5-17, free for WAM members and children under 5. On Saturdays, admission is free.
More information: wichitaartmuseum.org
Related ‘Raven’ exhibition events
Saturday, Feb. 1, 6:30-8:30 p.m., opening party with artist Preston Singletary and live music; $10, free for WAM members
Sunday, Feb. 2, 1-2:30 p.m., artist talk by Singletary; included with paid admission to the museum. Free for WAM members
Thursday, Feb. 6, 6-7:30 p.m., talk by Philbrook Museum of Art curator Christina Burke about contemporary indigenous artists; free
This story was originally published January 26, 2020 at 8:01 AM.