By Kristen Pignuolo, Curatorial Assistant
Through soundscapes, video projections, and the glass art of Preston Kochéin Singletary (Tlingit [KLING-kit] American), Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight tells the foundational Tlingit story of how the trickster Raven (whose Tlingit name is Yéil) stole and released the sun, moon, and stars. The exhibition is compiled from five different versions of the story and emerged from a dialogue between Singletary and Tlingit elder, storyteller, and mythologist Shdal’éiw Walter C. Porter. Upon seeing the artist’s sculpture Raven Steals the Sun (on view in the exhibition), Porter realized that Singletary’s glass art had incredible potential and storytelling power. According to the exhibition’s curator, Miranda Shkík Belarde-Lewis, PhD (Tlingit/Zuni), it was Porter’s encouragement that inspired Singletary to tell the story of Yéil ka Keiwa.aa Lákt (Raven and the Box of Daylight) through glass.
The Tlingit are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America, concentrated in the area we know today as the southeast Alaskan coast. Born in Yakutat, Alaska, in 1944, Porter spent his childhood listening to stories told by his grandmother and other Tlingit elders that were passed down through generations. When his family moved to Haines, Alaska, in 1956, he joined the Chilkat Dancers, who performed dances that told the stories he grew up hearing. After graduating high school in 1962, he traveled for ten years before moving back to Yakutat.
As a mythologist, Porter spent his life studying the different versions of Tlingit stories, analyzing their symbolism, and finding similarities to stories in other religions and cultures around the world. He believed that these similarities are evidence of our shared humanity, while still acknowledging our distinct cultural traditions.1 Porter spent his life holding lectures and workshops examining these stories and their symbolism, allowing the audience to understand the “wisdom and knowledge of [their] elders unfolding from ancient times to present.”2
According to Porter, the “importance of mythology is that it’s universal. Every culture has the same information disguised in story.”3 In his studies, Porter discovered similarities in the story of Raven and the Box of Daylight with the teachings of Buddha, stories in the Bible, and ancient traditions held by the Indigenous people in Oceania, Aotearoa (known in English as New Zealand), and Australia.
Porter passed away in 2013, but his work and influence live on. When Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight opened in 2018 at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA, Singletary dedicated the show to Porter. In an interview with Dr. Belarde-Lewis about the exhibition, Singletary reflected on how Porter continues to inspire him and push him to bring cultural meaning to his art.4
Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight is located on the Museum’s third floor and closes soon on Sunday, April 28.
Image Credit
Preston Singletary (American Tlingit, born 1963). Gagaan Awutáawu Yéil (Raven Steals the Sun), Made at the Museum of Glass in 2008. Blown, hot-sculpted, and sand-carved glass; 9 1/2 x 26 x 9 1/2 in. Collection of Museum of Glass, Tacoma, gift of the artist. Photo by Russell Johnson.
1 Miranda Belarde-Lewis, “The Backstory: Illuminating the treasured story of Raven, and its shared values,” The Seattle Times, July 21, 2019, https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/the-backstory-illuminating-the-treasured-story-of-raven-and-its-shared-values/.
2 “Partners in Mythology: Preston Singletary and Walter Porter,” Preston Singletary, May 1, 2013, accessed March 18, 2024, https://www.prestonsingletary.com/blog/post/partners-in-mythology-preston-singletary-and-walter-porter.
3 Belarde-Lewis, “The Backstory.”
4 Miranda Belarde-Lewis, “In Conversation: Preston Kochéin Singletary,” Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019), p. 47.
