by Patricia Frischer
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| Preston Singletary |
Clearly Indigenous:
Native Visions Reimagined in Glass is a stunning exhibition at
The Mingei in Balboa Park. Stunning in vision, stunning in view and
historically stunning. The fact is that Indian artists were discouraged from doing
anything not directly referencing their cultural past. There was no tradition
of glass until the 1970s, when Lloyd Henri "Kiva" New, an
influential
Cherokee artist, educator, and the "Godfather of Native American
fashion", revolutionized indigenous art by pioneering modern Native
fashion. He co-founding with Dr.
George Boyce, the Institute of American
Indian Arts
(IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. At first a high school and then a college and
now a university and museum and research center.He
brought in Dale Chihuly in 1974 from Rhode Island School of Design to
teach. Chihuly introduced glass art to the school and was, in turn, influenced
by Native Americans in his own work. His glass cylinders and basket series show
that influence. Chihuly is included in this exhibition because of his major
role in started this trend.
This
exhibition curated by Dr. Letitia
Chambers, also author of the book of the same name with Cathy Short,
has been roughly divided into four areas of content. But there are cross over
artists in more than one subject area and also pieces that are have more than
one subject area in them. And many of the artists collaborate with each other
and work in other mediums like clay, wood and metal.
The
main content subject are functional objects vessels and textiles inspired
pieces in glass that look woven or have wood texture. Animals of the land and
sea creatures are sculpted and etched. Ancestors’ voices including petroglyphs
are respected and heard. There is a cross-culture influence bringing two worlds
together…the spiritual and the real. The show covers 45 years of Native glass
art.
The
exhibition has been well traveled over the last 4 years. Some of the original
works had to be replaced because some of the owners could not part with them
for so long. But the artists are all thrilled with this exposure. There are 120
glass art objects created by twenty-nine Native American artists, two
Australian Aboriginal artists, as well as two Māori artists.
The
exhibition travelled with its own display cases but, of course, each venue is
different. We have to applaud Emily Hanna, the Mingei curator, and Jerry
Maloney, the installation designer. They are responsible for the creative
placement and additional construction for all the Mingei exhibitions and their standards
are amazingly high.
"The
glass art created by American Indian artists not only is a personal expression
of each artist but also is imbued with their cultural heritage. These
artists have melded the aesthetics and properties inherent in glass art with
their cultural ways of knowing. The result is the stunning collection of
artworks presented here."
–
Letitia Chambers, Curator
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| Preston Singletary |
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Dan Friday |
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Preston
Singletary and Harlan Reano |
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Preston
Singletary and Harlan Reano |
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Jody
Naranjo and Preston Singletary |
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Preston Singletary and Marcus Amerman |
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Preston
Singletary and Harlan Reano |
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LarryAnvakana |
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Angela Babby |
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Raya Friday |
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Tammy Garcia |
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Adrian Wall |
Joe Fedderson
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Ho-Wan-Ut "Haila" Old Peter |
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Marvin Oliver |
Dale Chihuly
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Dan Friday |
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Marvin Oliver |
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Raven Skyriver |
India Thompson: Looks
Like Home
turns functional basketry on its head. Curated
by Ariana Torres, Mingei Assistant Curator, discovered that this work by India Thompson actually comes
from an emotional source. Thompson presents us with an entire
bathroom, fire extinguisher, microwave, and refrigerator created out of reeds. She chooses mundane, everyday objects, because
that, for her, is what makes her home, a home. This journey started with trying
to make a trout as a gift. The challenges of figuring out different shapes kept
her moving forward. Time, repetition and patience are necessary for reed
construction. They are also attributes of building a home.
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India Thompson |
India Thompson
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India Thompson |
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India Thompson |
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India Thompson |
We
also want to give a shout out to the third show on the second floor of the
museum. To Catch a
Fish contains a world of stories. Here are just three. Robert J. Lang survived the Eaton Fire
in Altadena in 2025 but his home and his origami materials, research and work
he owned by other was all burnt to ash. That ash was put into hand-made paper
and each of the 50 koi fish on display was created for a square of that paper.
The giant fish traps come from the Philippines and are bamboo treated with salt
water to prevent insect feasting. They are set in the water against the current.
Local San Diego artist Aidelen Montoya research how the local lake trout
population were nearly destroyed by lamprey and commercial fishing in the 1940’s.
The red beads in the beaded fish are not
just representing the wounded fish, but they are the same number (1150) of lake
trout spawning sites in the recovery process.
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Robert J. Lang |
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Fish Traps (unknown makers) |
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Aidelen Montoya |
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Aidelen Montoya (detail) |
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