Tlingit – creator of the world and giver of heaven (12 photos)

In 1963, a boy was born in San Francisco. Who was unlucky at first, but then he found the strength to change everything.





Preston Singletary was a member of the glorious Tlingit tribe. But when the boy grew up, one thing became clear: for a more or less normal life, he needed to master some kind of real profession. Because hunting, which was the way Preston’s ancestors lived, will no longer be able to provide food in the changed conditions.



Modern Tlingit





Preston Singletary

Problems arose with the first step on the path to education. The fact is that Indian children at that time studied in special boarding schools. Exclusively in the spirit of European-Canadian culture. And the wise father, realizing that the path to economics or jurisprudence was closed to an Indian, decided to try a not very popular field - art.



A school principal in Alaska ignored the desire of a father and son. And for the second time he turned away the petitioners in the person of several representatives of the tribe, arguing the refusal by the occupation that had begun a long time ago. But Preston, although he did not bear a proud Indian name like Vigilant Falcon or Swift Deer, was still a son of his people.



And he took up the evidence. He spent several months making a stone sculpture, at the sight of which both the school director and the entire admissions committee's jaws dropped. The guy was accepted. The Tlingit representative did an excellent job.



And when the question arose about choosing his own unique direction, he decided to use glass to express traditional Tlingit themes. And he succeeded so much in this that he turned into a master - the author of the original technology. Singletary learned to give the surface of the finished product a matte finish. Thanks to which his works not only found their connoisseurs, but also glorified the Indian throughout the world.



His exhibitions are played out in interesting ways, as, for example, in the case of Raven. One of the traditional symbols of Indian culture tells visitors the story of the creation of the world and the transformation of darkness into light. Thematic musical accompaniment (and the man also plays bass guitar in a folk rock band), carefully selected projections and, of course, the work of Singletary’s hands prove that if you put in due diligence and diligence, you can achieve, if not everything, then a lot .









At work