Blue Rain Gallery will host three events during its annual Celebration of Native American Art, August 19 through 31. The kickoff to the festivities happens during Native Art Week in Santa Fe, New Mexico, when collectors, artists and other dealers are in town for the SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market, held this year August 21 and 22.
Preston Singletary (Tlingit), Transforming Killer Whale, cast lead crystal, 35½ x 10 x 10"
Blue Rain, located in the Railyard District, will begin with its annual group exhibition from August 19 to 31. A reception will take place opening night from 5 to 8 p.m. The show will include artwork from Dan Friday, Helen K. Tindel, Chris Pappan, Jody Naranjo, Starr Hardridge, Maria Samora, Hyrum Joe, Lisa Holt and Harlan Reano, Thomas “Breeze” Marcus and collaborative works from Shelley Muzylowski Allen and Angela Swedberg.
Hardridge is recognized for his paintings that resemble intricate beadwork. Among his newest works is I will carry you too. Explaining the painting, he says, “The tribes of the Southeast have primarily matriarchal societies. They determine order and balance through the clan system. This painting demonstrates the Mother that embodies all of creation. She both nurtures and bears the weight of generations to come. She is the center of the universe, and her medicine is love.”
Preston Singletary (Tlingit) and Raven Skyriver (Tlingit), Whistle, blown and sand carved glass, 27 x 29 x 15"
The first time Friday saw glassmaking, he knew the dynamic process was for him. “Such fragile beauty, and paradoxically, a resilient permanence,” he says. “While studying at the Corning Museum in New York I was blown away to see a 3,500-year-old bust of Cleopatra in glass, such a contrast as the last of my great-grandfather’s totem poles have returned to earth.”
Friday’s pieces draw from Coast Salish themes and practices. He shares, “The family I come from is the bear Family, and the Sxwole Anchor is just one part of a recent series about Straits Salish Reef net fishing, the traditional means of salmon fishing in the Lummi tribe. Bringing my ancestors culture forward in this contemporary medium of glass brings me much pleasure.”
Dan Friday (Lummi), Sxwole Anchor, blown
glass and cedar rope,
13½ x 11½ x 6"
Navajo painter Joe draws inspiration for his artwork from his own experiences. Included in the show is Spirit of the San Carlos Apache Dancers. “As a young kid growing up on the reservation, our annual fairs had Apache Crown Dancers perform in the parades. I was fascinated immensely by their outfits and dancing,” he says. “Later, as I started my art career, I was invited to attend the San Carlos Sunrise Ceremony. It was the first time I had seen the dances again. The dancers represented being messengers from God, and performed blessings upon the teenage Apache girl who was blossoming into a woman, to receive strength, wisdom, to bare and nurture any children. She would always be protected by the Holy Ones. This is a beautiful ceremony of the Apache people that lives on strong today.”
Starr Hardridge (Muscogee Creek),
I will carry you too, acrylic and Venetian plaster on canvas, 24 x 18"
On August 20 a solo exhibition for Preston Singletary opens with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. His show will remain on view through the end of the month. The exhibition will include 12 new pieces that vary from organic modern shapes with Tlingit designs to a cast glass canoe paddle to work inspired by Tlingit carving traditions. “Part of the featured pieces are from a series of sculptures inspired by the life of my father who I lost last November,” Singletary says. “I’ve been mythologizing his life on the rivers and in the mountains. He was a well-known fly fisherman/fly tier. His natural curiosity and dabbling in many things always impressed on me that I could do anything that I put my mind to.”
Helen K. Tindel (Santa Clara), Birdie, acrylic on panel, 39½ x 32¼"
One of his newest pieces is Meditations With Fire and Singletary says, it “depicts me as a glassblower holding a glassblowing pipe, on a Killer Whale (my crest symbol) and also an octopus with flowing tentacles (representing the flowing nature of hot glass), an eagle on top (representing the moiety in which my clan is relegated to) and an homage to a deceased friend who assisted and worked with me for 20 years. At the very top is a contrasting colored glass sun which sets the piece off nicely.”
In addition to his own pieces, Singletary has done many collaborations over the years. His most recent is with rising Tlingit glass artist River Skyriver, who is recognized for his marine creatures big and small. There will be five works from the duo in the show including Whistle, which depicts two whales swimming side by side. Singletary says, “Raven and I have shared Tlingit heritage and have been working with his ability for naturalistic sculptural forms and my sand carved design work.”
Hyrum Joe (Navajo),
Spirit of the San Carlos Apache Dancers, oil on canvas, 24 x 36"
Singletary and Friday will host glassblowing demonstrations August 20 and 21 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days. This unique event allows visitors to see how glass art is created firsthand by two of the masters in the field. Friday and Singletary usually take turns demonstrating, showing their distinct sensibilities, while also talking to guests and answering questions.
Blue Rain Gallery
August 19-31, 2021
544 S. Guadalupe Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501
(505) 954-9902, www.blueraingallery.com
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