Guardian of the Sea

2004

Corporations and even our current government are rolling back environmental regulations, defunding scientific research, building oil pipelines which endanger our clean water, and a whole host of other issues that endanger our health as a nation. In my opinion, this is due to the lack of a true spiritual connection in relation to nature. . . . It is driven by a blind and misguided capitalist perspective that is not balanced by a respect for our environment.
—Preston Singletary, 2019

This work embodies the connection between tradition and artistic innovation. The artist Preston Singletary employs the medium of glass both to counter the stereotype that Native artists must use traditional materials and to preserve cultural symbols of his tribe that are tied to the local environment. Here, Singletary depicts the southern resident killer whale (or orca), a hereditary crest figure of his clan. Habitat contamination and the rapid decline of the Chinook salmon, this whale’s main food source, have brought it to the brink of extinction.