Tacoma, Wash. (October 20, 2009)— Museum of Glass (MOG) and Tacoma Art Museum (TAM) are teaming up to offer a joint admission ticket November 11 – 15, 2009.  This offer is presented to encourage patrons to visit both museums as each is featuring solo exhibitions by Native American artists who reference their culture in contemporary art.  The ticket price is $15 for regular adult admission to both museums, a $6 savings over purchasing individual admission at each museum.

“We are always looking for opportunities to partner with our Tacoma Museum District neighbors,” comments Timothy Close, MOG Director and CEO.  “The week’s programming—TAM’s Joe Feddersen exhibition, MOG’s Preston Singletary show and the Hot Shop residency of Singletary and Marcus Amerman—naturally called for a joint ticket.”

Northwest artist Joe Feddersen is a printmaker, basket weaver, and glass artist who combines traditional forms and symbols drawn from his Native American heritage with contemporary imagery. His show at TAM, Joe Feddersen: Vital Signs, presents his highly-regarded work which explores the relationship of culture and the landscape, urban place markers and indigenous designs. The resulting work is both coolly modern and warmly expressionistic. This touring exhibition includes more than 60 works and is on view through January 10, 2010.

Preston Singletary: Echoes, Fire, and Shadows, organized by MOG, is a mid-career survey of Singletary’s work which combines two of the Northwest’s most prominent artistic influences—traditional Native American designs and the medium of glass.  For nearly two decades, Singletary has melded the symbols, patterns and legends of his Tlingit heritage with the dynamism of the Studio Glass movement, creating a distinctive and powerful body of work.  The exhibition comprises 54 works including the signature piece, Clan House, a 16- x 10-foot cast-glass triptych commissioned for the Museum’s Permanent Collection.  Echoes, Fire, and Shadows is on view at MOG through September 19, 2010 before travelling to venues across the country, including the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of the American Indian in New York.

In conjunction with Echoes, Fire, and Shadows, MOG will welcome Singletary and Marcus Amerman, an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, to the Hot Shop November 11 – 15.  Amerman creates works using traditional beadwork techniques infused with his own style of stitching beads into realistic, pictorial images, rather than patterns.  He and Singletary will collaborate on new designs during this residency.

On Sunday, November 15, all three artists will participate in a panel discussion at 2 p.m. in the Museum of Glass Theater.

“This is a rare opportunity to see the work of three contemporary Native American artists together and hear them talk about their work,” said Stephanie Stebich, Director of Tacoma Art Museum. “By partnering with MOG, we hope to make these important exhibitions and programs more accessible to our community.”

In addition to the joint general admission price, MOG and TAM will offer complimentary admission to their partner museum’s members.  Area college students (with student ID) will also receive complimentary admission in recognition of Feddersen’s new exhibition, Joe Feddersen: Pattern Recognition, which opens at Evergreen State College in Olympia on November 12, 2009.  Active duty military and veterans will receive free admission (with valid ID) on Veterans Day, November 11, 2009.