Art Deco Masterpieces and Raven Bring the Lure of Glass to Visitors Nationwide

By Rebecca Engelhardt, Collections & Exhibitions Manager

Museum of Glass is proud of the fact that, in addition to keeping up the galleries in Tacoma, our curatorial team coordinates an active traveling program, which expands our mission to thousands of visitors nationwide. Currently, five exhibitions make up our traveling exhibition roster. These projects serve as ambassadors that expand people’s understanding of how glass can be used as a contemporary art medium. Their exploration of glass ranges from the magical miniature worlds created by Paul Stankard to the immersive environment of Raven bringing daylight to the world through the work of Preston Singletary. In the past few years, our most active projects have been Art Deco Glass from the David Huchthausen Collection and Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight.

Art Deco Glass from the David Huchthausen Collection at Huntsville Museum of Art, Alabama (June – September 2020). Photo courtesy of Huntsville Museum of Art.

Even while the doors were closed in Tacoma in 2020, Art Deco Glass from the David Huchthausen Collection began its journey at Huntsville Museum of Art (Alabama). Since then, the “Art Deco show” has crossed 6,500 miles and been to five states. At Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum (Wisconsin) and Biggs Museum of American Art (Delaware), the staff were drawn to host the exhibition as part of their celebration of the United Nations' designation of 2022 as the International Year of Glass. At each venue, Art Deco takes on a unique look and is supported by a growing number of tours, talks, and programs where visitors learn about this art movement, born almost 100 years ago at the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes in Paris. The exhibition is designed to help visitors tie this historic work to the contemporary pieces they see being made today, as pointed out by Fort Wayne Museum of Art associate curator of exhibition, Jenna Gilley: "The FWMoA decided to host Art Deco Glass from the Huchthausen Collection not only for its beauty and expanse, but because of the work's integral connection to the Studio Glass movement of the 1960s. The techniques featured, such as acid etching, mold blowing, and the beginning of solo experimentation by André Thuret and Henri Navarre, add historical context to the more than 100 works of studio glass featured in our Glass Wing that opened last fall."

Art Deco Glass from the David Huchthausen Collection at Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Indiana (April – August 2023). Photo courtesy of Fort Wayne Museum of Art.

Art Deco Glass from the David Huchthausen Collection at Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, Wisconsin (March – June 2022). Photo courtesy of Woodson Art Museum.

Early in 2020, Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight kicked off its tour at Wichita Art Museum (WAM) in Kansas. This was followed by a stop at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian where it was seen by more than 500,000 visitors.

Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight at National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (January 2022 – January 2023). Photo by Matailong Du, courtesy of National Museum of the American Indian.

Installation of Raven Transforms at National Museum of the American Indian. Preston Singletary (American Tlingit, born 1963). Raven Transforms (Du Liltóox Akawajéil), 2018.

“Bringing Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight was important for our audience at Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. It was here that Preston Singletary first met Walter Porter and began the journey that has now come full circle in sharing this amazing body of work,” said Emil Her Many Horses, curator for the National Museum of the American Indian.

Raven traveling to Oklahoma City Museum of Art in 2023 shared the Tlingit story within an important hub of Indigenous cultural activity. The show remains there through April 2024, if you should find yourself in the area.

Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight at Wichita Art Museum, Kansas (February 2020 – January 2021). Photo courtesy of Wichita Art Museum.

In addition to sharing the exhibitions with visitors, our traveling exhibition program builds valuable partners within our museum network. A stop at Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia was an excellent opportunity to work more closely with another organization that also includes a hot shop residency program as part of their programming. Repeat visits to locations like WAM grows the family of glass-engaged institutions (WAM previously exhibited other MOG exhibitions Richard Marquis: Keepers and Links: Australian Glass and the Pacific Northwest). Hunter Museum of American Art (Tennessee) will also become a repeat venue when they host Art Deco Glass in May 2024.

As the shows travel, our staff members assist with the installations and deinstallations, sharing our insight on how to safely install and pack each work of art. We also bring home new tricks of the trade. As the installation courier for most of the venues for Raven and the Box of Daylight, it is always so rewarding for me to see the show reimagined in each location. The most reassuring moment, though, is when, with the help of Singletary’s studio assistant Sean Albert, we successfully secure the piece “Raven Transforms (Du Liltóox Akawajéil)”. It is a truly choreographed dance of crew, fragile artwork, climbers’ rigging gear, and balance. This is the true magic of the museum community: a willingness to teach, learn, and share our knowledge so that we can be the best stewards of our collections, the exhibiting artists, and their stories.