Masters of a New Media

by Russ Tall Chief (Osage)

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“You’re turning, turning. Softly. Okay, stop. Blow. Stand by in three, two, one. Torch it!”

Dancing? Cooking? No, but to artists such as Tony Jojola and his team of assistants, the art of glass-blowing is as choreographed as a dance and demands the precision timing of a chef preparing crème brûlée.

While glass is a relatively new medium in Native art, the history of glassmaking and art dates back more than 3,000 years. Legends describe Roman seaman discovering glass while cooking their evening meal on a beach. When the men set their pots on top of stones of natron, a soda used in embalming the dead, the fire heated both the stones and the sand below, producing some of the first manmade glass. More than 2,000 years ago, a Mesopotamian potter is said to have formed a glass tube and begun to blow a bubble at the end, creating the first blowpipe, thus the art of glass-blowing. The Venetian Glassmakers’ Guild was formed in the early 1200s in Italy. The British Empire’s glass tradition made its way to America in the 1600s with the first colonists in Jamestown.

Although glass has been a part of Native utilitarian culture for generations, glass as an art form took shape primarily during the final decades of the 20th century. Glass may be a new artistic medium for Native artists, but many have proven very adept at its technical challenges and the artistic expression it lends itself to, creating astounding works of beauty and complexity. Now, here’s a look at five leading forces in the field including (left to right below) Chris Tarpley (Choctaw/Chickasaw/Cherokee), Preston Singletary (Tlingit), Tony Jojola (Isleta Pueblo), Susan Point (Coast Salish) and Marvin Oliver (Quinault/Isleta Pueblo).