This April, we are delighted to welcome Preston Singletary back to Traver Gallery for his highly anticipated exhibition, The Place Where You Go To Listen. This compelling show builds upon an extremely pivotal year in Preston’s career. Recent artistic achievements and milestones include Preston being named a Fellow by the American Crafts Council and a recipient of the Artist Trust Arts Innovator Award, a solo exhibition at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, a feature on CBS Sunday Morning, and the completion and display of a 10-foot tall monumental cast glass totem. While Preston has certainly expanded and explored his creative potential in the past year, The Place Where You Go to Listen highlights what remains paramount in his practice: singular narrative sculptural works that explore contemporary themes through the lens of his Tlingit heritage.
The twenty sculptures presented in this exhibition are personal and contemplative in their themes. Preston continues developing his techniques and narratives, exploring how traditional indigenous stories may evolve to reflect the contemporary world. He says of this new work, created during a period of extraordinary creativity this winter, “This collection of pieces reflects on a song we wrote in my band, Khu.éex’. It describes a person going to a place in nature where they become attuned to everything around them, finding the stillness in mind to allow creative ideas to come to them. This concept is what I want to convey with my work this year.” This distilled collection is an intimate reflection on what remains foundational to Preston’s artistic practice while displaying the talents of an artist whose work has garnered international acclaim.