Crystal Worl on Apprenticing with Preston Singletary

Artist Crystal Worl talks about her apprenticeship with Tlingit glass artist Preston Singletary, who is making a giant glass screen and host posts for the Walter Soboleff Building in Juneau.

In recent years, Sealaska Heritage Institute, which is spearheading the project, has put an emphasis on incorporating apprenticeships into art projects, said SHI President Rosita Worl.

“The master-apprentice program is an ancient custom that ensured our art traditions were passed through the generations. To this day, it is still the best way to learn,” Worl said.

Singletary’s piece will be the largest glass screen in the world, measuring 17 feet wide and 12 feet high at its peak and rendered in carved, amber-and-black glass. It will be flanked by two, glass seven-foot posts depicting Eagle and Raven warriors.

The project was supported in part by a grant from ArtPlace America, a collaboration of leading national and regional foundations, banks and federal agencies accelerating creative placemaking across the US. The piece was also funded by an anonymous donor.