This publication begins to reverse the trend in many museum shows of exhibiting fine art objects influenced mostly by European artists and craftspeople. In recent years, a group of talented Native American artists have selected glass as a medium for their creative expression. Illustrated in this beautiful publication, native American artists have turned inward, using the studio art methods initially implemented by the American Studio Glass Movement to create works of art inspired by objects of use and ritual to Native Americans. These artists draw upon their rich heritage to forge a contemporary Indian aesthetic. The shapes and designs in their contemporary work, while clearly connected to the iconography and imagery of their cultural heritage look rather original when transformed into the glass medium. Unlike their predecessors however, who learned their craft by apprenticeship within their own culture, these artists have chosen to study glass making at universities, art institutes and specifically the Pilchuck Glass School with Dale Chilhuly, David Svenson, and others. They have not only mastered this medium but have taken it to new dimensions, creating hybrid glass forms that blend European, American and Native traditions in dramatic and exciting ways.
 
Published by: Museum of Craft & Folk Art, San Francisco
 
Carolyn Kastner, Editor with essays by Roslyn Tunis, Preston Singletary, Kate Morris and Lloyd