By Amber Thompson, Marketing and Communications Coordinator
On November 11, the exhibition Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight will open at OKCMOA. However, it may surprise some people that Tlingit (KLING-kit) American artist Preston Singletary already has a connection to Oklahoma City, one that has existed for over 20 years.
That connection can be found at St. Paul’s Cathedral, on the corner of Robinson and 7th Street in downtown OKC, in an alcove known as the Oakerhater Chapel. Positioned high in the chapel where it catches the light from the campus’s East Garden, glowing a vibrant orange and red, is a circular fused and leaded glass window created by Singletary. The window is dedicated to David Pendleton Oakerhater (ca.1847-1931), a Cheyenne man who became the first Native American ordained in the Episcopal Church and was later canonized as a saint in 1985.
St. Paul’s experienced significant damage in the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995, and the church required a series of repairs and restoration. Though the window was installed and unveiled in 2003, conversations about how the new chapel would look began much earlier. In an archived sketch of the chapel from 1997, the following note details what the project committee was looking for: “Round window…stained glass artist/designer? A quality of movement & light—color.”
Singletary was among three artists being considered for the commission, and in the church’s archives are examples he sent of his work, from slides to postcards to magazine features. Many of the images showcase works that depict the Tlingit story of Raven, the focus of this fall’s exhibition at OKCMOA.
The window, which is approximately three and a half feet in diameter, depicts Oakerhater’s signature glyph, a dancer in a sun dance lodge. The outer edge is a striking red that diffuses to a warm, speckled orange at the center. The rich red color of the window calls to mind the red soil of Oakerhater’s indigenous home. The glass pane is intricately suspended, seemingly in midair, by steel branches.
Alongside Singletary’s window is a portrait of Oakerhater by Cherokee artist America Meredith, who donated the painting to St. Paul’s. Meredith’s mother Mary Ellen, a long-time member of the church and part of the project, has long been impressed with Singletary’s work.
“I think his glass work is fantastic,” she said. “It’s exceptional. It does such a fine job bringing [forward] such American Indian sensibilities and sensitivity.”
“When we first went to St. Paul’s, we always sat on the right,” she continued. “When they put in the window, we moved to the left so that we could look at it, and moving seats at St. Paul’s is a big deal.”
“A quality of movement and light—color”: to see the window, and to anticipate Raven and the Box of Daylight, one gets the sense that not only were the committee’s goals met but that they are representative of more than just this one work of Singletary’s.
Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight opens on November 11 and runs through April 28, 2024.
