Exhibit Sneak Peek: "Raven Visits SFO" Opening June 14th

Bear's Cave With Raven
Blown and sand carved glass
20.25” x 13.5” x 6  

Now it happens that Raven saw a dark hollow in the wooded slope of a mountain and Raven alit at the edge of that hollow and he looked into the darkness, and he saw nothing, so he stepped inside and out of the wind. As Raven ventured deeper into that cave, he could smell things, wet fur and fish and dry wood, and he could see by the light of a warm fire that he was in someone’s house, but since that someone was not home, Raven thought, he could make use of the house until such time he was asked to vacate. So he warmed himself by the fire. It was a nice fire and it warmed him well.

It was not long before the cave’s denizen, a rotund and cranky Bear, returned home to find Raven stealing the warmth from Bear’s fire. “Give me back my warmth!” Bear growled. He attempted to grab “I’m not running,” replied Raven. “I’m dancing!” “Dancing!” Bear cried. “Ho, ho! Dance, White Bird! Dance!” And that was Raven’s First Dance. And we have been dancing  ever since. Heh. Raven and shake the warmth from him, but Raven leapt into the air and hopped away with such élan, Bear was impressed. “You are very clever, White Bird,” Bear said, for this was long ago before Raven had learned to color his feathers black, and for this reason Bear did not know with whom he was contending. “But my Bear nature will smother you eventually.” Bear chased Raven around like that for quite a while, getting his hands nearly around Raven’s neck only to have Raven duck away, spin and kick, and hold—two-three-four! Soon, Bear grew so tired he barely reached for Raven, but Raven still jab-step, jab-step, twirl and leapt! away, until Bear sat back and laughed. “You keep running, White Bird,” Bear said. “And I’m not even chasing you.

- Text by Garth Stein

Raven's Nest
Blown and sand carved glass
16.5" x 21" x 13.5"

Listen to the rain. Listen to the wind. 

That is what it sounded like as Raven returned to his home, a storm blowing in hard, and discovered a little red bird, soaked to the bone, freezing and afraid, cowering in the corner of Raven’s nest. At first, Raven was irritated by his uninvited guest. Raven had been through much and he was tired and wanted some “me” time. He pushed the little red bird toward the door.

“Yeep,” the little red bird said, and Raven stopped. He remembered his own experience, when he sought refuge in Bear’s cave. Bear did not shuttle Raven out of the cave and into the rain; he welcomed Raven; he fed Raven; he restored Raven.

Raven said nothing but left the little red bird alone in his corner, for Raven realized the little bird was likely frightened. Raven went to his fire pit and lit a fire. When the fire had been stoked and was giving off plenty of warmth, Raven left. 

With Raven gone, the little red bird ventured out from the corner where he sat shivering. He inched closer to the warming fire until, slightly warmed, he grew bolder and moved closer still until he was fully warmed. Raven returned then with a small trout, not big enough for a meal for two. Without a word, Raven prepared and cooked that trout over that fire while the little red bird watched, and when the trout was nearly finished, Raven held his hand over it. He pricked the palm of his claw with his beak and squeezed and squeezed. The fat of a Raven is not as abundant as the fat of a bear, but Raven did his best and squeezed a few drops of fat onto the salmon and the hut came alive with the delicious smell of roasted fish. 

Raven placed that roasted fish between himself and the little red bird. “All that I have, I give to you,” he said. And the two birds feasted together.

- Text by Garth Stein

​Canoe
Blown and sand carved glass
11" x 20.5” x 6.5”

The people had seen Raven then. They had seen him arrive there on the beach and they said, “Oh, Raven, we’ve been calling for you!” Raven said to the people, “I am hungry. I cannot listen when I am hungry. Feed me!” 

The people gathered all the foods and made a feast for Raven with their cedar-smoked salmon and their blackberries and their snow crabs. They dressed in their feasting blankets, and they lit a great fire, and they danced for Raven. And when Raven sat down to eat his food, there was little on the table. The salmon wasn’t red and glistening like garnets in slate, but pale and pink. True, the blackberries were large and plump, but they were without flavor. The snow crabs were absent altogether. Raven asked the people, “Where is my feast?” “This is what we have,” they replied. “Our salmon comes from farms and is genetically modified, pale and sickly. Our fruit is sprayed with a chemical so it will never decay, yet the fruit has lost its flavor. And the snow crabs…the White man says there is a heat wave in the ocean, which is only something the White man can say, and all the crabs are dead.”

Raven wept for his people then. He loved his people, for he made them out of leaves. He could have made them out of stone, and they would have lived forever. But Raven chose to make the people out of leaves so they would grow and live and die and return to the earth and be born again. Raven loves all people, even those who make heat waves at the bottom of oceans. Raven said to his people, “I will help you.” And that is how Raven returned to the World.

- Text by Garth Stein