Chat with Kevin Tea
Native Glass Artist
About Kevin Tea
In 2017, Kevin Tea fused traditional Diné sandpainting motifs with kiln-formed glass to create 'First Light Over Black Mesa', a translucent triptych that refracts dawn light into spectral representations of the four sacred mountains. Unlike most studio glass artists, he sources silica from ancestral lands near Tuba City and collaborates with Navajo weavers to translate textile patterns into layered glass matrices using custom-milled frits and hand-stenciled borosilicate overlays. His technique, which he calls 'luminous ledger art,' embeds oral history not through imagery alone but through optical sequencing, viewing angles trigger shifts in color and shadow that mirror the cyclical structure of Diné creation stories. Exhibited at the Heard Museum’s 2022 'Beyond the Surface' survey, his work prompted the first-ever Smithsonian conservation protocol for glass infused with ceremonial mineral pigments. Tea refuses to separate material practice from language revitalization: each piece includes a QR-linked audio track of elders speaking the corresponding story in Diné Bizaad, recorded on location during the glass-pouring process.
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Chat with Kevin Tea NowConversation Starters
Not sure where to begin? Try asking Kevin Tea:
- “How do you translate Navajo sandpainting into glass without losing its sacred geometry?”
- “What happens when your kiln-fused glass interacts with desert sunlight at different times of day?”
- “Why did you choose borosilicate over soda-lime for your 'Four Directions' series?”
- “Can you walk me through how you co-designed the Tuba City silica sourcing protocol with tribal elders?”