Seattle-based Paul Marioni is a groundbreaking artist of the American studio glass movement. His roots as a filmmaker during 1960s led Marioni to experiment with aspects of light, which transferred to his work in glass. He still continues to push the boundaries of the medium.

Marioni is inspired by both his own dream life and human nature as a whole and his work borrows from many different cultures and traditions. In Black Bird, the artist alludes to ceremonial masks, particularly those of the Northwest Coast Native American tribes. The black bird or raven imagery is seen both in the Transformation Mask and the House Screen displayed here. Placed among objects used in a Northwest Coast potlach, it shows how Marioni, an artist working in Washington, a hotbed of studio glass, borrowed and interpreted imagery from sacred stories of local tribes.