"Winter Night Sky"

 

Tanaka’s glass-based work is mesmerizing. “Mirror Surface”—bits of glass suspended on taut, delicate wires, appears to capture rain, and you are viewing the droplets from beneath the surface of still water in which they are reflected. In “Morning Dew,” large glass globes are positioned along a web of stainless steel cables, a macro view demonstrating the adhesion of water and alluding to the great proportionate strength of a spider web. And the beauty of a single drop of water is explored further in her only non-installation pieces, “Aqueous” and “Petal Stream,” in which she explores the cohesion of water.

Her final installation piece tucked in the back of gallery, “Winter Night Sky,” was indeed the grand finale. At first I noticed only the spotlit mirror covered with glass fragments. Pretty enough, but not all that impressive. Then I looked up and saw the angel. Technically, I saw the reflection of the illuminated glass shards on the wall in a pattern that resembled an angel, but I have never felt more moved by a seraphic image. It felt like an angel had been revealed, rather than created. It was simply magical.