1975, Tokyo, Japan –

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Erika Tada, a glass artist from Tokyo, Japan, earned her B.F.A. degree in Glass with Best Honors in 1998 from Joshibi University of Art and Design in Kanagawa, Japan. From 2002 to 2003, she attended the University of Nebraska Kearney and, by 2005, had earned her M.F.A. degree in Sculpture and Glass from the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York.

In 2001, she was named Best Debut Artist at Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art (SOFA) Chicago. She has received scholarships to workshops at Bild-Werk, Frauenau, Germany; Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, Washington; The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York; Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pennsylvania; and Penland School of Crafts, Spruce Pine, North Carolina. Tada is the recipient of Glass Art Society conference scholarships – Holland in 2002 and Australia in 2005. Tada has taught at Jacksonville University in Florida and was a teaching assistant at the Tokyo Glass Art Institute. Her glassworks have been exhibited extensively in the United States and Japan, including the Worcester Center for Crafts in Worcester, Massachusetts and the Museum of American Glass in Millville, New Jersey.

Tada strives to perpetuate memories of her family and childhood, and creates glass containers that help preserve her special objects such as letters, pictures, and family heirlooms to communicate the importance of family and help others remember special moments in their lives. MONA’s piece is titled Bird and Stones. The blown glass and kiln cast work consists of seven bags, stones, and a bird – all made of glass. The six white bags and single black one, each with a stone inside, represent one week. The dead bird is placed at one end. Like shopping bags, the containers hold memories; the white translucent bags express the positive feelings associated with collecting natural stones while the black one expresses the negative feelings connected with finding a dead bird while searching for stones.

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