Recent Projects

Currently working as the scenic charge of The Intiman Theater. These are some working shots of the latest show.

This is the prototype for four cement lanterns that will be installed in The Troll Knoll. Haiying Wu is the sculptor and I am the designer/art director. Haiying Wu was recently awarded the opportunity to create a sculpture of Billy Frank (tribal rights activist) that will be located at the nation’s capitol.

Back in August I was invited to help out with a street mural in Lake City Way. The program is run by Mark Mendez, a local community leader. The mural was painted in by the local community, largely comprised of immigrants. Refreshments were served and music was blasted and made for a great block party.

I added some new emas to the little tree near the moss turtle which have a stenciled moss turtle and turtle haiku on each. This inspired Friends of Fremont Troll Knoll to add solar powered LED lights to the tree and our local rock painter in residence added some rocks to the area.

For the month of November and December I am doing a residency at Rose & Orange Studios, which is located in the old Ballard Blossom Building. The building is set for demolition when it finds a buyer but in the meantime the Ballard Art Collective has sprung up. There is a concert space for teens, a gallery, art studios and second hand clothing shop. It hosts pop ups and any creative venture people think up. We have participated in Ballard’s second Saturday artwalk and host workshops and anything else we think up, including an upcoming maximalist ikebana installation made out of paper flowers and found objects. I am currently serving as the LED sign artist in residence. Anne Livingston, Stephanie Ames and Sana (Jyotsna Ambarukhana) share a large studio space.

Marcos Everstijn https://marcoseverstijn.com/ and I collaborated to make a hokora for the moss turtle. Marcos is an excellent designer/fabricator and came up with the idea of using bamboo. This was funded by Friends of Fremont Troll Knoll and the City of Seattle. Special thanks to Leo Griffin who served as liaison and is an ongoing supporter of the turtle. Below are some fellows I met while checking out the new hokora. They left a sweet review of Google maps.

and we are having a party by celebrating Hanami (blossom viewing). When the turtle was installed we planted cherry trees. For Hanami we will have a cake for the turtle, write haiku about turtles and cherry blossoms on wooden tags (emas) and hang them from the trees, invite people to have picnics and organize a cherry blossom walk (hosted by local businesses). Musicians have also been invited to come and play songs.

a very cool gallery in Portland is having a book sale. I sent in a “collection of poems” by a friend of mine.

I’m now represented by LoCA arts in Seattle. They are an online gallery.

My work can be found here: https://loca.art/collections/michiko-tanaka

Project done for Tukwila Parks and Recreation and Urban Artworks. Located at Crystal Springs Park in Tukwila by the tennis courts. It features two greats of the tennis world: Serena Williams and Roger Federer.