Tanaka Terukazu is our second Artist in Residence for Japanese Metalwork Design. In his award-winning work, Tanaka unites the tonalities of copper alloys with gold and silver on oversized box forms. These distinctive alloys—copper blended with other metals—originated centuries ago in decorative techniques for Buddhist ornaments and samurai sword fittings.
The son of a metalsmith, Tanaka trained with his father and at the Tokyo Metropolitan Crafts High School. His career was launched when his work was accepted into the 1971 annual exhibition of the Japan Art Academy, known as Nitten in Japan. He also began participating in the annual New Craft Exhibition (Shin Kogei Ten) in 1979 and has served as a judge for that event since 1990.
These works are on loan from the collection of Shirley Z. Johnson.
