On June 7, Museum of Glass (MOG) will introduce a new installation created for the museum’s outdoor Mezzanine Plaza reflecting pool. “Mirrored Murrelets” by Joseph Rossano is an important piece of artwork in that it brings to light the effects of humans on a tiny Northwest water bird, the marbled murrelet, used in the piece as a metaphor for what could happen to mankind if rampant abuse of the environment continues. The artist is trying to show that creatures like the marbled murrelet could disappear from existence altogether, and that humans could suffer the same fate delivered by our own hand if we fail to take heed of what can be learned from this tiny, feathered friend.

The installation is made up of more than 250 individual glass birds mirrored in chrome that swoop across the pool’s surface in a hook-shaped design, rather like a question mark. “The answer to the question is reflected in the birds,” the artist said. “The answer is us.” The mirrored surfaces of the birds will reflect the viewer’s image, symbolically suggesting that humans must ultimately take responsibility now for the state of the environment and, by extension, the fate of future generations.

Rossano grew up in New York and remembers taking long walks in the Catskills woods with his uncle, a naturalist who had a big influence on him. “I’ve always been most comfortable in my skin when I’m in the woods or someplace where I’m surrounded by nature,” Rossano said.

“As an artist, my desire has always been to make things that make people think. I hope the message this piece holds is discovered by a lot of people.”

The marbled murrelet, an endangered species, is a small and inconspicuous shore bird that nests primarily in old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest. It needs several ecosystems to survive, a delicate balance easily upset by human impact. In highlighting the plight of this bird, the artist intends to show the parallels it has with humans - it lays only one egg, “commutes” every day from its nest, mates for life and depends on clean oceans and forest conditions to survive, “no different from a lot of the conditions man needs to survive,” Rossano said.

“Throughout my career, I have focused on the interdependence of the natural world to create haunting images of animals who, like us, rely on our primeval forests for their existence. I choose to use glass as a medium because, like our environment, glass is transparent, fragile, and reflective - transparent in that it hides nothing, fragile in that once damaged it may never be repaired, and reflective of how we have impacted it.”

Rossano created the birds with help from his hot shop team during his five-day visiting artist residency at MOG this past January. Despite the rainy weather this week, he said the installation would be complete by June 7 when the public is invited to the museum to have a look. The finished installation will include circular benches made to look like stumps of felled trees to illustrate forests cut down to satisfy human consumerism.

“Mirrored Murrelets” will remain at MOG until December 2009, when it will be packed up for traveling to additional venues around the country.

Rossano said the installation “has been a mass undertaking and a tremendous amount of work. So many people have been beyond generous to help me make this installation happen in terms of money and time.

“I can’t thank the museum enough for this opportunity to bring this to Tacoma audiences and others across the country.”

MOG is open seven days a week: Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is $10 general, $8 seniors, military and students (13+ with ID), $8 groups of 10 or more, $4 children (6-12) years old. Children under 6 are admitted free. Admission is free every third Thursday of the month from 5-8 p.m. For more information, call (253) 284-4732 or visit www.museumofglass.org.