Making Meaning out of Clay

When Upper School students in Mary Arzt’s Ceramics II class first saw Julia Galloway’s studio, they began to understand the magnitude of their new project. 

Galloway, a Montana-based potter and professor whose work has been exhibited across the United States, Canada and Asia, spoke with Collegiate School students on Zoom to discuss her ongoing Endangered Species Project, an endeavor to make roughly 1,400 handmade urns with images of endangered species from across the United States. Positioned on floor-to-ceiling shelves, the large urns crowd her studio. On the surface of each container is a detailed rendering of an endangered species. 

“To see the number of endangered species in that way was overwhelming,” Lucy Barnes ’22 says of her experience speaking with Galloway. “It puts into perspective how many species in our country are endangered. But it was also inspiring. It was inspiring to see that her art was spreading awareness.” 

Compelled by that inspiration, students in Ms. Arzt’s ceramics classes began crafting their own project specific to endangered or threatened species in Virginia. Similar to Galloway, who says she is loath to repeat the same species twice due to the unfortunate abundance available to choose from, the 22 students in Ceramics II were asked not to pick the same species as their peers. “We did this so that we could capture a wider range of endangered species,” explains Ms. Arzt. “As an art class, we are a community, and this project is a collaborative community effort. One pottery piece is not as powerful as a display of 22 pieces. Together, with our art, we are making our voices larger.” 

On plates, bowls, vases and other vessels, students rendered each species in bright palettes of underglaze and glaze. In the process of crafting their pieces, students got to know their endangered species well. Thomas Word ’24, who painted duskytail darters swimming on the inside and outside of a bowl, says that the project helped him discover parts of the Virginia creek system that were previously unknown to him. “It’s interesting to learn about something that’s critically endangered and to try creating something that brings awareness to a species,” he says. “I love fishing, but I didn’t know what a duskytail darter was before this, so I feel like I now have a better appreciation for the areas where I like to fish.” 

When Heidi Albrecht ’24 was studying the long list of regional endangered species to choose from for her project, she thought about how, in a way, she would be continuing the work that Galloway started. “Although we were creating pieces specific to Virginia, our projects are part of a larger body of work,” she says. “We all have the same message, and because certain issues are harder to discuss, I feel that this project helps raise awareness and make the message bigger.” 

As with all the projects in Ceramics II, Ms. Arzt tries to teach her students that art can have a larger purpose. It can quicken our sense of what it means to exist in the world, and, in this case, it can show an audience exactly who we share this earth with. “There is something really special about this endangered species project,” she says. “It is a powerful lesson — showing students that functional things like a bowl or a plate can still contain powerful material with a message.”