• ENDANGERED SPECIES PROJECT

    by Julia Galloway

  • I am a potter and a teacher. What I can do is make an unseen thing visible and show you how beautiful I think these plants and animals are.

    — Julia Galloway

  • Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus... Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus...

    Each urn this this election is handmade by Julia, from an earlier period of her Endangered Species Project (a focus of her recent awards). The project is far-reaching in its scope. Currently she's carving one urn for every endangered and extinct animal in the US – somewhere north of 1400 individual pots. She has about 300 finished and will take another 4 years to complete the carved urn series.

     

    We are honored to give you the opportunity to purchase her earlier painted urns, an iteration of the project completed between 2017 and 2019. Each of these decorated vessels is a unique, quiet meditation on a species living on the vulnerable edge of existence. We hope you’ll find one that connects with you personally, because it’s that connection that will start to bring us back into balance with the natural world.

     

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    ARTIST STATEMENT ABOUT THE PROJECT

     

    Several years ago I was walking through the Minneapolis Airport half listening to a podcast about the Wandering Albatross. It is the largest of the albatross breeds, with a wingspan measuring 11 feet, and it can keep aloft in wind currents over the southern oceans for a month without returning to land. This bird’s population is dwindling on account of industrial line fishing; the Wandering Albatross is being decapitated at the rate of a bird every five minutes. In Minneapolis Airport, I had been walking for fifteen minutes, three albatross. Right there by gate C15, I was actually brought to my knees, stunned by this bycatch carnage. But what can I do about this? Quit my job, leave my studio and head out for civil disobedience? Throw myself in the path of industrial fishing factories? Not very effective or realistic. However, I am a potter and a teacher, and I can make something generally unseen, visible.

     

    Making pottery is how I understand the world; for this project, I am making covered jars, urns really, for endangered species. Urns are traditionally used to hold ashes from cremation. I am making urns for endangered species of the United States – species in my backyard. The urns are sized to hold an average human’s ashes. On each urn is an image of an endangered, threatened or special concern species. The urns are displayed empty, as most of the species are still alive – the emptiness is a sign of hope.

  • BIOGRAPHY

     

    Julia Galloway is a utilitarian potter and professor of Ceramics at the University of Montana. Julia was raised in Boston, where she started throwing in high school, buying her first wheel with her babysitting money. She kept her wheel in her bedroom and carried her pots in a shoebox to her high school to be fired. She attended the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University for her BFA degree and then the Massachusetts College of Art as a Post-Baccalaureate student. Julia earned her MFA degree from University of Colorado-Boulder during which she was a visiting scholar at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, studying contemporary crafts and the history of pottery.

     

    Julia is interested in all aspects in the field of the ceramic arts from making pottery, jurying exhibitions, studying ceramics from other cultures and writing about pottery. She has juried the NCECA National Exhibition, the Zainesville Prize for Contemporary Ceramics and the 500 Vases publication. Julia is dedicated to education, whether on a traditional college campus, a crafts school or local arts center; she has taught more than two hundred workshops, demonstrations and lectures. In addition, she has developed service based educational websites: “Montana Clay,” “the field guide for ceramics artisans,” “the library of Cups” as well as “Making History”.

     

    Julia has exhibited across the United States, Canada, and Asia and her work is included in the collections of the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Museum, Washington DC, Long Beach Art Museum, Long Beach CA, the Ceramics Research Center at the Arizona State Art Museum, Alfred Ceramics Art Museum at Alfred University, the Dinnerware Museum in Ann Arbor Michigan and The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

     

    Julia was awarded a United States Artist Grant and named a Distinguished Scholar at the University of Montana, first person in the arts to receive the recognition since 1986. This year she was named the 2023 Artist of the Year by the Ceramics Arts Network and Ceramics monthly publication.

     

    Julia has served on the board of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts , the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts and is Director at Large on the National Council for the Education of the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). Her work has been published in Ceramics Monthly, Studio Potter, Art and Perception and Clay Times. In addition, her work has been included in publications such as Mastering the Potter’s Wheel by Ben Carter, A Complete Guide to mid-Range Glazes by Jon Britt, as well as The Ceramic Continuum from the Archie Bray Foundation.

     

    Julia has traveled through the United States, Canada, Japan, Italy and Turkey. She has been an Artist in Residence at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center and the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts. She was a professor and then Chair of the School for American Crafts at the Rochester Institute of Technology, living in western New York for nine years. In 2009 she moved to Montana where she was the Director for the School of Art for five years, and rotated into full time teaching since 2014.

     

    In 2023 she was named both Artist of the Year by Ceramics Monthly and the Ceramic Arts Network as well as the Fellow of the Council for NCECA. Julia lives in Missoula, making pottery in her home studio and teaching ceramics, professional practices, and pedagogy at the University of Montana.