Endangered Species Ceramic Bowl

Reflection

When people look at my bowl I want them to see the beauty in the form of the ferret and realize that every animal in nature deserves to survive. We can spread awareness about issues in nature with art by depicting the animals as something that humans can relate to. I felt inspired by the artists we researched who drew or photographed endangered species. Through our actions, we need to stop making changes to ecosystems that only benefit us in the short term without thinking of the consequences to the rest of the environment. 

I chose to paint a black-footed ferret because it was one of the first animals I ever tried a figure study on. Since then, I’ve felt connected to them and wanted to help them in any way possible which includes spreading awareness through art. Black-footed ferrets used to be found across Canada, Mexico, and the American plains but have since been reduced to populations in Wyoming, Arizona, South Dakota, and Montana. 90% of their diet is composed of prairie dogs which are seen as pests by farmers in the area. Because of this, farmers set traps for prairie dogs in an attempt to lower the population. However, this means black-footed ferrets are running out of the food they need to survive. Prairie dogs are useful for more than just food as the ferrets will take over the burrows dug by them and begin living in them. I showed the underground burrows on the bottom of my bowl with the rings which represent the holes that the black-footed ferrets live in. The lines on the back of the ferret represent the buck teeth of the prarie dogs that are so important to their survival.