Endangered Species Project: Ceramic Bowl

Purpose:

• To become familiar with using endangered species as an art subject

• To learn about photographer, Joel Satore and painter, Anne London, as well as the highly patterned art (alebrijes) from Oaxaca, Mexico

• To become acquainted with basic ceramic vocabulary

• To form and paint a ceramic animal bowl that contains both imageries of an endangered or threatened species of your choice and indication of the systems around it which promote that animal’s survival.

I chose the Mexican grey wolf because I find the Canidae family to be really interesting. The Mexican grey wolf can usually be found in Arizona and New Mexico. Typically these wolves live in woodland mountains and deserts. The Mexican grey wolf is endangered mostly from deliberate extermination by settlers and habitat loss. I chose a darker color scheme for the woodland areas that they are sometimes found in but I also used a desert background for the other habitat they are found in.

I hope viewers will recognize the power of each individual animal in the wild and the impact of the environment that each species offers as it exists and that we need to protect that and honor it as the unofficial “rulers” of our beautiful planet.