Julia Galloway

I am a ceramic artist and a proud potter applying for an award that traditionally recognizes figurative sculpture. Though pottery is not sculpture, I am standing on the shoulders of traditional pottery and craft, working with metaphor and scale to make artistic statements with my vessels. In the last twenty years, in particular, my work has focused on large installations that provoke questions or reflect humankind’s relationship with the natural world. This method of artmaking draws inspiration from foundational works like Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party and the Names Project: AIDS Memorial Quilt, as well as contemporary works that confront overwhelming issues using humble, everyday materials.

In series and installations such as The Place It Is Where We Call Home (2016) and Heaven for Fish (2017), I explore themes of domesticity and the vastness of nature—both through intimate proximity (vessel by vessel) and the collective impact of numerous objects interacting in space. I have expanded this approach with The Endangered Species Project, a multi-year, large-scale installation. My intent with The Endangered Species Project is to make the 1,152 disappearing species in North America undeniably visible—to say, “I see you”—to invite both close consideration of individual species and, also, an engagement with the larger questions of climate change and humankind’s impact on our planet.