reciprocity & fragile abundance: perceiving the chihuahuan desert through the lens of ecological unraveling

June, 2025

this piece was formulated in a response to a call for art through the Silver City Clay Festival, for ceramic artwork examining personal, cultural, and sensory interpretations of one’s environment and experiences. as an ecologist working and living in the Chihuahuan desert, I often perceive my surroundings through the lens of ecological unraveling- a bottom up cascade driven by the loss of perennial grasses and the species that rely on them. Clay helps me navigate how these fragile relationships can be rebuilt- the antithesis of erosion.

this piece features a nesting pair of Aplomado falcon with an offering of a mesquite branch from a Chihuahuan raven, and an abundant prey base of western meadowlarks, horned larks, mourning doves, and red-winged blackbirds. the loss of the Aplomado falcon from our landscape is an indicator of the destabilization of this intricately reciprocal system.

slab and coil built on mid-fire clay, painted with a mix of engobes, terra sigillata, underglaze, and oxide wash. a balance of symmetry and imperfection made visible by a mended hairline fracture, with a fully glazed interior to hold water until the fragile bounty of southern New Mexico returns.