Starworks & The Salmon School Project

The Salmon School is an international, multimedia traveling art project that brings together artists, scientists, Indigenous communities, conservationists, and others to raise awareness about the threats facing wild salmon and the rivers they call home.

Conceptualized by environmental artist Joseph Rossano, the project centers around a growing school of life-size, mirrored salmon sculpted from molten glass by artists and glassmakers around the world. The artwork uses salmon as a powerful symbol for the health of rivers, ecosystems, and the communities that depend on them.

In 2021, Starworks joined an international network of glass studios, universities, artists, and conservation organizations participating in The Salmon School. As part of the Glass Art Society's virtual conference, glassmakers around the world came together for a series of live-streamed fish-making events, collectively building the school through glass.

Starworks was one of the participating studios, bringing the project to our hot shop in Star, North Carolina. Through the collaboration, our glassmakers helped create salmon for the installation while connecting our community to a larger conversation about environmental stewardship, climate change, and the future of wild salmon.

The project was originally inspired by the Skagit River in Washington State, where salmon and steelhead populations have declined dramatically. As The Salmon School traveled, its story expanded to include rivers and salmon populations around the world, highlighting both the challenges facing these ecosystems and the communities working to restore them.

The Salmon School went on to be presented in connection with the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, and continues to grow as a platform for art, education, community engagement, and salmon conservation.

Today, The Salmon School continues to connect people across disciplines and regions through the shared goal of protecting wild salmon and the ecosystems they represent.

Learn more about The Salmon School:
thesalmonschool.com