I want to revive our ceramics studio and transform our garden with eco-friendly olla irrigation—sustainable innovation for a self-sufficient community near Death Valley.

Olla pots are traditional, porous clay pots that are an effective way to conserve water by slowly releasing moisture directly to plant roots. This avoids the pitfalls of drip irrigation: evaporation from the surface. This initiative aligns with my sustainability goals for the studio and it is also just a dope alternative farming technique. These ollas would help grow the vegetables that feed the students that gives them more energy to harvest more clay to make more ceramics! Totally circular economy. There's a start up called Thirsty Earth that makes olla cup irrigation systems for small backyard gardens upwards of $200. I would expand the food sovereignty experiment we have going at the college to include an irrigation system that could be viable for a larger community. I want to figure out how to make a system that is self-contained, in that all the materials come from ourselves, and that could feasibly be re-created in other parts of the world. I have enough experience to be able to teach others how to make and fire olla pots and create a sort of lineage of this unique irrigation technique at the college. So my awesome project is dual purpose— community engagement in ceramic art, and sustainable agriculture.

There’s already a gas kiln on campus, and I recently walked 7 miles out to a dried up lake bed in the valley and discovered a large deposit of clay (a veritable gold mine).