First conceptualized by Joseph Rossano, The Salmon School is an international, multimedia traveling art performance and exhibition designed to motivate communities to tackle the issues facing salmon populations, and thereby address climate change.

The installation features a life-size school of close to 600 mirrored salmon-like forms, sculpted from molten glass by concerned artists around the world, and accompanied by first-hand video accounts from renowned scientists, artists, and indigenous peoples. These fragile forms of mirrored glass offer a glimpse of the finality of a seemingly endless natural resource — reflecting not only the environment on which the fish depend, but also the viewer: both the cause of the problems confronting salmon today, and the solution.

The Salmon School was first created and exhibited in 2019 at Bellevue Arts Museum. At the time, the project was a collaboration between Museum of Glass, Bellevue Arts Museum, Hilltop Artists, Schack Art Center, Trout Unlimited, Glacier Peak Institute, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and tribal elders from the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe. This initial exhibition quantified the diminished state of wild salmon and steelhead populations on the Skagit River.

In November 2021, the project was a keynote presentation at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland. While at COP26, the project generated awareness of the threats to this fragile species, and catalyzed a motion passed in the Scottish parliament to ensure cold, clean water for both salmon and humans — representing a rare instance of an artwork directly inspiring political action. Rossano commented on the opportunity to exhibit the project in front of world leaders at the conference:

“My intention with my work has always been to make meaningful statements that combine material and location, offering a relatable context for the viewer. The idea of exhibiting 0.1% of all the wild Atlantic salmon left in the North Atlantic over the heads of 100% of the individuals who could make a difference for wild salmon and humans was a massive undertaking. Now that it has happened, another level of importance has been added to the project — along with the potential to make real change in the world.”

Alongside the COP26 exhibit, eDNA workshops took place on the regenerated River Clyde, in partnership with the Missing Salmon Alliance, other NGOs, and the Clyde River Foundation.

Subsequently, The Salmon School began to travel. In the spring and summer of 2022, it was exhibited at Balmoral Castle as the centerpiece of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee — where it became the only work of contemporary sculpture to be exhibited at one of the Queen’s residences. With the support of Balmoral Estate and the River Dee Trust, students collected eDNA on the River Dee. In early 2023, the exhibition migrated from The Macallan Estate & Distillery in Speyside, Scotland.

Finally bringing its migration full-circle, in late 2023 The Salmon School returned home to the Pacific Northwest’s Museum of Glass — alongside a unique interactive educational experience. The project partnered with Museum of Glass, Foss Waterway Seaport, and Tacoma Public Schools with in-class lessons about the importance of being responsible stewards of the environment, as well as a hands-on salmon art project that will be displayed during Tacoma’s 2024 Ocean Fest.

In early 2024, The Salmon School became an officially endorsed UN Ocean Decade activity, in recognition of its ongoing efforts to foster environmental awareness by bringing together diverse communities for a greater good — and the measurable change the project’s actions and initiatives have achieved.

Curator Benedict Heywood describes The Salmon School as “a world-wide art and science collaboration aiming to highlight the imminent threat to wild salmon across the Northern hemisphere. As was demonstrated by its inclusion in the United Nations COP26 conference in 2021, the threat of extinction for wild salmon is indicative of the wider impact of the climate crisis. Wild salmon need what we need: cold, clean water. It has been a privilege to so closely work with Joseph Rossano, Museum of Glass, and so many partners and concerned individuals in Europe and North America to realize this artwork and science program. A charismatic sculptural installation of living mirrors that asks the viewer to look and reflect on their own actions in the real world, The Salmon School is an exemplar of the concept that art can change lives.”