Artist spotlight: Behind-the-scenes of Tech High School's new pottery installation
How Desi Murphy created a large ceramic art installation for St. Cloud's Tech High School.
Working with clay is no easy feat. Desi Murphy understands that better than most.
The St. Cloud-based artist recently created and installed a 26-piece public pottery display for Tech High School. Titled “Stepping Up,” the art piece represents striving toward academic excellence and future success, according to her artist statement.
Murphy, who is a Tech alum, glazed the clay with orange, white, and black as an ode to the school’s colors. It spans almost the entirety of the west-facing wall in the high school lobby.
“It’s cool to finally see it,” Murphy said. “It’s been living in my head for so long and now it’s finally happening,” she said while installing the piece.
The piece, which scales 24 feet in length and 12 feet in height, hangs above students, teachers and staff as they move throughout the building. It took a total of nine months to complete. Murphy said she focused heavily on the concept of Tech High School’s mission before beginning any design work.
"It is a huge honor to have my art on the wall of my former high school,” she said.
Artist Desi Murphy rolls out a slab of clay that will be used for a ceramic art piece in her pottery studio on Oct. 25, 2023. (Erica Dischino for Project Optimist)
Artist Desi Murphy speaks to the Tech Alumni Association on Dec. 6, 2023, while installing her public ceramic display "Stepping Up" at Tech High School in St. Cloud, Minn. (Erica Dischino for Project Optimist)
This public art project is grant funded through the Central Minnesota Arts Board and the Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment. The piece is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Central MN Arts Board, due to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
