This ceramic sculpture of a trout appears familiar at first, but contains an unusual detail. While it takes the general form of a trout and carries its characteristic spots and fins, its lateral line—the sensory organ fish use to detect movement and changes in their environment—has been replaced with the contour of a map.

The line traces the path of the Androscoggin River as it flows from Greene, Maine to Brunswick, Maine. I chose this specific stretch of watershed because the piece was made for a close friend. As teenagers growing up in Greene, we spent a great deal of time fishing along the river together. He now lives in Brunswick, making the river both a physical and personal connection between those places and our shared history.