To Catch a Fish presents over sixty works of craft and art that are either used in fishing or that illuminate the relationship between people and fish. Utilitarian fishing objects include hand-crafted basketry fish traps, scrapers, weights, and nets. Works with spiritual significance and symbolism include amulets, robes, images of saints, and even kites.
This exhibition also includes the stunning work of three contemporary artists, Robert Lang, Marianne Nicolson, and Aidelen Montoya.
Marianne Nicholson’s installation, The Halibut Hooks, addresses the impact of commercial fisheries on indigenous communities in British Columbia. Nicolson is an artist activist of the Musgamakw Dzawada’enuxw First Nations of the Pacific Northwest Coast. The Halibut Hooks was created by the artist especially for this exhibition, and is therefore made for the consideration of a museum audience. Her deeply thoughtful and intentional work intertwines art and advocacy, and reflects her deep care for her culture and community.
Robert Lang’s installation, entitled Vertical Pond III: From the Ashes, features origami koi fish made from paper that was created using the ashes from the artist’s Altadena home and studio consumed by the Eaton Fire. The fire began on January 7, 2025, and raged in neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles for 31 days before being brought under control, destroying his materials, an archive of his own work, the exhibition’s predecessor, Vertical Pond II, and work by other origami artists that he had collected over decades.
Aidelen Montoya’s work, Study: Lake Trout, Sea Lamprey and The Great Lakes, uses glass beads to address Lake Trout populations that were nearly wiped out by sea lamprey invasion with the help of commercial fisheries during the 1940s.
