Kate Emlen

When I was a kid, mackerel were so plentiful all you had to do was plunk the lure in from the end of the dock when the tide was coming in. My brother and I caught a lot and sold them to Mr. Condon for a dime apiece. They’re getting scarce now. In this decade I troll in all the reliable spots but often come up empty-handed.

At the end of the summer I came into a school and caught a couple. With not a little guilt, I decided to take them home to the freezer, ready to paint back in my Vermont studio over the winter. My initial idea behind “Wedding China” was to juxtapose an ordinary fish with my parents’ valuable gold-rimmed china plate. The joke on me is that this gorgeous fish has become more precious than the china as it represents both a dwindling natural resource and memories of my past.