Gerhart’s swimming Bonneville Cutthroat Trout, Utah’s state fish, commemorate the course of Parley’s Creek, now diverted underground by urban growth in Sugar House. The artist was originally commissioned for one “school” and later, asked to create another. The second school in installed on a median in a busy intersection and is eye level; easily viewed by drivers waiting for the traffic light to change.

The Bonneville Cutthroat Trout derives its name from the ancient Lake Bonneville, and is the Utah State Fish.  The trout are depicted swimming upstream not in annual spawn, but in a last retreat from disappearing vestiges of riparian ecosystem.  They commemorate the course of Parley’s Creek, now diverted underground by urban growth. As urban sprawl makes harder demands on the local ecosystem, the last remnants of biodiversity disappear unnoticed.

This is the second school of Cutthroats in the project. They are located in the long narrow median on the west side of the 1300 East 2100 South intersection. This location allows motorists to engage in this intimate artwork while waiting at the stop light. The first school of trout is located 2 blocks west at 2100 South 1050 East.