aryn kresol | n o w h e r e

John Krakauer, Into the Wild

2012-01-26T11:11:00.000-06:00

p155: It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough, it is your God-given right to have it.

2012-01-15T23:11:00.000-06:00

slowly but surely
january 2012
cudahy wi
© aryn kresol

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

2012-01-11T23:11:00.000-06:00

p409: It's enough for me to be sure that you and I exist at this moment.

Albert Camus, Exile and the Kingdom

2012-01-03T11:11:00.000-06:00

p13: ...she would have liked to take up less space.

Top 5 of 2011

2011-12-31T23:11:00.000-06:00

Top 5 movies of 2011
Hanna
Jane Eyre
Last Night
Never Let Me Go
50/50

Top 5 books of 2011
May Sarton Journal of a Solitude
Raymond Carver What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Dave Hickey Air Guitar
David Levithan The Lover's Dictionary
Ted Hughes Birthday Letters

Top 5 songs of 2011
Cinematic Orchestra To Build A Home
Florence + the Machine Blinding
Fever Ray Keep the Streets Empty for Me
Say Hi Spiders
Modest Mouse People as Places as People

Top 5 albums of 2011
Fever Ray Fever Ray
Bon Iver Bon Iver
Radiohead The King of Limbs
The National High Violet
Frightened Rabbit The Modern Leper

2011-12-30T11:11:00.000-06:00

a new year
milwaukee wi
© aryn kresol

2011-12-23T23:11:00.000-06:00

traveling for christmas, 2011
milwaukee wi
© aryn kresol

Michael Greenberg, Hurry Down Sunshine

2011-12-20T11:11:00.000-06:00

p154: The immediate future doesn't exist, only the fantasy future of perpetual childhood and genius...

May Sarton, Journal of a Solitude

2011-12-05T11:11:00.000-06:00

p176: I see my function as quietly destroying myths, even those of my own making, in order to come closer and closer to reality and to accepting reality.

2011-12-02T11:11:00.000-06:00

untitled (window light, north), 2011
rockford il
© aryn kresol

2011-11-30T11:11:00.000-06:00

if only to remember, these things i will forget
november 2010
rockford il
© aryn kresol

2011-11-28T11:11:00.000-06:00

morning brush (sketch)
milwaukee wi
© aryn kresol

2011-11-23T11:11:00.000-06:00

Half Full, 2011
milwaukee wi
© aryn kresol

2011-11-16T11:11:00.000-06:00


behind, november 2011 prairie street gallery, rockford il © aryn kresol

2011-11-09T11:11:00.000-06:00

Ev Bogue: The opposite of untethering is gripping. Gripping is the feeling when a car nearly hits us, and our entire body tenses up in a moment of reflexiveness. It doesn't matter that we had no control over whether the car killed us or not. It's tons of steel, we're just human - but we grip all the same.

As something starts to slip away, we grip it. We hold on tight in an attempt to make everything stay the same.

But the reality is that nothing stays the same, ever. The universe is constantly changing, and we're just a small part of that whole. We're orbiting each other for a brief second in the history of everything. In that brief second, we're gripping ourselves to everything that we never wanted to let go of, but will eventually have to.

2011-11-01T11:11:00.000-05:00

a year ago now, early afternoon, november 2010
© aryn kresol

2011-10-27T11:11:00.000-05:00


Tea for one, 2011 © aryn kresol

Postcards from New York No. 7

2011-10-17T23:11:00.000-05:00

Last morning in New York City. Packed up my things to check out from the hotel before I departed for my daily adventures, short as they may be. Arrived at the Museum of Modern Art by their 10:30am opening; caught some passersby on the way.


The New York Joe and Annie

The New York EKP

Briefly met with the MIAD group upon their arrival at 11am. Walked through the de Kooning exhibition on the sixth floor. I was pleasantly surprised, for, though I claim to not like de Kooning, I was quite taken with his earlier portraits (pre 1945). I find it interesting that those were merely the starting point and he diverged so greatly thereafter. I was also quite impressed with the photography collection and current exhibition, though there was not nearly enough time for me to properly explore and absorb. Left for a quick bite to eat with Marta and Paige and then off to collect my bags and on to Grand Central to catch my bus to LaGuardia. It was everything Penn Station was not.

My bus departed and arrived at the airport so early that I was placed on an earlier flight back to Milwaukee. I landed in Milwaukee 20 minutes before my original flight would have departed LaGuardia. Sweet!

The plane had so many empty seats that I sat in my aisle alone. It was an appropriate return for such a voyage. Passed a wind farm and I thought of Charlie, the wind turbine I had met - and my sister had named - back in 2008. Came in from the east, watching the city appear closer and closer until... my house! My house! I could see my house; we were directly above it. Landed. My brother picked me up and after a short while I convinced him of a sushi dinner at Kiku downtown. It was better sushi than I had during my eating adventures in New York state. Though I did not get to too many sushi restaurants in the city, from this perspective, I can say that Milwaukee has better sushi (in my price range) than New York City.

Postcards from New York No. 6

2011-10-16T23:11:00.000-05:00

The sky! The sky! I am in thesky! Began the day off with ahelicopter ride off the Manhattan Heliport Pier. Lasted 15 minutes and circled around Lady Liberty andGovernors’ Island, up the water divide between Manhattan and New Jersey, givinglovely views of the Manhattan skyline (where does it ever stop?), Central Park,Empire State and Chrysler buildings. The plan began during my walk along the pier Friday and my stop at theheliport. The gentlemen at theheliport were quite helpful and dangerously flattering. I am sure their charm goes a longway. I thank them for theirkindness.

Trek around northern side of NYU and GreenwichVillage for some light thrift shopping. Purchased two dresses and a book for a total of 26 dollars. I loved them and loved them that manydollars worth.

Up the 6 to 86^th and a short walk tothe Guggenheim Museum. As much asI had anticipated and demanded I make it there this go around, I have to admitthat I was quite disappointed in the visuals I received. The Pop exhibition was great; verysmall but very strong pieces. However, the Nicola López installation purposefully obscured the rotundaof the museum, taking away, in my opinion, its most dominating attraction. I cannot say that I was alone in mydistaste for the installation. Andit is not wholly on the account of the missed view; I found the installationtacky and juvenile, some thing I would find in a first-year student exhibition, not atthe Guggenheim. From the shortamount I read on the piece during my visit, it seems a portion of the artist’sintention was to draw from the anticipation of viewers; perhaps, then, theartist achieved her intention.

A cup of tea to cheer my late afternoon and along walk in Central Park, beginning at the Jacqueline Kennedy OnassisReservoir to pass Strawberry Fields. Another disappointment. Smaller than my expectations, as well as crowded – with both people and stuff. A live band near by was performing Beatles covers. It was mildly amusing.

Dinner at Friend House again, this time for somehot food: miso soup and lo mein. The noodles were overcooked, otherwise very good. Walked to Strand Bookstore on Broadwayand browsed for the last half hour before close. Got lucky there were not any Cummings or Camus books that Idid not already own and I did not browse the 1 and 2 dollar carts on account asto not get carried away.

Pack tonight for early checkout tomorrow beforeheading out on one last adventure…

Postcards from New York No. 5

2011-10-15T23:11:00.000-05:00

Day five already; it is hard to believe. I like having particular things inmind, but making the decisions as I go, or like this morning, waking up withthe map beside and deciding where I will start.

Walked around farmer’s market in Union Square, onthe lookout for the vegan muffin cart I bought from the last time I was in thecity. No dice.

Headed up to Chelsea to meet with Marta and otherformer MIAD classmates (arrived yesterday afternoon) and spent the better portion of the day visiting galleriesand the like in the area. Do HoSuh at Lehmann Maupin. Alice Attieat Foley Gallery. Elinor Carucciat Sasha Wolf Gallery. EthanMurrow at Winston Wachter. Thisigloo of books, where I did not note the artist or the gallery where it wasshown. Others.

Stopped at a thrift store – Buffalo – on 26^thI believe. Bought nothing. I am really pleased with how selectiveI have become in my progression to living with less.

EthanMurrow

Delicious vegan chocolate rugelach beforenaptime.

Met up again with Marta and Paige for a walk toFriend House for an intimate sushi dinner, Paige’s first. She took no liking to it. Quite entertaining to watch though. I took the “surprise me” route andordered the chef’s choice platter. Worth the try, but too much sashimi for me. I would rather have my maki and eat it too.

Postcards from New York No. 4

2011-10-14T23:11:00.000-05:00

Made my way to the 9/11 Memorial in themid-morning. I have mixed feelingstoward the Memorial and the soon-to-be Museum at the site dedicated to theremembrance of 9/11, so I wanted to visit the place. I had hoped to bring myself some resolution, but only findthat I am still conflicted. It isnot that I feel as though the day and people should not be remember, but it isthe way we, as a culture, choose to remember that I find difficult toaccept. I do not think furtherelaboration is necessary. Inshort, I am ashamed to be a part of it.

On the way, passed by St. Paul’s Chapel anddoubled back after leaving the memorial. Beautiful, though barely legible headstones populate this graveyard,dating back to late 1700s.

Stopped for sushi lunch at Bento Nouveau on wayto Battery Park. Walked down tothe tip of the island and saw Lady Liberty from afar. From there, and despite the mist, took a couple hour walk upand along the pier, stopping at the Manhattan Heliport to watch a bird land, upto the seaport and Pier 17 complex. Amazing views of the Brooklyn Bridge from Pier 17. The fog made it even more enjoyable.

Sun! And blue sky! Shot up thesubway to walk passed the Empire State Building on the way to the MorganLibrary. Incredible building withold books and ceiling paintings. Ifelt transported. My kind ofplace. There was also anexhibition of drawings from the Louvre, including studies of Ingres, Delacroix,and David, among others.

Clear weather was short-lived as I walked themany blocks to the Japan Society in the rain, stopping under the overpass toGrand Central Station to wait it out; despite my umbrella, I was still gettingsoaked. Exhibitions at the JapanSociety included a works derived from fabrics showcase and a small gallery ofpostcard-size pieces dedicated to the rebuilding after the March earthquakes,each from an individual artist.

Image grabbed from Japan Society website

Walked down First passed the United Nationsbuilding and back to the Morgan Library for a screening of the 1946 GreatExpectations. I had never seen itbefore, plus the theater was quite lovely. At first, it was one other individual and myself; he said ifno one else showed, we would have a date. Others came; I did not see where he sat in the theater.

Postcards from New York No. 3

2011-10-13T23:11:00.000-05:00

Awoke early to catch 6:05am bus to SyracuseAmtrak station for my 6:55am departure to New York City. The walk from the apartment to the busstop was short, but rainy, and all together / altogether my bags are tooheavy. I decided on the downhillwalk that I must be even more minimal. I leave while most of Syracuse is still sleeping.

I tried to sleep for the beginning portion of theride, knowing what lay ahead; still, I was only able to knock off for a shorttime. My head was too full. Tip for future endeavors: If it’s on atrain, it needs a blanket. Still,never a dull moment. The ridebetween Syracuse and New York City is incredible. The autumn colors are said to be more beautiful here in NewEngland, but they simply reminded me of my Midwestern home. I see similarities and disparities ineverything; overwhelmingly, every thing is connected.

I like New York state; it has all these funnynamed cities and towns like Schenectady and Poughkeepsie and Yonkers.

Arrived at Penn Station on time. I was underwhelmed. I suppose I was expecting some thingmore like Grand Central, some thing, dare I say, romantic. This place was sterile-looking like anairport but felt dirty like a subway. Yes, the perfect description. There were no seats anywhere so I sat on the ground to catch mybreath. Ejected myself onto thestreet and toward the Manhattan Mall, still carrying my full load, where I hadhoped to quell my screaming empty stomach. There is no food court in Manhattan Mall, I discovered,which made since, since the entire city is a food court.

Decided I would ignore my need for sustenance,bought my one week unlimited riding pass and navigated my way on the metrosystem to Union Square, hoping to get an early check-in. Success. I have likely only once or twice in my life been happier tosee a bed knowing it is specifically mine (for the time being).

Postcards from New York No. 2

2011-10-12T23:11:00.000-05:00

Day two began again at SU (side note: I called it SU allday instead of Syracuse University just to show how integrated I can be; by theend of the day, it was ‘campus’). Sat for a while having my morning tea – I splurged and bought the 75cent cup, thinking I will save my tea bags for NYC when cups of tea areproportionally more expensive – and mapped out my daily happenings althoughthey did not quite play the way I mapped out, with no complaint from me. Props to Marta for previously statingthat things never go as planned.

Mom, this one is for you.

Went to the SU Art Galleries. The featured exhibition was interesting, but I was mostintrigued by the storage of their permanent collection. It was neat and organized andcompletely visible (at least their three-dimensional works; the two-dimensionalworks –photographs and prints – were accessible in flat files but neededsupervision for viewing). Fascinating! Had a shortbut good discussion with one of the employees about searchable onlinedatabases.

Walked to Everson Museum of Art, which I found last nightin a Google search; a lucky find because Alec Soth’s From Here To There iscurrently on view in the upper galleries. I was jazzed; I must tell Tara. Completely different experience viewing larger prints, though likely myfavored experience was hearing T.S. Eliot read The Love Song of J. AlfredPrufrock; I tuned out the other guy. I was happily amused.

Reciprocal admission did not score any points for me today,but it was worth the ten dollars and the admissions desk clerk was more than agreeableand pointed me to a fantastic vegan eatery. Ate a cup of minestrone soup and amazing Tofu-Lettuce-Tomatosandwich at Strong Hearts Café. If I lived here, I’d go here. Even grabbed a couple Alternative Baking Company cookies for the trainride to NYC tomorrow morning (Duration 5hrs, 40mins).

Onward to The Warehouse Gallery in Armory Square, showingwork from three California-based street artists. I liked one. Small gallery. Cute area. No photography allowed.

Free bus ride back to main campus, desperate for a cup oftea, or a nap. Met up briefly withStacy before heading to an LGBT event of people telling their Coming OutStories. An amazingly heartwarmingand human evening. I think a lotof people only came for the free pizza.

Immediate list of things to do: Eat, Bathe, and Rearrangemy packed items. Zipper broke onmy backpack, not unlikely from stuffing in my running shoes. Questioning a) whether it needs to bereplaced before the end of the trip, and b) whether it needs to be replaced atall. Not staying zipped currentlyis not an option.

Postcards from New York No.1

2011-10-11T23:11:00.000-05:00

Arrived in Syracuse today in one piece though an hour and some behind schedule. After a cold and miserable overnight, my spirits perked up after the sun began to rise. I watched Pennsylvania come and go. I found it funny how the country looks the same from middle to end.

my fairwell to milwaukee

A bus and a transfer later I was at Syracuse University. It was mid-afternoon. Met with Stacy and got the basic tour, and a map! before she had to run to class. Explored the student center and the library, though I only made it to floor four; after the second the floors all look the same any way. Went to People's Place, a small, student-run cafe and ordered a cup of hot water. I brought my own tea, you see. I gave the girl a quarter any way and she looked confused. "Put it in the tip jar," I suggested and stepped aside to cap my cardboard mug. Went outside and sat in the quad like a newbie, made a couple phone calls, and then laid to rest my eyes. I could see the University Galleries from there, but that is for tomorrow. The campus is some thing beautiful, with old buildings standing along side modern ones, and the sky opening endlessly. Met up with Stacy again and walked to her apartment then to a diner for some half price sushi. That is a word you will hear often on this trip: sushi.

Until tomorrow.

a perfect place to start

2011-10-10T11:11:00.000-05:00

I leave in a few hours on a lone journey to New York. I suspect I will not be so alone, as, both strategically and coincidentally I will be making the trip at the same time as several others that I know. The journey will being this evening when I board a train here in Milwaukee bound for Syracuse (Duration: 14 hrs, 27 mins, not including transfer time in Chicago). The train will ride overnight and I will arrive in Syracuse shortly before noon on Tuesday. My adopted sister, Stacy, is a graduate student attending Syracuse University and, as I was unable to visit her in Chicago before she made the move, I made arrangements to see her in Syracuse during my venture to New York City. I will be taking another train from Syracuse to New York (Duration: 5 hrs, 40 mins) and arriving Thursday afternoon. This gives me from Thursday afternoon until Monday evening in the city. For those of you who are keeping track, it will be my second time there.

I hope to devote some time each day to write and reflect upon my experiences and what I have seen (or intend to see). It has been a while since I have set any similar goal for myself and feel as though it would put me at an advantage, taking cue from Ev Bogue and doing the work every single day. As of right now, I have only one day thought out. I like the openness of being aware of what is going on yet having no concrete plans. Perhaps it would be best to go at a day-to-day pace, keeping ahead of myself only slightly and allowing for redirection.

Much like when I set off to California last December I will not be taking a camera with me. What I will have, and will likely use, is my camera phone, which I have been using more and more (some previous posts have been images from my camera phone). Unlike the California trip, I will have my laptop. I will also have my backpack and $3 sixteen inch square suitcase I bought some months ago in excitement for this trip.

My eyes are already stinging from tiredness and I have a long way to go even just today. I stayed up late last night - okay, really it was midnight - watching Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. I finally rolled over and had to finish the last half hour or so this morning. My perception of late has changed much since I left the life of a student staying up at all hours to complete assignments.

Now I am sitting on my brother's patio getting ready as the time gets closer and closer to leave. The perfect autumn day spent in anticipation: a perfect place to start.

Albert Camus, Notebooks 1935-1942

2011-10-02T11:11:00.000-05:00

p206: A time comes when one can no longer feel the emotion of love. The only thing left is tragedy. Living for someone or for something no longer has any meaning. Nothing seems to keep its meaning except the idea of dying for something.

2011-10-01T11:11:00.000-05:00

Untitled (Esteban), 2008
© aryn kresol

This and adjoining works will be on display as a part of Fairytales, an exhibition at the Prairie Street Gallery in Rockord IL during Rockford ArtScene, October 14th and 15th.

2011-09-22T11:11:00.017-05:00

i wish you were here

milwaukee wi

2011-09-21T23:11:00.001-05:00

the sky above Rockford IL September 21, 1987 12:13pm

24 today

2011-09-21T11:11:00.005-05:00

Susan Minot, Poems 4 a.m., Breathing on Dice

2011-09-20T11:11:00.001-05:00

I wish you knew
the underneath of me,
how I keep track of everything
and try to let everything go.

2011-09-19T23:11:00.002-05:00

thinking of you

19 September 2011

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

2011-09-03T11:11:00.004-05:00

p23: The moment I met you I saw that you were quite unconscious of what you really are, of what you really might be. There was so much in you that charmed me that I felt I must tell you something about yourself. I thought how tragic it would be if you were wasted.

Ev Bogue, What Might Have Happened?

2011-08-18T23:11:00.024-05:00

Spending one moment more than necessary worrying about what I should have done yesterday is a moment that I'm not spending now taking concrete actions that are necessary in order to achieve what I need now.

What might have happened never happened.

So, I untether.

Ev Bogue

May Sarton, Journal of a Solitude

2011-07-29T23:11:00.000-05:00

p101: I asked myself the question, "What do you want of your life?" and I realized with a start of recognition and terror, "Exactly what I have - but to be commensurate, to handle it all better."

2011-07-26T11:11:00.002-05:00

2011-07-23T11:11:00.000-05:00

Lin Yutang, 1895

2011-07-15T11:11:00.009-05:00

Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.

Dreaming, 12 February 2011

2011-07-14T11:11:00.002-05:00

I laid a bag of my things on the ground
in your yard
and covered it with a cut tshirt
and began watering your lawn.
When I lifted the shirt
(a while later)
from the ground
I saw that it had been covered with hard roots,
sprouting from the bottom like little trees.
You came up behind me.
Then I held it up for you to see
and the roots became a part of me,
under my skin
and you began to pull them out
one by one.

i like these two together (discovery upon upload)

2011-07-09T11:11:00.001-05:00

2011-07-08T11:11:00.001-05:00

untitled, 2011

milwaukee wi

2011-06-28T11:11:00.001-05:00

mine to yours
27 june 2011
© aryn kresol

2011-06-23T23:11:00.002-05:00

these things i will forget, 2010

rockford il
© aryn kresol

Ted Hughes, Birthday Letters, A Dream

2011-06-18T11:11:00.006-05:00

Not dreams, I had said, but fixed stars
Govern a life. A thirst of the whole being,
Inexorable, like a sleeper drawing
Air into the lungs.
...
'And for you,' you said to me, 'permission
To remember this dream. And think about it.'

2011-06-13T11:11:00.006-05:00

Ralph Waldo Emerson: We are always getting ready to live but never living.

2011-06-12T11:11:00.003-05:00

untitled, 2010

rockford il

2011-06-11T11:11:00.001-05:00

thinking of you

11 June 2011

2011-06-07T11:11:00.003-05:00

Paulo Coelho: Life is too short, or too long, for me to allow myself the luxury of living it so badly.

Looking east from the shore, waiting for summer

2011-05-19T11:11:00.008-05:00

East, 2009
© aryn kresol

2011-05-17T11:11:00.005-05:00

these things i will forget, 2010

caledonia il
© aryn kresol

the gift

2011-03-12T11:11:00.006-06:00

photo by Kosta Dimitrov
Summer 2009

2011-03-10T11:11:00.009-06:00

Kelli Connell: My photographs lie as documents but tell the truth as images.

2011-03-02T11:11:00.013-06:00

the sky above Lviv, Ukraine March 2, 1990 6:40pm

2011-02-21T11:11:00.005-06:00

Frederick Perls: I am I and you are you, and neither of us is here to live up to the other one's expectations.

Dan Estabrook for your valentine's day

2011-02-14T11:11:00.003-06:00

Dan Estabrook's Nine Symptoms (2004)

Shortness of Breath © Dan Estabrook

Heart Rate Increase © Dan Estabrook

Loss of Appetite © Dan Estabrook

Sleeplessness © Dan Estabrook

Weakness © Dan Estabrook

Fever © Dan Estabrook

Chills © Dan Estabrook

Delirium © Dan Estabrook

Euphoria © Dan Estabrook

More from Dan Estabrook

2011-02-13T11:11:00.002-06:00

mine to yours, 2009
milwaukee wi
© aryn kresol

2011-02-09T11:11:00.004-06:00

new york, october 2010
© aryn kresol

2011-02-05T11:11:00.007-06:00

midsummer, 2009
rockford il
© aryn kresol

2011-01-31T11:11:00.003-06:00

Karim Rashid: Even a fool can be wise by mistake.

2011-01-29T11:11:00.007-06:00

flowers from brooklyn, manhattan view, october 2010
new york ny
© aryn kresol

2011-01-20T23:11:00.010-06:00

Graham Miller: I'm interested in the ambiguity of images. The way that all photographs have elements of fabrication and truth making.

New Year

2011-01-01T11:11:00.002-06:00

I do not often find myself believing in New Year's Resolutions. If you are asking why, it is because I believe that the ability to change the things about ourselves that either hinder our growth or that we tire of should not rely on a calendar, but rather that we can begin transition at any moment. We need only believe, and then to work to make it so.

If I had a New Year's Resolution, it would be this: To rid, or at least lessen, my need of unnecessary things.

oh the places you will go: los angeles

2010-12-20T23:11:00.008-06:00

Just two months after setting off for New York City I boarded another plane, this one heading in the opposite direction: the west coast. I had planned the trip immediately following the end of the Fall term, and once my finals were complete, headed to see a friend in Anaheim and to visit select museums. I had three days, only one of which I spent in LA. I packed a single bag; a toothbrush, some shampoo and conditioner, two shirts and a pair of pants for sleeping, a pair of keds, two books, and my date book. I left my computer and my camera at home. I wanted to experience this, not document it.

Family Tree © Zhang Huan

My two main destinations: The Getty and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The Getty was visually and spiritually overwhelming, a tremendous way to begin the day (after a three+ hour train/bus/tram/walking trip to get there from Anaheim). Photography from the New China, the exhibition of interest, features pictured work from Zhang Huan and Song Yongping. I would have to say Song Yongping's collection from his series My Parents was the most striking and resonating for me.

Passage 1,2,5,6,7,8 from My Parents © Song Yongping

The William Eggleston exhibition, Democratic Camera - Photographs and Video, 1961 - 2008, was my destination at LACMA. I thought the breadth of the work display was quite spectacular (the man is nothing if not prolific), but I can say I was confused with organization or layout of the exhibition. There seemed to be no logical way in which to move through the rooms. Each wall seemed choreographed in and of itself, but one wall to the next had no synthesis. It left me disappointed as a viewer. I bought two postcards.

Untitled, from Los Alamos, c. 1970 © William Eggleston

Construction/Installation piece, Untitled

2010-12-11T11:11:00.001-06:00

An edge is a place between places. It is defined not by what it is but by what surrounds it. It is the void between places. The edge of wall is where the wall meets the air, meets the floor, meets the window sill, meets the door.

This construction is an undertaking triggered by an elective course I took at MIAD entitled Water; one can guess what the focus of the semester was. The project consists of sculpture and installation, using wooden pieces to map the Mississippi River and its defining edge along the Midwestern states. The piece is assembled from 2,122 (give or take a few) fragments of wood, standing about one and a half inches off the wall, just over one inch wide, and spans a wall length of twenty-four feet, leaving a little breathing room on the sides.

2010-12-06T11:11:00.011-06:00

early afternoon, november 2010
rockford il
© aryn kresol

breakfast companion

2010-11-29T11:11:00.016-06:00

Siren I, 2003 © David Parker

Siren II © David Parker

Siren III © David Parker

Siren IV © David Parker

Siren V © David Parker

Siren VI © David Parker

Siren XVII © David Parker

Siren XVIII © David Parker

Siren XXII © David Parker

Siren XXIII © David Parker

Siren XXV © David Parker

Siren XXVIII © David Parker

2010-11-28T23:11:00.002-06:00

Erin Lewis: You can't always feel love but you can always feel its absence.

New York City: The High Line

2010-10-22T23:11:00.014-05:00

I recently returned from an adventure to New York; my first time. The trip was organized through MIAD. Five days of art museums, galleries, studio visits, and spontaneous exploration. It was quite exceptional and, to my suspicions, I was enamored. I mean, how can some one who has seen the Museum of Modern Art not completely swoon? What was also great was sharing that adventure with so many other enthusiastic artists. It would not have been the same experience has I gone without the group (not saying it would be worse, but recognizing the influence the beaming eyes and ecstatic gestures of others can have on one's experience of a place). The second day I was in New York, I spent a good chunk of the day in Chelsea, visiting galleries, and had the chance to walk the High Line. Walking, looking, thinking.

Connecting it to photography, I thought of Joel Sternfeld's series on the High Line, some of which I will include here for viewing pleasure.

Looking East on 30th Street on a Morning in May, 2000 © Joel Sternfeld

Looking South at 27th Street, September 2000 © Joel Sternfeld

Looking East on 30th Street on a Late September Morning, 2000 © Joel Sternfeld

2010-10-07T11:11:00.001-05:00

Randy Paul-Petersen: The Light be with you.

daddy and me, years ago, now twenty-three

2010-09-21T11:11:00.003-05:00

happy birthday to me.

stARTrevolution debut exhibition, october 1st and 2nd

2010-09-17T11:11:00.000-05:00

stARTrevolution, a project I have been working on for some time, is finally starting to make a name for itself. The coming of Rockford's Fall ArtScene seemed an appropriate enough time for its debut. stARTrevolution is a co-operative exploration among artists and art advocates from or based out of Chicago, Milwaukee, and Rockford. It is an exchange of creative energy, ideas, inspiration, resouces, and information.

© Matt Kuehl

stARTrevolution presents 3 Cities, a collective exhibition of artists from Chicago, Milwaukee and Rockford.

Join photographers Marta Shumylo, Matt Kuehl, and Erin Kirkpatrick as they exhibit original works at downtown Rockford's Brio Restaurant in the Cellar Gallery. The show is held in concurrence with Rockford ArtScene, taking place Friday, October 1st and Saturday, October 2nd. Exhibition hours are Friday from 5pm until 12am and Saturday from 4pm until 12am. Exhibition curated and coordinated by stARTrevolution's Aryn Kresol and Brio Restaurant's Daniel Jarzynski. For inquiries, contact Daniel at 815.968.9463 or email aryn.stARTrevolution@gmail.com.

© Marta Shumylo

© Erin Kirkpatrick

2010-09-15T11:11:00.003-05:00

for marta

2010-09-12T11:11:00.001-05:00

Diane Arbus: The thing that's important to know is that you never know. You're always sort of feeling your way.

2010-09-05T11:11:00.006-05:00

2010-08-29T23:11:00.005-05:00

Francis Bacon: The contemplation of things as they are, without substitution or imposture, without error or confusion, is in itself a nobler thing than a whole harvest of invention.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, born August 22, 1908

2010-08-22T11:11:00.000-05:00

similarities

2010-08-18T11:11:00.001-05:00

I recently came across this image by David Burdeny; I found it to be strikingly similar to one by Sally Gall which I have previously shared.

Mercators Projection, Antarctica 2007 © David Burdeny

Quadrant © Sally Gall

new and notable

2010-08-16T23:11:00.018-05:00

The Empire State Building in Bedroom, 1994 © Abelardo Morell.

It has been a busy, eventful summer. My internship at the Haggerty Museum of Art in Milwaukee has been going wonderfully; I really have learned a lot and am excited to continue. The director of the museum, Wally Mason, has offered me a part time position, and I am happy to say that I have accepted and will continue in my place once school resumes.

Today was my first day working as staff. The above image by Abe Morell was featured in the most current exhibit at the museum and was removed today as we begin rotation. I am quite excited to see the new exhibits, opening next Wednesday, August 25, 2010.

On August 6th, I participated in the second Emerging Visual Artist Project exhibit, Art for Art's Sake, in Rockford IL and was awarded Best of Show. There are plenty of talented artists coming out thanks to the EVAP and it was a pleasure to have met them; it was all around a successful and enjoyable evening. The works are on display at Kryptonite Music Lounge until August 25, 2010.

my sister, amber, my mother, kathi, and myself at the emerging visual artist project: art for art's sake on august 6, 2010

breakfast companion

2010-08-03T11:11:00.006-05:00

Between Worlds © Sally Gall

Sally Gall Photography

Evidence of Wind © Sally Gall

Spill © Sally Gall

Quadrant © Sally Gall

2010-07-29T23:11:00.008-05:00

2010-07-11T23:11:00.002-05:00

You always live a half life

2010-06-17T11:11:00.011-05:00

from the absence of the sea series © aryn kresol

I am living two lives (or attempting to); and in the process, I am only living half of one.

Here is my hope.

half full © aryn kresol

epiphany, september 2009

2010-06-12T11:11:00.007-05:00

Collect.Select.Reflect: Bob Dylan

2010-05-30T23:11:00.012-05:00

"A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do."

Image Source

This quote came to mind over this long weekend. I think it sums it up quite nicely. Waking up exactly where I want to be and living the day as it comes. Sweet. Spontaneous. Here is my hope for many more.

Sir Ken Robinson on TED

2010-05-26T23:11:00.007-05:00

Today I watched the latest TEDTALK by Sir Ken Robinson, given in February of this year. Months ago, I watched his "Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity" talk given at TED in 2006, and was immediately taken with him and his message (which I just watched again, I might add). I find that I become terribly excited when I hear people speak about creativity and cultivating it (and creation) to allow all individuals to reach their full potential and become the person(s) they are capable of becoming. The necessity for like-minded individuals to recognize their strengths and to act upon them becomes more and more apparent to me, most particularly when acted on together in order for any community to flourish. I am sharing them both here for viewing pleasure. Visit TED for more from great and inspiring minds.

This week: Haggerty Internship and the Humanity of the Moment.

2010-05-24T23:11:00.000-05:00

Today I began my summer internship at the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University in Milwaukee. I most definitely have a fun, interesting, engaging, challenging, and educational few months ahead of me and I am quite excited. There was no time wasted as I was pulled into an exhibition meeting just moments after my arrival. I have a long list of artist names to explore. After the meeting my time was spent attempting to learn staff names, reading, writing, and learning a little bit about the museum computer cataloging system (which every one is learning since it is new).

I was ecstatic upon seeing a piece in the current exhibition, one by photographer Ruth Bernhard (featured in my Collect.Select.Reflect collection). The piece was a lot larger than I anticipated and I later found out that it was a reprint of the original, printed thirty years later. Bernhard is among my favored photographers.

In the Box - Horizontal 1962 © Ruth Bernhard

In other news, the class that I was T.A.'d for during the spring semester is having a show of work produced over the duration of the course. The class was run in conjunction with Milwaukee Art Museum's Street Seen photography exhibition, which closed at the end of April. The Humanity of the Moment opens this Wednesday, May 26th at the Milwaukee City Hall Rotunda at 4:45pm - 7:30pm. I will be there! The show runs through June 4th. Visit the MIAD site for all the info that I just gave here and more.

breakfast companion

2010-05-05T11:11:00.004-05:00

Untitled (Italy), 1977-1978 © Francesca Woodman

A Francesca Woodman Gallery

Untitled, MacDowell Colony, Petersborogh, New Hampshire, Summer 1980 © Francesca Woodman

New York - Bath 1980 © Francesca Woodman

.(un)conditional.

2010-04-28T11:11:00.003-05:00

Conditional love says that I will love you as long as you fit my desires, my needs, my expectations. It says that I will love you as long as you do this and as long as you don’t do that. Unconditional love sees these flaws, or perhaps less flaws and more inconsistencies with our thoughts and expectations, and loves any way – not only despite them, but because of them. Unconditional love loves because it cannot help itself nor do otherwise. I cannot say what it is that moves me love, but only that I do love, and love you only because you are you and because I am I.

2010-04-23T23:11:00.002-05:00

e.e. cummings, six nonlectures:

2010-04-22T11:11:00.013-05:00

"I was marvellously lucky to touch and seize a rising and striving world; a reckless world, filled with the curiosity of life herself; a vivid and violent world welcoming every challenge; a world worth hating and adoring and fighting and forgiving: in brief, a world which was a world."

At times when life becomes harder to bear, and the world - outside and inside - seems to be pushing against me, it is often difficult to remember that maybe tomorrow will not seem so rough, that perhaps today will reach a bearable or even elated state, and that the world which is a world is worth the challenge of loving.

breakfast companion

2010-04-10T11:11:00.008-05:00

From the Secret World (5) © Anastasia Cazabon

I like to spend my mornings quietly, eating my two pieces of toast and looking at works of art online. This morning's selection was Anastasia Cazabon whose photographic work I found thanks to Flak Photo.

From the Secret World (11) © Anastasia Cazabon

From the Secret World (21) © Anastasia Cazabon
For more Anastasia, visit her website.

one week until O photography show!

2010-04-09T11:11:00.005-05:00

Only one week until O : photographs by Aryn Kresol, Annie Rudolph, and Matthew Schwerin in Rockford IL. It has been a busy few weeks getting things ready, and this next week will prove no different. This weekend I will be heading down to Rockford to install my pieces. I am extremely excited!

my thought this morning driving north on i-43

2010-04-05T23:11:00.004-05:00

over the passed two weeks i have created two photographic pieces that i am proud of. i had the thought today while driving north on i-43 from rockford to milwaukee that if i were to create one piece a week that moved me in this way, then i would birth 52 creations a year. this may not seem like a significant amount to some, may not be "prolific," but i would rather make 52 that mean everything than 500 or 1000 that mean less. perhaps, one day, i'll live, love, and make everything mean that much.

Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes:

2010-03-27T11:11:00.011-05:00

In love, no one can harm anyone else; we are each of us responsible for our own feelings and cannot blame someone else for what we feel. It hurt when I lost each of the various men I fell in love with. Now, though, I am convinced that no one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone. That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it.

.pleasant morning.

2010-03-26T11:11:00.005-05:00

© Carlotta Manaigo
I spent the morning looking at Carlotta Manaigo's photo blog and reading Paulo Coelho. It has been quite pleasurable. There is some thing about waking up and immersing myself in art and/or writing that I find completely inspirational and appropriate, like the violinist described in Bill Jay's The Thing Itself; like living. And now, to Chicago.

2010-03-09T11:11:00.008-06:00

may i feel said he, 2008
rockford il
© aryn kresol

I can recall a time when asked what or why I photographed, my answer would sound much like that of others: that I photographed what I found to be beautiful; now, I cannot even stand the word. Before, my photography followed what was going on in my life, or more appropriately, who. The epitome of this and my motivation to capture what I saw as beautiful led me here (to him). As I may have said before, love inspires every thing that I do and so it is not surprising that I ardently desired to photograph the object of my love. I suppose one could say now that this was a way of solidifying this moment into my memory, taking cue from Duane Michals and making my own This Photograph is My Proof; proof of his weight on my mattress, of his skin on my sheets, of his face in front of my lens, of his presence in my world. But if I really had to say it, I would say it was my way of showing the world who meant the world to me, in one of the only ways I know how: photographically.

off the map

2010-03-07T11:11:00.003-06:00

Being a dreamer doesn't always look like shine and stardust. Somethings it just looks like dust.

2010-03-06T11:11:00.009-06:00

.on first blush. © Aryn Kresol, April 2009.

i dedicate this post to the person i know would appreciate it most. you know who you are.

2010-03-04T11:11:00.005-06:00

esteban, november 2008
milwaukee wi
© aryn kresol

I took this self-portrait photograph using the 4x5 view camera. The set-up was less than easy, but that is the way I like it: awkward and challenging. The title was derived from The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World, a short story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

.learning to draw in illustrator.

2010-02-18T11:11:00.000-06:00

I'm currently taking a Hybrid Practices course at MIAD with Christopher Willey. We are learning (and in some cases learning more) about using programs such as PhotoShop and Illustrator. I have not had any experience with Illustrator prior to taking this class. I will just post the ones I am proud of. This was done from a photograph that I previously posted (by Marta Shumylo).