Self-Portrait

An androgyne in a female body, I often find that the best way to express myself is through my art. The paintbrush communicates when words fail me and my body, though it be the only tangible part of me, is merely an inadequate container. As represented in my self-portrait, my body and a few disjointed pieces are the only clear parts of me as I explore the dark, mysterious unknown. And even then, as both an androgyne and a female, my body is in question. This is a self-portrait of the parts of me that fade in and out of the unknown.

Halloween is 2 months away . . .

My past few amazing costumes have included Daria, Brick Tamland from 'Anchorman' and Sweeney Todd.

I want to go as a terminator this year: paint part of my face to look like a machine and wear one red contact. However, red contacts are expensive and each of my previous costumes have cost me less than $10.

If I don't have spare $40 by Halloween for red contacts or if they irritate my eyes . . . I'll go as RICK ASTLEY

EDIT: Yep, I'm going as Rick Astley

Online Gallery

http://sites.google.com/site/kkrieselart/home

I haven't worked out all the kinks yet

Alverno College

I'm owning up to it . . . I regret having gone to Alverno College. It doesn't deserve everything I earned at my wonderful high school, Loyola Academy, where I was in FIRST HONORS!! I took HONORS LATIN and HONORS STUDIO ART!!! It's LOYOLA and, as several faculty members would tell you, I was there during some of the absolute best years in the past few decades.

I did get two great things from Alverno that I could not have received anywhere else:

1) Gayness
2) my AMAZING friends

Alverno is the most sapphic school in the Midwest, it was there that I felt safe and welcome enough to come out and live flamingly. And my friends are AWESOME!! I would have gotten a much better education from my 2nd choice, Columbia College in Chicago, but I'd probably be miserable and possibly even engaged.

I deserve better than Alverno. At the time, Alverno, I thought, was the best school in the Midwest for art therapy. And it, being an "ability-based" institution, is almost impossible to transfer out of. Had I attempted to transfer out, I would have had to start over.

Alverno isn't nearly a good enough place for the School of the Art Institute, where I want to get my MFA, but I still have the tools from Loyola Academy. And the art instructor I trust most at Alverno, someone who belongs somewhere so much better, supports me 100%. Since Alverno turned out to be more of an obstacle than a guide, I have the experience and drive to overcome anything.

Tattoos

I have three small tattoos:

A female symbol on my right hip


The Beatles on my left deltoid


And a rabbit on my left calf.


I'd really like to get a blue male symbol on my left hip as my next tattoo. I would also like my family crest on my right deltoid.


I'm also considering my high school logo (yes, I love my high school that much. I would wait at least ten years before getting this, though)


And ISAAC ASIMOV AAHHHH!!!!! JUST LOOK AT THOSE CHOPS


Sometimes I think about getting a Pride tattoo . . . again, I'd wait a LONG time before that

Some of my art

I'm currently working on a self-portrait. I really enjoy acrylic paint because it's versatile, expressive, and sometimes takes you in a different direction. My online gallery is www.beatles4eva.deviantart.com but you have to have a membership to see my "mature" pieces.

"The Androgyne"
Mixed Media: I supposed this is unintentionally, partly a self-portrait. Mainly, I wanted to create an androgyne challenging the encounterer as if to say, "What am I?"


"Masculinity"
Mixed Media: an aspect of femininity vs. masculinity


"Reaching Out"
Mixed Media: a female-esque figure reaching out of a cage for something more


"Fatherhood as Mountain"
Acrylic Paint: Based on a polaroid of my father holding me when I was an infant. The green upholstery and blue jeans are like an abstract landscape while the cloth drapes flesh like snow on a mountain. Distant, cold, standing alone.

My Body

It took a lot of work to attain security with my body. I came so close to making a big mistake in order to fit social standards of feminine beauty. Now, the only thing I'd like to change about my body is to add some bulk to it, the source of that want is because I can't afford much food and not any social ideals. On a related note, I'm female and I'm fine keeping it that way. I have no interest in any kind of surgery because my body is fine the way it is and, also, because my comfort in my body image is still rather shaky after everything that happened...

The idea of, "This is my body, get used to it," is the root of that security and that is why I don't want to pack or to bind. I have packed a couple times and it just felt weird, like wearing a padded bra: adjusting my appearance to change how others perceive me. NEVER AGAIN!! I stopped wearing bras in '04/'05 and I see a binder as a bra with a different purpose.

Perhaps I may get a cheap binder sometime, just to wear whenever I feel like it. If I ever got the urge to pack (using a sock. . . ), I would. I'm grateful to have a body that allows me to appear androgynous.