Feature image: Courtesy of Ari Norris.
By Ari Norris
Preface: The work produced for “Really Really” at Real Tinsel has been made over this last summer in Muskegon, MI, my hometown. I’ve kept a studio there now for 3 years, enjoying the various breaks of my university schedules “in the woodshed.” The largest work in the show, Lighthouse Looking for a Lover, was documented a few weeks prior in Muskegon for the exhibition announcement, longingly pointed towards Milwaukee across the lake. Designed to fit in my van, we have a scheduled trip by boat on September 12th to make the 80 mile trip coast to coast, something I felt was an important symbolic component of the work.
I had been looking forward to singing the praises of our Lake Express, a high-speed catamaran-style car ferry that makes twice-daily voyages from Muskegon to Milwaukee, but the trip was canceled four days before our departure due to maintenance. This changes what would’ve been a 2.5-hour trip across Lake Michigan into a drive spread across four states and two days. But we adapt.
Thursday, September 10, 2026
2:55pm CST | DeKalb
Leaving Northern Illinois University. I need to pick my dog up before we leave for Michigan. Noah Wandrey has her nearby in Sycamore, and is one of the 32 artists included in “Truly Truly,” a group show I’ve curated opening concurrent to my solo at Real Tinsel.
3:15pm CST | Sycamore
Islay – always alert, my faithful companion. She stays busy in the car managing traffic patterns.
4:00pm CST | DeKalb
Gas is pumped. Ready to jump on I-88 and head towards Chicago. I’ll let Kurt Vile’s (watch my moves) album play start to end.
5:40pm CST | Indiana
6:22pm CST | Michigan
9:10pm EST | – Downtown Muskegon, Core Plaza
A group of artists that includes my parents and our friends Lee Brown, Honore Lee, her son Hunter Lee, as well as others, are out tonight following Muskegon Museum of Art’s reception for the 97th Michigan Contemporary Art Exhibition. My mom’s sculpture Narcissus: The Reflection won second place. Four of these mentioned artists represent the Michigan contingent included in “Truly Truly.” Core Plaza is a former bank building that now holds a cocktail bar named Liquid Assets, a food court, and retail spaces that include a salon, a barber shop, and a tattoo studio. I’ve missed the food, but I have a martini with Hunter.
10:32pm EST
Islay and I are in for the night.
Friday, September 11, 2026
9:12am EST
An unexpected power outage. I can’t get much done in the studio until power is restored, so I pivot and load the van for our return trip.
9:38am EST
Loading up is finished.
10:26am EST
Food and computer work at Brooklyn Bagels. Located 3 minutes away, this is a usual workplace for me. Lox breakfast sandwich on everything.
11:42am EST
Notification is received that power is restored, and I head out.
The afternoon is spent working in the studio. Muskegon Museum of Art has invited me to produce a putt-putt hole for their upcoming show MinARTure Golf. Nine courses are being made in response to specific artwork in the MMA’s collection. My selection was Roger Brown’s Painter of a Bird’s Eye View.
5:00pm EST
I leave Muskegon. This afternoon my friends Tom Guenther and Kerry Herlihy have had a courthouse wedding in Chicago, and this evening we will celebrate. I met Tom in Miami in 2023, and he has been a fixture in my life ever since. The previous weekend, five of us stayed at his cabin in White Lake, WI, for a Labor Day weekend bachelor party. We selected the rock seen on Tom’s wall sculpture in “Truly Truly” on this trip.
7:11pm EST | Indiana
6:54pm CST | Illinois
Golden hour going over the skyway.
7:32pm CST | crosswalk, Chicago
Islay will hang out at Alexis Estrada’s gallery named crosswalk during the party. The gallery is preparing for its one-year anniversary show, titled Baragwanath, after the name that appears on the 1856 building permit. Alexis, naturally, is another artist appearing in “Truly Truly.”
7:40pm CST
On the way to Ten Cat Tavern.
8:00pm CST
Arrival at Ten Cat Tavern. Sean Gannon and Mikey Coleman, both included in “Truly Truly,” make-up part of the group waiting for Tom and Kerry’s arrival on the sidewalk in front of the bar.
9:17pm CST
The cake is cut. “For Life!” is written in icing across the surface. Sean gets tamales for the table.
11:30pm CST
Leaving Ten Cat Tavern. I have been drinking Guinness N/A tonight and will be driving to Rockford to pick up work that has been shipped to my home address in advance of tomorrow’s drive to Milwaukee.
11:55pm CST | crosswalk
Islay has been picked up, and she gets a brief visit from Alexis and her partner Adam Noll.
Saturday, September 12, 2026
1:30am CST | Rockford
We are home and both ready for bed.
8:00am CST
Alarm clock.
9:40am CST
Leaving home and hoping for a quick breakfast at the Norwegian. The line is out the door, so I skip it and grab coffee in Rockton on the way to Milwaukee instead.
10:15am CST | Wisconsin
11:45am CST | Milwaukee
Arrival at Tinsel. Keith Nelson is here to help unload.
2:27pm CST
“Really Really” install is wrapped up, and “Truly Truly” is nearly finished. This is my third trip to work on both shows. There are a few more supplies to grab for the group show, and I plan to return on Thursday ahead of documentation with Travis Roozée before Friday’s opening.
