Date of Graduation
5-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts in Art (MFA)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
Art
Advisor/Mentor
King, Sam
Committee Member
Thompson, Jody
Second Committee Member
Mitchell, Marc
Third Committee Member
Amirvaghefi, Maryamsadat
Fourth Committee Member
Callander, Neil
Keywords
Painting; Southern Art
Abstract
In Idling, I examine the car as a poetic ground where the intimacy of private space and the expansiveness of landscape collapse. The work holds escape and entrapment, movement and stalling, in unresolved tension. Ultimately more interested in the suspended moment than any destination. The work, rooted in my experience growing up Arkansas and engaging in the broader experience of working class Southern life, examines how this space is a site of adolescent life, a memorial site of loss and risk, and a symbol of class mobility and its limitations. Formal motifs developed through my plein air practice unify the work: visual collage, an internal glow, and reaching dead trees form a cohesive network across compositions. Limited palettes and glazing dissolve figures into humid landscapes or heighten chaos, pushing the work toward poetry. Idling holds restlessness and love, tragedy and humor, in irresolution, asking the viewer to resist singular readings in favor of questions about home, identity, and belonging.
Citation
Kresse, G. S. (2026). Idling. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/6226
