The AC Story

The New Year is a busy time. As soon as that ball drops…  diets, resolutions and expectations rise anew to be tested for the following 365 days. But as we begin to settle into the New Year, I can’t help but take another look, at the last few weeks that led me to 2011. The calm before the storm if you will.

Originally from outside Chicago, I was home for the holidays and a group of us were suppose to head to Chicago’s Art Institute. Schedules got mixed up, and somehow, I found myself two hours before closing at the entrance alone. Not one to waste an opportunity, I set forth up the steps not only by myself, but surprisingly with a few questions… “Have I been here before?” “If so, when was the last time I was here?” “I can’t remember?”

I entered, purchased my ticket, and proceeded into French Impressionism. I went up the stairs, opened the door to the wing and… Flash, Bam, Alakazham, I was floored.

As Marketing Director at the AC and a graphic designer, I look at alot of art. Most everyday, all day. But a screen, as nice it may be, is just so very different from standing there in this gallery among the originals, among such beauty… the real thing. Immediately I was transported to my European History class in High school. Though I had thought I had forgotten, though I couldn’t quite remember the details, the art itself brought my memory with it.

The clock started to tick by, and I thought “How can one absorb all of this in just 2 hours?”. Well, as a tech junkie, I pulled out the camera on my iPhone and started shooting. Anything that moved me. Anything that I could imagine in my make-believe home, I would take picture, and sort through the hows and whys later. If I got through this wing, I got through this wing, but if something gave me pause, I wanted to stop, enjoy and capture it for “MY personal collection at the Art Institute of Chicago”.

As I walked, I found myself laughing, smiling and just simply enjoying my time building this relationship with the beauty around me. When I finally left that magnificent place, it dawned on me. “I work at the Arts Center”. We bring in great exhibits every season. And not only that, but to be in the Adirondacks itself is to be among the “originals”, among such beauty… the real thing. It’s funny how easy you forget, because it’s just as easy to remember. You just have to look around. It’s all there. 

So this year, I’m making a resolution, wherever I am, ESPECIALLY in the ADK… I will stop, enjoy and if I’m lucky, have a relationship with all the art that is around me… and I hope you can too.

-Anton Briones

Marketing Director