Finality

fi·nal·i·ty The fact or impression of being an irreversible ending.

I am slowly rapping up a sculpture that has taken over 250 hours to complete. While there are still a few lose ends to tie up on it and some tweaking to do, I am starting that final process that includes things such as cleaning up the studio and placing supplies in their homes rather than scattered around the project. Assessing things like descriptions, photo work and material lists for the finished work and most important, starting to consider ideas and parameters for the next piece I want to create.

All this reminds me of the "process" of finality in art. In some ways I suppose its like watching a child grow and helping with the details of their life like college, housing and income that bring them from childhood to adulthood. My work is very much like child rearing, especially because I spend so much time with a piece and let it consume my world while it grows.

I learned long ago that I would have a short period of sadness that bordered on depression after I finished a piece of art, unless I had another ready on the launchpad right behind it to begin. I always say to myself, "well I'll take a few days off between pieces and relax a bit" but it never happens. I suppose that's because for me, art isn't work. Its play, its joy, its expression, its who I am, and face it, its hard to take a vacation from who we are.