Final Countdown

So, my show goes up in a week. Things have rapidly degenerated. I've taken to eating peanut butter straight out of the jar and wearing the same sweater on nearly a daily basis. The perpetual nausea seems to be back as well. Awesome.

After I talked to Bob a couple weeks ago, I decided to use a couple more older pieces of work. I decided to just have people model the four pieces made before these past two semesters, and install the eight new neckpieces and the brooches in the gallery. I selected two more older works I wanted to use, and even though I'm re-making one (the original is currently in an exhibition), I felt like I had a new lease on life by not making myself come up with 2 more new pieces!

But this only lasted a few days. And now I'm having serious doubts. I mean, I've made all this work over the past few years, and I'm only going to show 8 pieces and a big ass installation? That's it? Maybe I should show all 12 neckpieces in the gallery. But I already asked people to model and I'm also afraid things will look too crowed in my space. ARG!!!! I keep bouncing back and forth in my head, and I'm pretty sure it all comes down to me trying to prove something I don't need to prove to anyone but myself. I've made the decision, and for better or worse, I'm sticking to it.

So here's the final line up:

On models:

Rock Necklace
Slate Necklace II: Greenville
Gray Prayer
Lightness of Being

On the Wall

Sacra Sancta
Gray Grief: Potato Rock
Salt in the Soul
Flow Like Water
Pilgrimage: Slate, Sand, Shore
Stillness is Required
Prayer Beads: Becoming
Save Me From Myself
Meditations

Let the Freak Out Commence!!!

Or rather, continue. . . .

I had a pretty good week last week, despite the many meetings. I got my AMAZING brooches from the swap in the mail (I promise to post about them soon!) I got some other lovely gifts, and a surprise pair of earrings from kick-ass Arrowmont resident Jennifer Wells. I made some little things, just for fun, just to give myself a break from the thesis work for a hot second. I spent some time by myself, which for me is as necessary as breathing or art making. I made some books, which I'm beginning to realize is a bit of a stress reliever for me.

But this week. . . . Well let me tell you. I'm a total wreck. Every other day I either get asked "How's the writing going?" (in regards to my thesis) and "What are you going to do when you graduate?" The answers to these questions are respectively: "I haven't started." and "I don't know." The what am I going to do after I graduate is freaking me out way more than the thesis writing (or not writing, as it were). I'm also getting too much unsolicited advice on the matter, which is not something I react well too, along with constant reminders that I have a HUGE amount of student debt I'm going to need to start paying off. I need to get my shit together, and I only have maybe the foggiest idea of how to do this. The only thing I really know how to do is make work.

And speaking of student debt, I'm still waiting on my financial aid, because someone in the study abroad office screwed up my schedule. This makes me so angry. You don't make mistakes that affect other people's money. Just because you have the luxury of a regular paycheck doesn't mean we all do. And I'm waiting on my financial aid so that I can do something about my computer and my digital camera, so that I can get back to my regular life. I kinda hate how much I depend on my technology. I am seriously tweaking out about not having my computer and camera.

Anyways, this too shall pass as they say. Sorry for the rant. More interesting things to come, I promise.

Reading Update

The reading for my geology class is down right oppressive, but I'm trying (and failing) to keep up with the readings for my thesis. Especially since I keep acquiring books quicker than I can read them! I picked up The Sufi Book of Life last week, along with a book of prayers by Ghandi. Still working on the Upanishads and another translation of the Tao Te Ching. I've got another translation of the Bhagavad Gita, a book of meditations/quotes from St. Francis, a scary looking translation of the Upanishads, another book on the Tao, AND a book of Vedic hymns on my "to read stack".

But it's really hard to make any progress when I've got a couple hundred pages of geology to read a week. And this is a class I wanted to take just for fun!

Oh, and have I mentioned how I don't have any actual work done for my thesis either? But I've made a lot of progress on my porfolio exchange brooches and I managed to make myself a pretty sweet Virgin Mary necklace with some super cheap and super kick ass decals from Rynne China Company.

Here's to another week of keeping my head above water!