Friday: Is this the end of the week or the beginning of the weekend?

It's Friday. The week has flown by finishing a few last minute Christmas framing orders and wrapping up loose ends for the upcoming art shows. I came to the realization that I was "done" for now with the Archeology Project. I cannot say why or how this happened. It just did. Like many of my series, there is simply an end. I move on. I've also decided that the Archeology Project will probably not be seen at I. Pinckney Simon's Gallery in January.

The owners really aren't committed to hosting special exhibits. Neither even read the article that Janet and I wrote and submitted to Carolina Arts. I was careful to allow them five days to read it before the submission deadline. It includes their name, location, and hours. Somewhere, someday, I'm going to be artistically involved with a gallery that bears the expenses of an exhibit, writes the articles for publicity, and WORKS to sell my artwork in exchange for the commission. 40% or 50%, it really doesn't matter to me. An equitable working relationship would be nice.

Anyway, I really think my Archeology Project is special. It deserves to be seen properly, as an installation in a location managed by people thrilled to display it. I will wait for this opportunity. Maybe Sumter Gallery of Art will accept our proposal. Perhaps I should submit it on my own elsewhere? Maybe, I will get a chance to fully explore my vision. If I do, I will find my way back to working on it again. For now, it is done.

The invitations for the show are also done. Janet and I split the cost at Kinko's. The front pictures our collaboration called "Indian Dancer". We each have two hundred. I'll likely mail a bunch, but I'm not too excited about drumming up business for this exhibit any more. I'm sort of "let down" about the entire thing. At least this feeling has come over me after all the other work is completed.

The show at Ironstone Vineyards is suppose to open on January 2 and run through February. I am suppose to ship the work on Monday via FedEx Ground (at my own expense, of course). I have no contract. This distresses me. There is nothing on the impressive Ironstone Vineyard website to indicate that my artwork will be on display. The email correspondence has been rather sparse. I have an airline ticket, a rental car, a room, and a ticket to San Francisco Ballet. I'd trade all this in for serious representation at an established gallery. Ah, to dream!

In the meantime, I've gone back to my squares of polyester velvet. Creating more in my "In Box" series has helped. Like most series, this was "done" but I've now returned to it. There is something comforting in the process, like "going home".

So, this is either a Friday that is "ending" a "week" (completing an artistic cycle) or a Friday that is "starting" a "weekend" (beginning an artistic cycle). Probably, it is a Friday that does both.

We will see William Starrett's Columbia City Ballet perform Nutcracker this evening. Tomorrow we will see the same production by North Carolina Dance Theater in Charlotte. This is the first time after six years that we will not be in Washington, DC watching Winter Performance at the Kirov Academy. (I don't miss the nervousness!)