Thesis semester is stressful.
There is no way around it. To properly complete the program I've had to front load all my work. Of course, the initial writeup of the Thesis takes place at the beginning of the semester. Once that was done I immediately jumped into "tweeking" my project for graduation. This has been broken up by a Thesis reorganization. So really my semester has been about 50/50 art making Thesis writing.
So the stress comes in unexpectedly. I wasn't feeling like I had more work than usual until I realized that any little change in my life led me down the path of extreme freakout. Every...single...change.
I'm trying to keep my workout routine intact so I don't make the stress worse, but my social life is taking a major back seat still and probably will until I graduate.
Moving on...
I had my first face to face meeting with my Mentor. Ultimately, the flag boxes I have created are complete. Now it's a matter of making the resource shelf fit with the overall feel of the boxes. We spent most of our time discussing that, as well as, what I can do with my life when I graduate. I feel like that aspect of the degree is seriously ambiguous. I mean, what do we do once we graduate if we don't want to be a full-time teacher? How do we get grants, how do we get shows, how do we get to know the people we have to know in order to make these things happen, what shows should I decline, how do I choose a gallery, is there room for local art fair work to go with my "high" art most people won't buy?
Claudia was really helpful with answering these questions. She is a very sharing person and I really appreciate that. Sometimes it feels like people don't want to share because they worry there will not be room for everyone in the art world. I feel like if you are good enough it doesn't matter who you share with.
Anyway, writing my Thesis is also helping me frame my work better and figure out what art I want my art to be associated with. And although I'm not making any "new" work for the graduate exhibition I think the work that I have tweeked has taken on a "new" glow.
