And So the End Shall Be the Beginning

Before I took this class I was in a serious art slump. I hadn't done anything creatively since Winter Break and it was killing me. But then I got into this class and suddenly something opened back up. Within the first two weeks I was starting to get ideas and even execute them. For Pete's Sake I doodled! I drew something on paper with my hands. And it was pitiful and lacked finesse, but it was there and I had a creative thought or two while doing it.
And the the class went on and I found other ways to tap into my creativity, many of which were to just buckle down and do it. In short, I found I could art again. And it was such a relief because having gone six months producing nearly nothing was down right depressing.
I really enjoyed the Egg assignment (sadly my update remains at that fact that my roommate had no reaction to her alien egg) because it forced me to look at an assignment with "no" rules and to still do something with it. I liked the Bliss assignment as well because it purposely carved out time that could be spent in happiness. That to me spoke volumes because even though I get a lot of time to myself to do what I want, I rarely spend it doing what I want. I normally just squander it on internet fodder and although that can be entertaining, in the end I come away from it feeling empty. With the Bliss assignment I took the time to really examine what I wanted to do and then spent the time actually doing it. I came away from that feeling fulfilled.
It was the book assignment, though, that really stayed with me. I loved the therapeutic nature of taking something so negative and transforming it into something positive. Cutting and folding and tapping and sewing fishing line through JavaScript shit to turn it into a sculpture was extremely satisfying. And the fact that the sculpture took on a mind of its own with its sliding cubes and swinging strings told me that that project needed to be done. I took something so static and boring and difficult and made it into this carefree, kinetic, easy-going, aesthetically pleasing thing. It made me happy, which is a complete 180 from where I started with it.
So overall the course taught me to go with the flow and to buckle down and do what I come up with, that not everything has to be perfect as long as I like how it turns out, and that sometimes some "me time" can be very, very productive.
Signing off for the last time; may one tear be shed.