The last post

So, this past Thursday, I made my last visit to the Anne Wilson show.  I had hoped to make it back to watch the weaving being tied off the loom, but alas a spring cold interfered and my last time winding was my last time in the exhibit.  It was different from my other experiences.  This was the first visit when no other visitor was winding at the same time as was I.  I also felt myself trying to stick to my previous post's resolution to work in a more meditative way, and focus less on the production.  As I wound, I realized that the bobbins I made would definitely not be used in the weaving.  This was a somewhat startling recognition.  Previously, although I realized that there was no guarantee that my bobbins would get woven into the large weaving, they held the potential to be a part of this piece.  In this case, knowing that I was working near the end of the day, and that the weaver was working on the closing rows of weft just as I wound my bobbins, I knew that these bobbins would not make it into the weaving.  It was a strange feeling of futility.  Through my conversations with Anne, I have some knowledge that the bobbins will be re-purposed in some way, either by her, or by someone to whom the bobbins are donated, somewhere, however this future is unknown and uncertain.   I wondered, if on the last day a factory is open, how the workers adjust their attitudes.  It seems that it would be easy to give into the futility, stop working, give up early.  It also seems that there is a dignity to continuing through the process regardless of the certain future.  So, I shrugged off the uncertain future of my bobbins and tried to enjoy the last moments of this process.  This activity, that for the past 15 weeks has occupied a small part of my week, but a large part of my life.  This project has given me many realizations, about my own work, and about my process.  It has been invaluable to sit down and reflect, to form my disjointed musings into complete paragraphs.  I am thankful to those who followed these posts, and I am thankful have been a part of the community that came together to complete this amazing piece set in motion by Anne Wilson.