Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The Circus Is Leaving Town . . .

Today tastes like stale carmel corn, deep fried everything when the oil needs changing, and hot dogs of dubious origin. The Embellished Circus is folding its tents and closing down.

What is/was the Embellished Circus, Spike? A really great Yahoo Group devoted to mixed-media in all its sparkly gluey glory. This was the first group I ever sucked it up and juried into. They had a group blog for showing your latest work. I loved the swaps because the subjects were always novel and challenging. But the moderators realized that the time devoted to the Circus was eating into art time, so they're cutting loose and moving on.

I totally understand their decision. There's only so many hours in the day, and while I can always make more money, I can't make more time. Thus I refute the "time is money" argument. They aren't equal.

And that's why I'm not jumping into the air waving my arms screaming that I'll take it over and keep the clowns in line. I have creative projects of my own that need tending to, as well as group efforts that I need to play my part in to fulfil, and by the way, I need to work to earn the money to support all this.

So as the barkers tuck their slum away, the calliope groans to a halt, and the lights of the Ferris Wheel go out, I'll be slinking back to my trailer, wiping off the greasepaint, and removing my rubber limbs.

A good gig while it lasted.

No comments: