Industry

While in between meetings and working on HIVE, the word industry keeps popping into my mind. The obvious definition has to do with manufacturing enterprises but the extended definition from the dictionary includes:
1. systemic work or labor, 
2. energetic, devoted activity at any work or task, 
3. diligence, 
and my favorite...
4. an assemblage of artifacts regarded as unmistakably the work of a single prehistoric group. 

Additionally, the word HIVE is also defined as 1. a place showing signs of great industry and 2. a teeming crowd, multitude.

This new thread reveals deeper meanings for me and my HIVE project. Besides being about the social chemistry between makers, it is also about the focus and effort required to create large process-oriented artwork. Artwork where material is deconstructed into smaller pieces then reconstructed into larger wholes in the transformation of meaning and perception. An endeavor that requires energetic, devoted activity and diligence.

Industry as a concept can be applied to larger cultural issues with lots for me to think about. Today, however, I'll continue to labor over my artmaking with due diligence and focus. The process of assembling HIVE chambers into large matrices gives me the opportunity to reflect on everyone who has participated already as well as all the promise of the future.