Bad Coffee

Tags

Bad Coffee, Corsica, mainland, virtual destinations

Back to the mainland, today I have photos of Bad Coffee #1 and #3. There may have been a #2 at one time, it sounds vaguely familiar, but I have been unable to locate it.

I first noticed these shops while riding pods. The owner of the Bad Coffee shops, Elex Dusk, is of the ancient age of almost 11 years old. Shop #1, in East Corsica, Sanderton, is the most spacious of the two and still listed in search. You can pick up posters and there’s a game to play. The times I’ve visited, I’ve seen a fair amount of traffic in the land description but not many avatars present.  It’s situated on a 512 plot using 105 LI.From the land description: “You can: buy a cup of bad coffee, chit chat, listen to music (emo pop), read a book or our zine, play Petals (arcade game), touch the cootie detector, watch movies, find secret freebies, hang out, and make new friends. Open 24/7 For a menu say /menu.”
You can see a pod traveling by in the photo above.

In one of those “small world ” situations, I met an avatar at a different location who had on a copy of the same dress I wore, a dress made by a content creator who mostly builds prefabs and offers just a  few pieces of apparel. We’d each been looking at houses when we found the dress.  In her profile I noticed she’s a member of Bad Coffee, a closed group, and asked her about it.

She said the owner has had the land for a really long time and rebranded a few years ago. He used to do a lot of things in voice there years ago too, all before my time.Bad Coffee #3 in West Corsica, Harbourne is smaller, using 32 LI out of 32 available.  It’s no longer listed in search or in the picks of the owner, there’s a $L amount in the SLurl so I’m speculating anyone could inquire about purchasing it.  

While standing in the road to take photos for this post I was run over by one of AnnMarie Otooles tanks but I’ve recovered nicely.   

Art Farm Co-op ~ LEA 28

Tags

art, Art Farm Co-op, Art Oluja, Elle Thorkveld, Gloriana Maertens, Gwynnie Beaumont, Kimika Ying, LEA, Newton Mr, photography, Van Caerndow, Veyot

Neeva, Emma and Elle

Art Farm Co-op is divided into three six week sessions with two week breaks in between. Fall session 1 just began on Saturday. These are some photos of the summer session. There are many more on the group Flickr. Links are provided at the end of this post.

Each session is divided into four sections, each with a theme and a facilitator. The themes have just changed but I’m continuing forward with my creative projects. Just about any kind of performance or creativity in Second Life can fit nicely within the frameworks.

Kimika Ying and Neeva Torok

Everyone is welcome to participate and visitors are very welcome as well. This grant for round nine has moved forward and expanded on the round eight LEA grant for Medici University. Some of the avatars who participated in that, like me, are here; some left and we’ve gained new learners.

This is about sharing and community and so much more than plopping down a gallery, parking an afk avatar in it for one hour a week and much greater than a glorified sandbox. LEA has a wonderful art sandbox already.

Jade Ravenheart’s classroom

Avatars can take classes or teach a class. At Medici University I took Van Caerndow’s Drinking and Drawing class for four months. I met and became friends with Art Oluja at MU. I’ve recently blogged news about each of them.

I’ve made awkward things in the 3D sculpture area and recieved encouragement. I’m learning to make machinima and have people responding positively to casting calls.

The best way to participate here is to take an interest in what other people are doing, respond when they say hello and to show up for events. Well that’s just common sense in all lives.

photo by Kimika Ying

The photo above is by Kimika Ying. Like any farm, this place is never “complete and done”. Most of us call it ant farm and during the summer there was a fair amount of ant sculptures around. I just spotted an ant hill yesterday in the new pop up gallery area.

photo by Veyot

One of the highlights of summer session was a guest seminar given by Gloriana Maertens of Guerilla Burlesque, shown in the photo above. She brought her own stage, gave a performance, blew up the stage to give a breakdown of the elements that go into dance performing in Second Life and pointed us in the direction of tools, leaving us with a wealth of resources. The event and resources are very well documented by the facilitator of Low-Fidelity, Newton Mr (lex.perdide).

Gwynnie Beaumont had a glyph installation and Veyot led us on a field trip to The Egg where she filmed us in Eggs Over Easy.  

One of the things I most enjoyed was setting up a photography studio to make layered portraits of the other avatars participating.

I ended up with 60 pieces and some great memories, all of people I met at Medici University and at summer session. They’ve all been uploaded to the Flickr group.

Notice it’s called an art co-op, not a utopia. There are the usual communication breakdowns when humans and human-powered avatars get together. It’s highly recommended that anyone participating read the website info first and then ask questions of the leaders if something needs to be clarified.At the end of summer session we had parties, facilitated by Newton Mr, showing works in progress and performances, including what some of us are learning with the MetaHarper tools. It was a lovely finish to the six week session.

Art Farm Co-op Flickr Group  

Most of the communication is done in local or VB Friends group but some news can be found here at MU Talk.

The official info on Art Farm Co-op Fall Session 1 at Edie’s Farm.

Gemma Cleanslate’s The Art Farm post for SL Newser.

Art Farm Co-op; LEA 28; round 9

::Metamorfaces:: at LEA 10

Tags

art, Art Oluja, blackout poetry, cyber art, faces, glitch, Kafka, LEA, Metamorfaces, poetry, sound, synesthetic, virtual artists, virtual worlds

Opening on Thursday morning, September 24th, ::Metamorfaces:: by Art Oluja is the Round 9 installation at LEA 10. Information and instructions for best experiences can be obtained at the welcome area.   Sounds and animated art are important dimensions to the installation. There are instructions in the welcome card for best sound and for joining the ::Metamorfaces:: group for updates and events. The CYlents pieces, based on the First Life technique of lenticular motion images and made in collaboration with a model, are an especially interesting process.     The region lighting has been changed and there’s more fog since I took the photo above.

“::About Metamorfaces::

“One morning, I woke up to troubled dreams, and realized, I was in a state of metamorphosis. Like a spider trapped under skin, paralysis slowly crawled across my face, suffocating the sensation in my lips, then taking away my ability to taste, swallow, or speak normally. For the following months the distortion continued; I couldn’t smile, frown, laugh or cry, and had become hyper-sensitive to sound.

At night, I would tape down my eyelid to sleep, and think about how to accept my new face, my new mask. I had to learn to express myself despite my lack of facial expression. I had to learn to be me, transformed.

(…In the meantime, I was quietly wandering SL’s landscapes, exploring and observing the loss of prims in SL, a transformation that resonated with me, as more and more prims faded away, and the grid’s face also went through a phase of distortion as it was gradually injected with more and more Mesh.)
My face was a Bonsai tree, raw and torn out of place; submitting to doctors, to technology. Organic roots shifted, branches pierced with wire, twigs tamed, leaves refined.

6 months of drugs, electric therapy, and facial exercises later, I began to heal.
Now, almost two years since I woke up on that Kafkaesque morning, I present Metamorfaces as a metaphor of my story, my journey of transformation. It made me realize, more than ever, that I am a process of constant flux, learning.
Thank you for taking a walk through my reflection.”

                 Squint

􀀀This morning I lean over the sink,
eyes half closed, dreams
undissolved
waiting for that familiar reflection–
behind me, the shampoo on the wall
squints into recognition;
together we greet the mirror
half empty.
I wonder how long I will have
to lather, rinse
repeat
until I’m in a better condition
to face myself today.
A hopeless smile peeks over
a corner of my raw lip, disturbed
as a peppermint sting
of froth flows down my throat. ~ Art Oluja *

Care has been taken with the landscaping on the ground level. There are healing tones, a lovely humming forest, and it’s like walking in a painting.

I highly recommend experiencing ::Metamorfaces:: more than once.

*poem by Art Oluja used with permission

 

ACC Alpha (Art and Content Creation)

Tags

ACC Alpha, art, Haveit Neox, The Centaur's Hall, The Golden Oriole, Verdigris

Very recently I enjoyed a wander around ACC Alpha and got my camera out to snap some photos. My reminder of this lovely place had been the pleasant surprise of seeing The Centaur’s Hall, by Haveit Neox, still located at Verdigris. I’ve long admired the Transylvanian Tower at The Golden Oriole at Verdigris. Soon I will have a good reason to put one to use. Checking out the one on site was my initial reason for the visit. With so many reminders of the transience of our virtual world lately it was comforting to see The Centaur’s Hall, which I blogged about here in February of this year, still available to visit. After snapping a picture, above, I looked in my landmarks for ACC Alpha and was on my way.It looked different from the last time I’d been but much of it was familiar.From the land description:  “WELCOME TO ACC ALPHA.
The tropical centaurian architecture of ACC Alpha was built by Haveit Neox. Lush gardens soften the weathered builds. The sim is home to art galleries, libraries, games, sports, rowing, and cultural events. Please enjoy!”The place is huge and richly detailed. There are signs and teleporters to help you get around once you are more familiar with the lay of the land.I recommend exploring on foot and looking into all the nooks and crannies and checking out the views from different points of reference.When you get tired there are restful places to hang out.Haveit Neox has a blog for posting news. There’s a new spa at ACC Alpha and you can read about it there.He happened to be on the sim at the same time I was and said hello; we had a brief and pleasant conversation. Both ACC Alpha and The Centaur’s Hall are great places to visit as are the many art installations he has around the grid at times, including LEA and Fantasy Faire.And I couldn’t resist a scenery shot.

Steelhead

Tags

Benders Pub, Club Gearz, Southpaw's Indoor Tea Garden, Steelhead

The City of Steelhead is closing at the end of the month although there are negotiations to save at least one of the sims. In the meantime the Friday evening dances are continuing.I haven’t spent a lot of time in Steelhead; I visit about twice a year. What I’m most drawn to there is Southpaw’s Indoor Tea Garden. A few days ago I went back for a final look around.Many of the buildings are empty but Benders Pub was still open.From the land description: “Capital City of Steelhead set in the Pacific Northwest circa 19th c. The ‘Guilded Age’ of the American Pacific concept around ‘Gaslamp Fantasy’ a mixture of Victorian, steampunk and Noveau style architecture. Visit Town Hall for Details.”I took a last look at the architecture. Maybe some of this will end up on the mainland.I looked at many of the interiors too.It was quiet when I was there but I know some consider it home.It sounds like some of the residents are waiting on the Lab to learn what can be done.I’ve heard that Club Gearz, shown above, will be placed on a quarter sim that people can visit.

Steelhead is a unique place which will be missed.

 

Last Chance to Visit Van’s Wild West Gallery at Monissius

Tags

art, mainland, Phil Strang, Van Caerndon, Van's Wild West Gallery

After six years of having Van’s Wild West Gallery in two locations, Van Caerndow is closing the gallery in about a week.From the land description: “Van’s gallery featuring his SL portraits as well as other paintings, all painted in RL on glass.
Art, Art Gallery, Art Galleries, artists, drawing, gallery, paintings, real life, real life artists, portraits, old west, sl, westerns, wild west”Van’s typist is the artist Phil Strang in First Life. He has accepted commissions in both First and Second Life and will remain in SL but most of these paintings will go into inventory indefinitely. He has been referred to as the “the Cowboy Van Gogh” and most of his paintings are very colorful. His subjects include western scenes, women, pets, avatar commissions and also some abstract and splatter paintings. The gallery is three or four stories tall. Underneath is a beach hangout area.Future shows will likely be new works. Van has a smaller gallery near the Virtual Chelsea Hotel.

If you ever wish to commission a portrait, contact him.

Robin Loop, Hector

Tags

Afonasei's Place, Crawley Prayer Garden, mainland, Robin Loop, Rubi Woods

There’s some mainland property between Rubi Woods and a Robin Loop intersection in Hector that has been changing hands, or maybe builds, about once a year. The last two or three themes have been interesting and also open to the public. During a recent wander around the area I discovered the latest inviting creation there.    Afonasei’s Place is a welcoming respite for travelers or to engage in conversation or IMs.

From the land description:  “It’s just a little bitty pissant country place. Ain’t nothin’ much to see. No griefing allowed, we get a nice quiet crowd, plain as it can be.”
There’s a tree stump with a blanket to sit on and further back is an old picnic bench.   Attention has been paid to details. I liked the inside of the farmhouse too. Great views. There’s Linden water on the other side of the road. 

Next to Afonasei’s Place is Crawley Prayer Garden.

From the land description: “This pubic space is for prayer, reflection, meditation or any other peaceful and introspective needs.”

There’s a view of the Linden owned Rubi Woods through the gate in back. Crawley Manor, to the right in this photo, is a private residence with a security orb.  There’s a small space indoors as well.Behind these places is Rubi Woods, just some Linden trees scattered over the terrain but so much better than empty land. It’s “a place”.