Niamh’s Journey of Dreams

Tags

3D art installation, CeaKay Ballyhoo, Cybele Moon, Niamh's Journey of Dreams, Second Life, Storytelling, virtual worlds, watercolor

Recently I made time to enjoy visiting Niamh’s Journey of Dreams with a friend. The installation is a collaboration between CeaKay Ballyhoo and Cybele Moon.

There’s information at the landing, including windlight recommendations. I chose region settings on the Lab viewer and we set out on the path. The landscape is a 3 dimensional watercolor by CeaKay Ballyhoo inspired by the photography and a story by Cybele Moon 

The storyboards show a photo which inspired the landscape near it. You can click on it to get a notecard for easier reading. They are numbered, up to 23.

There are several portals to click on during the journey through the installation.

I was intrigued by the texture of the water and delighted to find that the bluebells could be purchased from a little shop at the end of the journey.

I enjoyed the views in every direction with the light settings on the Lab viewer. The planning for all the segments of art to follow the story flowing around the sim is very well done.

For links to other blogs about Niamh’s Journey of Dreams see CeaKay Ballyhoo’s blog.

For Cybele’s wonderful storytelling, see Tales of the Tuatha.

Another personal favorite of the landscaping is this wall with window.

I believe the installation is up through June. It’s a wonderful example of what can be done in virtual worlds.

 

Sacred and Profane ~ Burn 2

Tags

3D virtual art, Burn 2, Sacred and Profane, Second Life, virtual worlds

 

Burnal Equinox, Sacred and Profane is open April 28–30. It’s in the destination guide and shown on the Lab viewer log in page. (edit: The builds will remain up after the events through May 7.)

Shown above is Fires of Humanity: Sacred and Profane by Athene Forder.  An excerpt from the info card: “Once you reach the apex consider the concept that humanity holds all of the sacred and profane in balance, not only within oneself, but between each other…all equal and all different…and all important.”

by Slatan Dryke

The Sacred, Profaned by iSky Silverweb.  An excerpt from the info card: “Throughout human history, we’ve seen over and over again, individuals who claimed to know some great wisdom, some secret, an answer for an unanswerable question. ”

by tomm pye

by Theadreem

Near the landing are greeters, information, schedule of events and gifts. There were a few afk avatars at the landing this afternoon (SLT) and I experienced lag issues but practiced patience and found it to be worth it.

 

 

 

Opal Flight

Tags

Fantasy Faire, Haveit Neox, Lilia Artis, Opal Flight, virtual 3D installations, virtual worlds

There are about three more days to visit Fantasy Faire 2017. I haven’t got much further than Opal Flight, the Arts and Entertainment sim by Haveit Neox and Lilia Artis. Two friends and I spent a magical time exploring it and postponing our other plans. Here are eleven photos of the build.

It’s enjoyable seeing the fantasy avatars every year.

Fantasy Faire is open through Sunday, April 30th. For more information, see the official blog.   

American Icons and World of Details Exhibits by Melusina Parkin

Tags

American Icons, Delmonico's Art Sapce, Marfa Contemporary gallery, Melusina Parkin, Second Life, Time Portal, virtual photography, virtual worlds, World of Details

 

Melusina Parkin has two current photo exhibits. Recently opening, American Icons displays 29 images of close-ups of Americana symbols in Second Life. The exhibit is located in the Marfa Contemporary gallery shown on the right in the above photo. The landing point for The Last Forever sim is across the street, shown in the right of the photo.

The Last Forever is a new sim/full region inspired by Marfa, TX. It’s an excellent location for Melusina’s photos.Information about the exhibit and the artist bio is available near the entrance.World of Details opened about three weeks ago at Delmonico’s Art Space in Time Portal. The photos are representative of the era.Delmonico’s is described as “New York’s finest restaurant, in its golden age; the 1930s.
Come over for a drink, dance, chat and the best steak in SL.
Wonderful music.”

 

 

 

The Enginehouse, Pavonia

Tags

Heterocera, mainland, Pavonia, Sabre, Second Life, The Atoll, virtual trains, virtual worlds

High on a hillside on the Atoll stands an old enginehouse close to the sim border between Sabre and Pavonia.  The Route 6 Rez Zone in Sabre is here for vehicle rezzing.

I don’t recall seeing vehicles on the High Mountain Road; I like it for riding on horseback or walking. It is reasonably easy-going until a covered wall which has some holes I’ve needed to teleport out of.

Near the Enginehouse is a rusted, old vehicle which with the magic of pixels continues to produce steam.

A peek inside the Enginehouse.

There are a couple of privately owned cabins in the immediate area which appear welcoming to travelers.

On the other side of the Enginehouse is Pavonia station where you won’t have to wait too long for a train.

Or you can sit for a while if that is enjoyable in your Second Life.

Slumberland Sculptures by Silas Merlin

Tags

Alexandr Chernitsky, art, digital sculpture, Glasz DeCuir, Grow Work in Progress, Second Life, Silas Merlin, Slumberland, The Silas Gallery, virtual worlds

Slumberland is a set of fourteen sculptures from The Silas Gallery. They are currently available from a Gacha at The Chapter Four through April 20th. Shown above is Dreamer.

Hare (03)

The Slumberland Gacha at The Chapter Four is located in the room on the left; the machine is the fourth one on the left. Some time after the 20th, the Slumberland set will be available at The Silas Gallery.

Pastel Monster and Mutant Stool

The cute Pastel Monster is holding a dagger behind its back.

The sculptures in the photos above can be seen on the ground level of Elle’s Art Lot through the end of this month. (Reached via teleporter from the TV Room.)

Cowboy

For a fascinating glimpse into the process using 3D modeling software, Silas Merlin filmed Grow Work in Progress.  The eight and a half minute machinima was edited by Glasz DeCuir.

Karablik

This digital sculpture is based on a painting by artist Alexandr Chernitsky. The original painting can be seen here.

The Adventurer

One of the rare pieces in the set is a large cave.

The Minion

The photo above was taken at La Maison d’ Aneli where Silas Merlin is exhibiting along with four other artists.

The Mentor

 

 

Wanderlust Bench Art Park; March–April

Tags

Sansara, Second Life, virtual art, virtual worlds, Wanderlust Bench Art Park

There’s still almost a couple of weeks left to see the work by a variety of artists at Wanderlust Bench Art Park and Cafe.

Today also marks the one year anniversary for the park side of Wanderlust.

The sculpture in the foreground is by RMarie Beedit.

Melusina Parkin was gracious in sending me some things when I requested to exhibit some of her work.

Work by Kate Silver, Wheedle and ChrysTeRox shown above.

Kimika Ying contributed the piece on the left. The photo in the middle is by Klaus Bereznyak and contains a quote, one in a series.

Myra Wildmist is exhibiting one of her works using projectors.

From left to right, work by Saul Goodie, Lynette Trinity, Elle Thorkveld and Mango Lassi. Sculpture by Silas Merlin from my collection. 

Photo by Art Oluja (next to the tree) and a black and white photo by Mr Kaplan, the park owner who started this whole thing.

Posters for destinations and exhibits are encouraged and kept up to date. Arden Grendel did the work on the right; her first piece shown at Wanderlust.

A copy of work by Savage Taurus is shown on the Wanderlust Cafe side.

I really like the sculptures by Silas Merlin and have been including more from my collection the last few rounds.

There are vintage prints for Quelques Choses on two levels inside the large birdhouse.

Saul Goodie exhibits some of his graphic designs on the fence.

The Saul Was Here exhibit is in the sky above, March through April, which I posted about here.

A vase by Lynette Trinity sits near the teleport door the the sky exhibit.

The collage in the center is by baker Bloch.

A documentary machinima of the March-April has been uploaded to Vimeo.

I don’t know if we’ll still be here next year but we’ll likely have new work shown for May and June.

Glass Jars by Art Oluja

Tags

Art Oluja, dreaming, Glass Jars, Klaus Bereznyak, Linden Endowment for the Arts, memories, Second Life, space, The House of Small Cubes, The Poetics of Space, time, Time and The Art of Living, virtual art, virtual worlds

Glass Jars photo by Art Oluja

Glass Jars, an installation by Art Oluja opens Thursday April 6th, 9AM SLT.  The location is LEA 11.

Glass Jars is an experimental narrative, where space contains emotions and memories in a fluid mindscape. Where fragments of nostalgia nest into vessels, drifting between glimpses of clarity and obscure dreams.

Much of the inspiration for Glass Jars comes from G. Bachelard’s “The Poetics of Space,” R. Grudin’s Time and The Art of Living,” and a short animation film called “The House of Small Cubes.”

I have enjoyed watching the animation film several times and highly recommend it. A copy of “The Poetics of Space” sits on my bookshelf waiting to be enjoyed.

The installation incorporates some interactive elements that react as you explore and click things. Region windlight is also recommended.

Sound is an important aspect of Glass Jars, so please turn viewer “sounds” on (and up). All of the narration, soundscaping and music you hear around the region are designed from scratch, specifically for this project, and are the result of a collaborative experiment with intuitively talented Klaus Bereznyak, who uses percussion and woodwind to creatively reflect the vision and concept of Glass Jars.

More details about Glass Jars, the soundscaping collaboration, and Klaus’s own perspective are in the welcome poster.

“We comfort ourselves by reliving memories of protection. Something closed must retain our memories, while leaving them their original value as images. Memories of the outside world will never have the same tonality as those of home and, by recalling these memories, we add to our store of dreams; we are never real historians, but always near poets, and our emotion is perhaps nothing but an expression of a poetry that was lost.”
― Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space

Glass Jars is a wonderful installation and I’m looking forward to adding additional background info and insights from Art in future posts before this LEA round is over the end of June.

AvatarFest 2015 ~ Opensim

Tags

AvatarFest 2015, opensim, virtual worlds

There’s a four day AvatarFest celebrating the strength and diversity of the hypergrid user community happening; today is day three. There will be a hypergrid safari visit on Wednesday the 18th. AvatarFest is open to the public for two weeks after the celebrations end.

“We do not represent corporations, companies nor grids – we are the customers, users, builders and dreamers who live out here, sharing our dreams and creations with one another.” In the above photo is a bar near the welcome area of the event. The Dj stage is nearby as well as information kiosks.

My schedule doesn’t permit me a lot of time in opensim. I found it fairly easy to visit from several of the grids where I have accounts, just pasting http://avatarfest.net:6000 in the world map and most of the time I saw Region Found! and teleported.    Above is a space roleplay installation in the exhibit area. The exhibit area is well worth visiting after the events are done this weekend. They represent a variety of grids and activities in opensim.   I enjoyed visiting the huge Hogwarts Spot. The build isn’t totally done but is quite impressive. There are several interactive areas; I got sorted into Ravenclaw House.

There were several Dj’s scheduled this weekend, a poetry reading, a theater performance, a roleplay workshop and several live performers. One live performance, by a musician from France, was understandably cancelled. There were moments of silence and a candlelight vigil for those who lost their lives in Paris.This is a Native exhibit with displays of related books scattered around the edges.   This is a portal to the Immersive Edge place which is a collaborative work for the future of storytelling in opensim. I want to post about it soon. Nara’s Nook, a writer’s grid is moving right now; there’s a storytelling group people will be able to join for notifications about Immersive Edge.This exhibit is at Byron’s Art Gallery. There’s writing about Autism Meltdown as well as other information.A view from inside the dance pavillion. There are many exhibits not shown here. There are also inviting places by fountains and flowers to sit and rest your pixels.This was a fun exhibit of droids.

I liked dancing with other avatars on Friday evening and now on Sunday afternoon. I am AfK part of the time. I’ve recognized avatar names from Google + and from Summer of Arts on Metropolis Grid which I’ve visited and posted about recently. There are lots of avatars here but the grid hasn’t crashed at this point.

I love seeing the creative results of good people working together.

::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