Day: July 9, 2016

Art at the Park: a makeover in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Holly Kai Park: the Art Hill
Holly Kai Park: the revised Art Hill – click any image for full size

Things have been changing at Holly Kai Park. The work started in May, with a revamp of the west side beach, the redevelopment of Holly Kai Gardens and the relocation of our live events venue, The Pavilion – all of which I’ve previously written about.

With the closing of the June Art at the Park exhibition, we’ve taken time out to complete the work in revamping the hilltop art display area overlooking the east side of the island which we hope will make exhibitions at the park more attractive. While there are still some finishing touches still to make, we’ll soon be gearing-up for a resumption of art displays at the park, the next one of which should open towards the end of July or early August.

Holly Kai Park: sculpture walls
Holly Kai Park: sculpture walls

The new Art Hill is much broader and flatter, forming a horseshoe shape defined by the Holly Kai river, which loops around it at the base of the cliffs. This has allowed us to swap-out the old art decks for newer, larger units, as well as offering a dedicated area for displaying sculptures (3D art can also be displayed along the grass paths leading around the hill-top).

The decks are half as big again as the old ones, and are now positioned around the “outside” of the hill, each one overlooking the river to its rear, while opening to the main path around the hilltop in front.  Hopefully, this will make visiting individual art displays easier, whilst allowing artists to display their work in a single place, rather than having to split it across different decks.

The Storyteller's Garden
Holly Kai Park: The Storyteller’s Garden

However, the biggest changes to the park come with the inclusion of a new Storyteller’s Garden, and a new stage area for hosting Art at the Park opening events (and, possibly, other activities at well).

The Storyteller’s garden suopercedes the old stone gazebo, and has been centrally placed on the hilltop so that it offers a view of all the surrounding art decks (handy for Stories at the Park), and provides a place to simply sit and enjoy the art and the park, whether or not stories are being told. It has been made possible through the generosity of Alex Bader, who provided his new Tiered Garden Wall Building Set for me to try. I’ll have more to say on this another time, but suffice it to say it is another excellent kit from Alex, and really provided the means to provide the hill-top with a focal point.

Holly Kai Park: Art at the Park event area
Holly Kai Park: Art at the Park event area

The new Art at the Park event area is admittedly a little spartan at present. It sits on the east side of the hill, overlooking the main boat slips for the park, and also forms one of two main entrances into the art display area. It takes the form of the remains of an old castle or fort, with a wooden stage erected on one side, and  light projectors installed in the towers to give a little night-time colour (if you have ALM enabled in your viewer).

As noted above, there are a few more nips and tucks to make around the hill-top, but otherwise, all major renovations at the park are now finished, and we’ll be resuming a full programme of events in the near future, with a new Art at the Park exhibition opening, as well as out weekly gatherings at Caitinara Bar for music and dancing (every Wednesday and Friday between 16:00 and 18:00 SLT) and Sundays between noon and 14:00 SLT.

Holly Kai Park: Art Hill
Holly Kai Park: Art Hill

In the meantime, my thanks to Nber for trusting me with the remodelling, to Alex Bader for his invaluable generosity, and to Caitlyn for her patience, eye for detail and her suggestions which have helped complete the work.

I hope very much that we get to see you at the park!

Holly Kai Park Revised SLurls

Holly Kai Park is rated Moderate.

Beautiful Bizarre: art and emotions in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Beautiful Bizarre - DaphneArts
DaphneArts: Beautiful Bizarre

Opening on Sunday, July 10th at 12:00 noon SLT, is Beautiful Bizarre, the latest ensemble challenge presented by Angelika Corral and SheldonBR at their DaphneArts Gallery. The exhibition features individual works by Gwenarielle, Maghda, Terrygold, Angelika Corral, SheldonBR, Leeleu Lemondrop, Paradox Messmer, Rainbow Mubble, Sabbian Paine, Loki Silverson and Asa Vordun, with Theda Tammas providing both a 2D and 3D piece for the exhibition.

“Art is an expression of our emotions, the way we see and experience the world, and beauty has been depicted as an artistic value.” Angelika and Sheldon note in their introduction to the exhibition. “In the Renaissance, artists developed theories of ideal proportion and harmony, having and the painting of Venus, portrayed by Botticelli, and the sculpture of David, by Michelangelo, as the idealisation of beauty. “Modern art came to bring another perception of a world devastated by two great wars, and it reflects in the asymmetry of bodies and distorted faces. But there is always a place for beauty, even in the bizarre things. Schiele, Picasso, Matisse, the Surrealists, all are great example of this.”

Beautiful Bizarre - DaphneArts
DaphneArts: Beautiful Bizarre

And so it is that the artists here have been invited to present their interpretations of the “beautiful bizarre”; and the result is a highly eclectic mixture of pieces; far more eclectic, I would suggest, than exhibitions such as  Surrealism and Imagine. Which should be taken to indicate anything negative in my view of the Beautiful Bizarre. Art is, after all, an expression of our emotions, as Angelika and Sheldon note, and thus encouraging a subjective, an emotional response to these works is perhaps as much a part of the exhibition as the artists’ own interpretations of the “beautiful bizarre”.

So it might be said that this exhibition operates on two levels. On the first, we are asked to explore how the artists have presented their interpretations of the subject; while and on the second, we are asked to consider our response to each of the pieces offered in the exhibit.

Beautiful Bizarre - DaphneArts
DaphneArts: Beautiful Bizarre

For my part, I was struck by how broad in scope  the pieces are in presenting the theme, whilst at the same time several also appear linked to other another through their underpinning inspiration. This is perhaps most noticeable in the pieces presented by Gwenarielle, Rainbow,, Sabbian and Terrygold; so much so, that I doubt it is by chance that the pieces by three of these artists are all presented in a single room within the gallery.

Elsewhere, reflections of a common point of inspiration might also be glimpsed in both Asa’s piece and the 2D work presented by Theda.  I’ll also confess that the latter piece (seen in the 2nd image from the top of this review), together with Theda’s 3D piece and  Paradox Messmer’s Eyes Unseen (seen in the image directly above), drew the strongest emotional responses from me.

Beautiful Bizarre - DaphneArts
DaphneArts: Beautiful Bizarre

Beautiful Bizarre is another extraordinary exhibition featuring some of SL’s most extraordinary talents; one I have no hesitation I recommending. As noted at the top of this piece, it officially opens at 12:00 noon SLT on Sunday, July 10th, 2016, and will remain open through July and early August.

SLurl Details