The art of Milly Sharple at Holly Kai Park

Holly Kai Park: Milly Sharple

I have long been an admirer of Milly Sharple’s art, and so I’m absolutely delighted to be welcoming her to Holly Kai Park Gallery for an extensive exhibition of her work starting at 15:00 SLT on Sunday, October 28th, 2018 and running through until Saturday, November 24th, 2018.

Milly is perhaps best known for her fractal art, beautiful pieces she produces using Apophysis, software she prefers to use as it allows the creation of soft, flowing, liquid effects that can allow her work to stand well apart from other, more rigidly geometric fractal art in Second Life. What may not be so well-known is that Milly was perhaps one of the pioneers in bringing fractal art into Second Life – although her initial attempts to do so met with some resistance.

I had no idea there was an art community here. But when I discovered it, I became really excited about it! Naturally, my thoughts turned to showing my own work in Second Life, and I made some enquiries only to be met with negative responses, that such are was not “suitable” for SL and was even told fractal art was not “real” art…

– Milly Sharple, discussing her art and Second Life

Holly Kai Gallery: Milly Sharple

Fortunately Milly who has seen her “not real art” fractals used on book covers, CD cover art and even on the cards issued by an Indonesian bank to their customers, as well as selling privately around the globe – did not take the negative feedback to heart. Instead, she established her own modest gallery on her own land, and within 12 months she had received multiple invitations to exhibition her work across Second Life, such was the positive response people had to seeing her work.

Becoming more deeply immersed in the Second Life art community, Milly sought to support that community by establishing Timamoon Arts, a place where artists – especially those new to art in SL or who were using the platform to express themselves through art – could find a gallery home and like minds. Over four years, through until 2017, Milly grew Timamoon into a successful and popular art communities, hosting a rich diversity of artists and exhibitions.

Holly Kai Gallery: Milly Sharple

While her fractal art is perhaps the most well-known, it is not the only art Milly produces; she also works with mixed media, creating art that is both incredibly intricate and stunningly beautiful. The use of colour, coupled with the almost etching-like finish to many of the pieces brings them to life in a remarkable way. Whether floral representations, animal studies or pieces with a more fantasy edge, or presenting an image such as a portrait through the use of fractals, these pieces are utterly captivating.

Second Life has also allowed Milly to turn her hand to 3D art, producing pieces that are both practical as well as art forms, such as her hand chairs; or which is exquisite artistic statements, as with her Humanitree pieces. We’re pleased to have examples of both included within the exhibition at Holly Kai. Nor does it end there; Milly has also justly won praise for her region landscaping, notably with her winter-themed Let It Snow! designs, which she is hoping to continue in 2018.

Holly Park Gallery: Milly Sharple

Multi-talented, with a photographer’s eye for art and design, Milly presents art that is always visually captivating, and it is both an honour and delight that she accepted our invitation to exhibit at Holly Kai Gallery. To mark the opening, we will be hosting an event at the rooftop area of the Holly Kai Gallery from 15:00 SLT on Sunday, October 28th, 2018, with music provided by Joy Canadeo, and warmly invite friends of Milly, the Park and this blog, as well as all lovers of art, to attend. Formal / semi-formal dress preferred.

SLurl Details

Holly Kai Estates is rated Moderate.

Senchai Library’s Halloween Hauntings

Seanchai Library

It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home at Holly Kai Park, unless otherwise indicated.

Sunday, October 28th 13:00: Spookin’ It at Octoberville

Stories and Poems for the season at Octoberville with Shandon Loring, Corwyn Allen, Finn Zeddomore & Caledonia Skytwoer.

If you are not already “Octoberville enabled”, then go to the Library where you will be manually teleported to the story camp – BUT BE WARNED! Octoberville fills up very fast, so . . . consider arriving early!

Monday, October 29th 19:00: The Infinitive of Go

Gyro Muggins reads John Brunner’s 1980 novel about matter teleportation and dimensional shifts.

Dr Justin Williams and his collaborator, Cinnamon Wright, develop a form of instantaneous teleportation in which the departure and arrival points appear “congruent” with one another, allowing objects to be instantly moved from one to the other in a transfer process termed “posting”.

The system works flawlessly with inanimate objects, and when a situation arises requiring an urgent diplomatic solution arises, Williams is called upon to transfer a courier from the USA to an embassy in a foreign location. But something goes wrong: on his arrival, the courier is armed – yet he carried no weapon on his departure – and further demands he be given a countersign by those at the embassy – when no such arrangement had been made. Believing the mission to be compromised, the courier shoot himself, and the package he is carrying self-destructs.

In order to prove he did not sabotage the system, Williams has himself posted – only to find that while he feels unchanged, the world around him has changed in the most subtle of ways. As time goes on, Williams – with the help of a doubly altered Wright – realises that the teleportation device is moving its subjects between parallel universes. It is also apparent that some of those arriving in the dimension in which he now exists have far more knowledge about what is going on.

The question is, is it the system that is causing people to move between universes, or ir it something more subtle?

Tuesday, October 30th

13:00 onwards: Stranger Nightfire’s Annual Halloween Party

Featuring Stories & Music, up in Haunted Holly Kai

19:00: Spooky in 100 Words

With R. Crap Mariner

Wednesday, October 31st: Halloween!

17:00 onwards: Stranger Nightfire’s Annual Halloween Party

Featuring stories with Caledonia Skytower and Shandon Loring. Music at 18:00. All up in Haunted Holly Kai.

19:00: The Jennifer Morgue

Corwyn Allen reads the second volume in the Laundry Files by Charles Stross.

Bob Howard is an IT expert and occasional field agent for the Laundry, the branch of Her Majesty’s Secret Service that deals with occult threats. In this second outing, Bob Howard finds himself dragged into the machinations and conspiracies of megalomaniac multi-billionaire Ellis Billington, The Black Chamber and The Laundry…

Dressed in a tuxedo (what else for a globe-trotting British Secret Agent?) and sent to the Caribbean, Bob must infiltrate Billington’s inner circle via his luxurious yacht. His mission? Prevent the Billington from violating a treaty that will bring down the wrath of an ancient underwater race upon humanity’s head.

Offering a wonderful pastiche on both the world of James Bond and a wonderful mimicking of Ian Fleming’s style of writing, Stross produces a novel that also evokes Lovecraftian overtones that is delightfully entertaining to read. In true Bond style, Bob is (reluctantly) partnered with an American agent – in this case a stunningly beautiful woman who also just happens to be a soul-sucking succubus from another dimension. Which, being the case, marks Bob’s mission somewhat differently to those of Bond: not only must he stop the bad guys and come through this at best shaken, he must totally avoid being stirred towards getting the girl…

Thursday, November 1st

19:00: Classic Vintage Spookiness – Tales of Halloween

With Shandon Loring at Haunted Holly Kai. Also presented in Kitelyhop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/144/129/29.

21:00: Seanchai Late Night

Contemporary Sci-Fi-Fantasy with Finn Zeddmore.


Please check with the Seanchai Library’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule.