Day: March 23, 2019

A Spring Awakening at Ce Soir in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Ce Soir Spring Awakenings – TerraMerhyem

Open now through until May 2019 at Ce Soir Arts is the Spring Awakenings art exhibition, which includes 2D and 3D art together with poetry and a series of live events in the spoken word.

As spring dawns, it’s time to turn our attention to the beauty of nature – and the beauty of the human spirit. We – in the northern hemisphere – are coming through the last dreary days of winter, moving slowly into the freshness of spring! Winter is beautiful: snow sparkling in the moonlight, sweet red cardinals taking refuge in snowy firs, and the warmth of home enveloping us as we come in from the cold. But spring! And awakenings!

 Ce Soir co-owners, Mireille and Ǣon Jenvieve-Woodford

Ce Soir Spring Awakenings – TaraAers and BJojo Songlark

The art exhibition is extensive, spread throughout several of Ce Soir’s buildings and in the surrounding gardens, making it an ideal opportunity to not only appreciate the art on display, but to explore gallery and grounds.

The participating artists for the exhibition, as listed in the guide note card are: Ǣon Jenvieve-Woodford, Amy Inawe, CybeleMoon, Daze Landar, Fae Varriale, Isabel Hermano, Jolie Parfort, Jojo Songlark, JudiLynn India, Mathilde Vhargon, Michael Romani, Mireille Jenvieve-Woodford,  Morgue McMillan-Shoreland, Paula Cloudpainter, Pieni, Rage Darkstone, Randy Firebrand, Russell Eponym, Secret Rage, Silas Merlin, TaraAers, TerraMerhyem, Virginia, Xanthe and Xirana Oximoxi.

Such a diverse group of artists marks this as one of the broadest themed exhibitions I’ve visited in a while in terms of individual interpretations of the the theme, with names both familiar and new to me. It’s always a delight seeing the work of CybeleMoon, JudiLynn India, Michael Romani and Silas Merlin, but it was an absolute delight to discover the beautiful images of Second Life birds by Jolie Partfort and sculptures by TerraMerhyem. Each artists appears to be presenting at least two pieces of art, and some may be interactive and require touching – check the notices often to be found in each display area.

Ce Soir Spring Awakenings – Jolie Parfort

Three landing points are given for the exhibition, so rather than embedding SLurls here in the text, I’ve included them at the end of this article.

The spoken word events feature Ǣon Jenvieve-Woodford, Aoife Lorefield, Bryn Taleweaver, Caledonia Skytower, Dubhna Rhiadra, Mireille Jenvieve-Woodford, Morgue McMillan-Shoreland, Russell Eponym and Stranger Nightfire. These are side to be taking place through until Sunday, April 14th, but to be honest and outside of the opening event, I failed to find a schedule either at the exhibition or on the Ce Soir website; group membership may be required to receive word on dates and times.

Ce Soir Spring Awakenings – Ǣon Jenvieve-Woodford

Richly diverse, located throughout the fantasy inspired Ce Soir landscape, Spring Awakenings is a joyous – and quite joyful – celebration of art.

SLurl Details

Ce Soir is rated Moderate.

Celebrating SL Women 2019

Posted on by Inara Pey
Celebrating SL Women 2019

In 2018, as a means of celebrating International Women’s Day, Kyoko (Samara Barzane) and Brooke Brandenburg of the Confederation of Democratic Simulators (CDS), established a means of honouring women in SL who have contributed to “making SL a better place through their contributions.”

We wanted to do something a bit more than just a celebration so we came up with the idea of honouring ten Second Life women. And that’s what we are doing. Last year was a roaring success. So here we are again!

– Kyoko describing the Celebrating SL Women event

Nominations for come from a mix of names submitted by the event organisers and their assistants, CDS residents and – for this year, suggestions from the 2018 awardees. Names are then filtered down on the basis of some basic criteria, including the fact that the final list must comprise women who are still active in Second Life, until 10 honourees were agreed upon.

For 2018, those honoured were Treacle Darlandes, Sudane Erato, Rosie Gray, Kikuyu Kikutsuru, Nuala Marcus, Marianne McCann, Caryl Meredith, Bryn Oh, Strawberry Singh and Robin Sojourner Wood.

2019 Honourees

On Saturday, March 23rd, between 12:00 noon and 14:00 SLT, a special event will be held at the Gallery Barzane recognising this years honourees. they are:

  • Callipygian Christensen, an active member of the CDS community, an artist and DJ.
  • Laetizia Coronet: historian, aviator, photographer, modeller, and storyteller through her Flickr pages and her SL profile.
  • Gentle Heron, a founder and volunteer of the Virtual Ability community in Second Life, and mentor to users with disabilities.
  • Delia Lake, CDS resident, landscaper, educator and published author.
  • Leondra Larsson, teacher, mentor, and advocate for people with disabilities, work now works with Guardian At Litum as an advocate for children in dire circumstances.
  • Theresa Linden, Concierge in Second Life Customer Support.
  • Gabrielle Riel, community builder and founder of Radio Riel.
  • Elizabeth Tinsley, executive director of Fantasy Faire.
  • Imajika Wirefly, Director of Events for Survivors of Suicide.

It is my sincere privilege to say that the tenth person selected to be honoured in 2019 is myself.

2019 Honourees

I’m honoured to be included among such a diverse and richly talented group, and would like to pass on my genuine thanks to the  residents of CDS, and to this year’s organisers, Kyoko and Emilia Avindar for considering and selecting me.

I look forward to seeing and meeting my fellow honourees at the reception on March 23rd, between 12:00 noon and 14:00 SLT, and I hope those of you who can will join us at Gallery Barzane.

About the Confederation of Democratic Simulators (CDS)

Currently comprising six regions, the Confederation of Democratic Simulators (CDS) is the oldest, continuously-running democratic estate in Second Life.Loose themed on Germanic, Alpine, Tuscan, or Mediterranean styles, the regions present an all-encompassing government based on citizen participation, with elections to the Representative Assembly held each six months, and the work of the Representative Assembly supported in its work by a Scientific Council.  This governing structure is not role play, as might appear to be the case: it is more a residents co-op, not unlike the way apartment buildings are managed in real life, where every landowner is a “citizen” and is granted the right to vote and be elected to manage the overall space.

Among the goals for this project are: to enable ownership of high-quality public, private, and open-space land; create a themed yet expressive community of public and private builds; and implement novel democratic forms of self-government within Second Life.