In August 2021 I made my first visit to what was then the Elven Falls Gallery, operated by Ant (AntoineMambazo) and Aires Hax (see A quartet of artists at Elven Falls in Second Life). At that time the gallery was fairly new, and comprised four main buildings, each of two floors, fronted by a sculpture garden for 3D art.
Since that initial visit, Elven Falls has expanded and undergone a name change, becoming the Elven Falls Art Collective, offering an expended arts hub which now includes an option for artists (or those who appreciate living adjacent to an arts venue!) the opportunity to rent one of a number of spacious homes at what is a very modest price.
The Full region on which the collective stands (and which includes the Full private island LI bonus) has been split into two primary areas: to the south and running east-to-west lie the art spaces. To the north, offering the same overall orientation and separated from the art spaces by a channel of water, lay the rental properties.
With the landing point sitting at its eastern end, the arts venue can be very broadly split into four equally engaging areas. To the south lies the Left Bank, a broad, paved area overlooking open waters and off-region islands offering an outdoor display space for (primarily, at least during my visit) 2D artists. To the north, and forming one bank of the intervening channel between the two main parts of the region, sits a meandering sculpture garden that lies beyond the bridge that links arts venue to residential area, and continues all the way to the western end of the region and the Memory Garden.
Between these two sits what I’ll call the “Studio Avenue”, six spaces studio / gallery spaces. They provide something of an “artists-in-residence” parade pointing the way to the main gallery spaces, giving visitors a pleasant opportunity to browse / shop for art along the way to the exhibition spaces.
Forming the fourth element of the art venue, the gallery buildings have been reduced from four to three, but this has been somewhat compensated for by the largest of the three now offering a third floor of exhibition space, reach via the elevator found just outside the front entrance. At the time of my visit, the February exhibition had recently opened, and given the time of year had been given a suitable title: Love is in the Art.
The exhibition features four artists: Fuschia Nightfire, whose vibrant work I have not had the chance to see of late, so it was a pleasure encountering it once more; Nina Camplin, a gifted artist specialising in animal and pet portraiture and who, as well as participating in love is in the Art, is also the official Artist in Residence for Elven Falls; Leiland a physical world artist and photographer whose work spans multiple genres as can be witnessed here; and an artist whose work I believe I was encountering for the first time: Elven Falls Art Collective: Leiland.
All four exhibiting artists offer completely engaging displays of art; as noted, I genuinely enjoyed seeing Fuschia’s vibrant abstractions and sculptures; her work always have a depth and vitality infused into it through motion and colour. Similarly, Nina’s work captures the life and spirit of her subjects perfectly – and she offers the opportunity for anyone with a pet the opportunity to have her make it the subject of one of her pieces; Leiland’s work, meanwhile is so captivatingly broad in style, style and genre it is easy to lose oneself in his gallery space.
And then there is Tarozaemon. His backstory is as rich and engaging as his art – and I recommend a read of his bio, both for its level of storytelling and for the information it supplies on the nature of of fractal art – which forms his artistic forte, as demonstrated in this highly engaging exhibit. Nor does Taro leave the explanations to a note card; within his gallery space he has taken the time to provide a guide to the various fractal types, from the simple Von Koch Curve, through to the perhaps most famous of them all: the Mandelbrot set, passing by way of the Julia set and others,. It adds a further depth of appreciation for his work – and if you are not familiar with the mathematical and natural form of the fractal, I high recommend a visit.
For those interested in the Elven Falls rental accommodations, these all take the form of Cain Maven’s expansive Cranmore house. Six such units are offered, each within its own garden (but not its own parcel), laid out around a communal swimming pool and terrace. Sufficient room is provided between the houses such that local chat won’t carry between them, and each has a waterside view to the rear aspect. At L$200 per week for rent, they are offered semi-furnished (kitchen and bathroom) and have 200 LI included. At the time of my visit, two units were still available for interested parties.
Offering a rich and diverse selection of art and artists, Elven Falls is an engaging community hub that continues to grow both in that broadness of art on display, and through its design and layout.
SLurl Details
- Elven Falls Art Collective (Elven Falls, rated Adult)
Klawde had everything. Sharp claws. Fine fur. And, being the High Commander of the planet Lyttyrboks (think about it if you need to!), an entire world of warlike cats at his command. But then he is stripped of his feline throne and sentenced to the worst possible punishment: exile to a small green-blue planet that is, as they say, “far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy”, known to its dominant bipedal race as “Earth”.
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