After my almost back-to-back forays of late into art exhibitions that either focus on, or lean towards, hybrid art and the use of AI tools (notably MidJourney), I thought I would do a little course adjustment and offer a look at some Second Life based photographic art. To that end, I trundled off to NovaOwl Gallery, curated and operated by ULi Jansma, Ceakay Ballyhoo & Owl Dragonash.
It this there, within the ground-level gallery space, that people can find – through until the end of 2022 – an exhibition of art by Alex Riverstone, an artist whose work I have appreciated for some to and always enjoy witnessing. This is a modest exhibition, featuring a baker’s dozen of pictures by Alex; however, it stands as proof that quantity isn’t necessarily everything: quality accounts for more.
Second Life has allowed me to enjoy it in a different way: allowing the exploration of scenes, poses and angles which wouldn’t be practical in the real world.
– Alex Riverstone
NovaOwl Gallery, November 2022: Alex Riverstone
On first viewing the exhibition, I was struck by the apparent disconnect between its title – Melancholia – and the subject matter of the images presented.
In purely medical terms, melancholia is a subtype of depression, characterised by a number of symptoms such as severely depressed mood, pervasive anhedonia, and lack of emotional responsiveness. As a concept, it has a history dating back to ancient medicine in Europe, and was long regarded as one of the the four temperaments matching the four humours. However, whilst the pieces Alex presents within the exhibition can be called many things – artistic, picturesque, engaging, and so on – none immediately strike one as being of a depressed or melancholic nature when looked upon.
However, in their visual richness they do encompass another interpretation of “melancholia”, one popular in the Renaissance when it was taken as a sign of artistic genius; and there is plenty of artistic expression to be found in each of these pieces from their initial composition, through their processing and presentation and finishing with their titles, such that each one stands as a unique image capable of carrying our imaginations into a world of self-made narrative.
NovaOwl Gallery, November 2022: Alex Riverstone
And it is within that narrative that we chose – as this is purely subjective – to see some of the images as how aspects of melancholia might be visualised in a picture or painting. For example, take the Duality images (7, 8 and 9). within them are hints of melancholic traits we might chose to see: the absence of anyone to enjoy the flying kites and the puppies on the bridge perhaps echoing feelings of anhedonia; the empty chairs speaking to the loneliness of depression / melancholy; the tree with its suggestion of a figure hanging by their wrists from it suggesting despondency. Others, through their titles perhaps whisper more keenly on the subject – as with the Wall and Lonesome Cottage. Even the loungers of Summer Holiday, fading into the white-out of the picture as they do, might be taken as a metaphor for the emptiness of melancholia.
But these interpretations are, as note, entirely subjective. Whether you opt to see then or prefer to take the presented pieces purely as an expression of Second Life’s multifaceted beauty really doesn’t matter; this is Second Life photography rendered as art in a manner that is genuinely captivating and worth visiting.
Aoi-ike, November 2022 – click any image for full size
Jade Koltai has opened a new region design in the tradition of the work she started with the late (and still missed) Serene Footman. It offers a personal interpretation of Japan’s famous Blue Pond (青い池, Aoi-ike), located in the country’s second-largest island, Hokkaidō.
Occupying a homestead region, Aoi-ike presents the pond in the depths of winter, offering visitors a setting blanketed in snow to explore and plenty of opportunities for suitable time-of-year photographs. Pride of place is given to the pond itself, the waters the rich azure blue of the original, albeit caught beneath a cloud-laden sky.
Aoi-ike, November 2022 – click any image for full size
The physical world Blue Pond is entirely artificial, the result of work intended to protect the town of Biei following the December 1988 through March 1989 eruptions of Mount Tokachi. These caused a series of pyrrolastic events and associated mudflows which threatened the town, so following them, a series of dams were built to prevent future eruption-generated mudflows which might use the Biei River as a root through the locale.
In doing so, the dam trapped the water of the Shirahage waterfall, a series of falls passing over a cliff rich in aluminium to reach the river. This aluminium, coupled with volcanic sulphates in the water which whiten the rocks on the bed of the pond and so heightening their light-reflecting nature, gives the water of the pond its distinctive blue sky colour.
Aoi-ike, November 2022 – click any image for full size
This unlikely colour is not the only interesting feature of the lake; the plants present also participate in the surreal atmosphere of the place. While the pond is surrounded by living trees, in the middle there are skeletons of larch and birch that once grew on the ground before the formation of the pond. These trees are also present in Jade’s build, although the upriver falls are understandably absent.
Blended with a region surround that helps represent the surrounding mountains (the region around Biei is famous for a mountainous hiking trail that loops between Mount Tokachi and the (slightly) smaller Mount Biei as it sits between the Biei and Shintoku townships). While this loop is too big to recreate in a region, it is possible to circumnavigate the pond on foot along both trails and open ground – although if you have a wearable horse, the setting is also ideal for horse riding.
Aoi-ike, November 2022 – click any image for full size
The lightly wooden and most flat land is heavy in snow and light on structures – the latter comprising a Finnish-style suoja, a metal watchtower, a covered bridge, a little Japanese hut, and a flat-roofed cabin. Cosily furnished, the cabin offers the best respite from the snow and cold, the décor continuing the Japanese theme very nicely. The souja offers a small retreat with a comfy bed and the bridge includes a trio of theatre-like chairs warmed by a heater and where those using them can have a hot cup of tea.
Perhaps the most unusual feature in the setting is located on its northern edge, a short walk from the landing point. It takes the form of a large stone sculpture of a cat seated on a stone plinth and backed by a lower stone wall. It appears a little shrine-like in nature (if a big shrine!), and adds an interesting twist of character to the setting.
Aoi-ike, November 2022 – click any image for full size
Wildlife can be found scattered across the region – deer, owls, bear, cranes, weasels, and black swans – although some might need a little seeking out in order to spot. Also waiting to be found are further places to sit outside of those already mentioned: benches, deck chairs, and so on.
Easy to explore, reflective of the location that inspired it without being heavily tied it it, Aoi-ike presents an engaging winter setting for people to enjoy, entirely free from the more usual “seasonal” trappings generally found in winter-themed reasons at this time of year.
Aoi-ike, November 2022 – click any image for full size
Elven Falls Art Collective, November 2022: Chuck Clip
Chuck Clip has perhaps been most widely known as a tireless promoter and curator of art in Second Life through his Sinful Retreat regions, which have housed a stunning mix of personal art as well as exhibitions and a home for both 2D and 3D artists from across the platform and the world at large. However – and as I’ve noted in the past in these pages – he is himself an accomplished artist in the physical world and in Second Life (where he has also exhibited widely, if often quietly), working in a range of digital mediums, including prims, which he still sculpts today in preference to using mesh and external-to-SL tools like Blender.
I’ve long been attracted to Chuck’s work, particularly his 2D art, because of its powerful expressiveness, and his ability to take and mix a range of digital techniques to create pieces of art that are visually captivating and impactful whilst carrying messages of social conscience either directly or through more esoteric means using the surreal, the fantastic and the dark – elements which may be born in part out of his own life path – to offer insights into the human psyche, love, life, death, religion, and the (my term here) ambivalent nature of the human condition.
Elven Falls Art Collective, November 2022: Chuck Clip
I went to Rochester Institute of Technology initially for medical illustration. After set backs with mental illness, I returned to school, graduating from duCret School of Art for graphic design. Aside from a few small shows in local galleries, mostly I freelanced to make ends meet … My 2D work is created mostly digital using a variety of methods, from photography, to digital painting, to compositing, and more recently, using artificial intelligence to enhance and evolve these pieces into something entirely new.
– Chuck Clip
Many of these aspects of Chuck’s work can be seen and appreciated at Elven Falls Art Collective, owned and operated by operated by Ant (AntoineMambazo) and Aires Hax, where the main gallery is currently given over to an extensive exhibition of chuck’s art across its two floors and which opened on November 18th, 2022.
Elven Falls Art Collective, November 2022: Chuck Clip
Starting with the two pieces facing visitors as they enter the gallery’s foyer and progressing right throughout the seven halls (three on the lower floor, four on the upper, reached via the foyer elevator) this is a veritable tour de force of artistry at its finest. Each and every piece is layered both in terms of its physical composition and its meaning / interpretation. Some aspects of the pieces offer might disturb the sensitive; other might upset the deeply religious – but all will challenge and give pause for thought as to the statements each carries.
The narratives found within the offered works may be as direct as highlghting the role of formalised religion has often played fomenting war, death, and destruction (the entire upper rear hall of the gallery); or more subtle reflections on human nature – such as the mindset setting behind the avatars we encounter in Second Life (Behind the Avatar, within the lower floor, right-side hall) or the fact that as evolved as humanity might appear, we are as a race still prone to the drive of the primeval within us (Modern Man, within the lower floor right-hand hall).
Elven Falls Art Collective, November 2022: Chuck Clip
Each of the seven halls in the gallery also offers a 3D sculpture by Chuck. Each offers something of a reflection of the core themes to be found within the 2D art presented within it (perhaps most powerfully through Holy War, again to be found in the gallery’s upper rear hall); however, they also stand as a statement to artistic expression in Second Life, as Chuck also notes in his biography:
As a prim sculptor I’m largely self taught. I learned by trial and error and by going to places where the works of the old prim sculptors are still shown, examining them for hours on end just trying to figure out what they did to achieve certain effects. I am forever indebted to the old prim sculptors, for they paved the way for people like me. It is their legacy that I try to perpetuate as prim sculpture slowly but surely becomes a lost art in SL. Second Life has provided us with this wonderful medium, and it is my hope that one day it becomes recognized again for the greatness it can achieve.
Chuck Clip
Elven Falls Art Collective, November 2022: Chuck Clip
Bold, emotionally-charged, rich in narrative and marvellously enfolding digital and virtual artistry, Chuck Clip is a genuine maestro of digital art, and his exhibition at Elven Falls Art Collective stands as a powerful underscoring of this fact.
Le’eaf and Tinsel Café, Heterocera – November 2022
Note: all of the cafés in this article have since closed.
Exploring Second life – particularly the Mainland continents – can be thirsty work. Fortunately there are often spots along the way that people have provided for the enjoyment of refreshments and a little sit-down.
Coffee is often the beverage of choice (although with the northern hemisphere winter and the holiday season approaching, hot chocolate is liable to start rivalling it as an option!), and that’s just fine with me, as I’m a genuine coffeeholic / coffee snob in the physical world :).
Take Heterocera as an example. Like all of the mainland continents it has plenty to see, particularly along its road and rail network – although the former is generally the easier way to spot public places awaiting visitors. I’m not going to try to offer an extensive review of all the cafés across the continent in this piece, instead, I’ll cover a trio I’ve enjoyed dropping into on occasion.
Le’eaf and Tinsel Café, Heterocera – November 2022
The first comes on the north side of the continent and, given its latitude and the time of year, is appropriately dressed for winter. Snuggled against the southern side of Route 3’s north-eastern curve, Le’eaf and Tinsel is reached via a short climb up a set of stone steps from the side of the highway.
Snow crunches softly under your feet as you wander the white dusted trails. Among the trees and gently falling snow you will find a winter wonderland and of course… Coffee. Le’eaf&Bean Coffee truck is onsite for your caffeine and cocoa fix.
– Le’eaf and Tinsel About Land
The work of T Lefevre (Teagan Lefevre), this 2,800 sq metre parcel sits under her Le’eaf portfolio of parcel and regions designs. Like her other work, the parcel forms a part of the Mainland Preservation Society & The Nature Collective – with Teagan working with Emm Vintner (Emmalee Evergarden) – and there will be more on this in a moment.
Le’eaf and Tinsel Café, Heterocera – November 2022
Small the parcel might be, it nevertheless offers an engaging visit, the path from the step meandering to the left between rocks, trees and shrubs to reach a little wooden bridge. Following the path offers hints of more to be found beyond the hedges: the walls and roof of a building and the top of a van. However, as the shrubs extend along the side of the path all the way to the bridge, visitors need to make a right turn at the top of the steps and follow the right arm of the path.
This also meanders somewhat, but leads to where a skating rink sits beyond a picket fence to the right (touch the sign alongside the rink for skates), and to the left is a fire pit warming outdoor seating. The building – a converted barn – and the van sit on the south side of the parcel; the former is home to a little bakery, the latter the Le’eaf & Bean coffee wagon; both lie alongside a winding boardwalk and have further outdoor seating snuggled between them.
Winter Wonders of Comelia Street and the Toe Beans Cat Café and Rescue, Heterocera – November 2022
The wooden bridge within the parcel spans a narrow stream, the path beyond passing through a set of high gates and into the next parcel and the second of the café destinations I want to talk about – the Winter Wonders of Comelia Street and the Toe Beans Cat Café and Rescue.
Both are the work of Emm Vintner as a part of her Nature Collective brand, with the former offering an almost winter-streets-of-New-York-meets-Dickens’-Victorian-England vibe. The cobbled street is lined to one side by tall apartment buildings and a cosy bookshop. With more snow falling from above, the north side of the street offers winter seasonal elements that help with the more timeless feel to the parcel – an outdoor hot chocolate stand, a snowman, and tall street lamps that might be a gaslight, together with a little place selling fir trees for the holiday season – complete with a modern machine for netting them to allow easier transport.
Winter Wonders of Comelia Street and the Toe Beans Cat Café and Rescue, Heterocera – November 2022
The far end of the street from the gate to Le’eaf and Tinsel provides access to the café, assuming you’re following my footsteps through he parcels.
As its name suggests, the Toe Beans Cat Café and Rescue is a place for both humans and cats – and particularly the latter! Kitties of all ages await visitors, with some also helping themselves to the café’s offerings! A novel aspect of the café is the ability to help toward local tier by “adopting” a cat from the board just inside the door to the left. L$25 will bring you a copy of one of the offers cats (just right-click and PAY the photo of the cat you desire).
Winter Wonders of Comelia Street and the Toe Beans Cat Café and Rescue, Heterocera – November 2022
The square outside the café is warmed on one side by a propane heater for those who would like to sit outdoors, and one of the tables includes a game of draughts which might be enjoyed while munching on the roasted chestnuts available from the little vendor cart in one corner of the yard. Or visitors can sit on the bench next to the cart, which is also warmed by another of the propane heaters.
The final destination for this piece lies on the south-western side of Heterocera and is a place – again possibly befitting the more southerly latitude – which is snow-free for those looking for somewhere warmer to visit. It also, again if you’re following in my footsteps, continues the kitty theme found at the Toe Beans Cat Café in that there is a certain moggy presence to be found here.
Hi Café, Heterocera – November 2022
The work of Hitsu Ruby, the Hi-Café sits alongside the Atoll Road and sits within a cosy 1536 sq m parcel. The café itself sits adjacent to the cobbles of the Atoll Road, a tall brick-built building watched over by the aforementioned moggies and with an inviting, modern décor.
Caught in the shades of Autumn, the setting offers the café, with a span of a canal behind it cutting through the parcel to separate the café from Hitsu’s modest store, where she sells prefab buildings. Both the store and the café are also Hitsu’s own designs, but they appear to be custom builds rather than units she sells. Those interested in her commercial builds can obtain demos through the store, or take a peek at the neighbouring parcel to the west, and her Store #11 on display.
Hi Café, Heterocera – November 2022
The canal itself is bordered on either side by paved footpaths complete with wildling flower beds, places to sit (allowing for the cats laying claim to portions of them!), the two halves of the parcel spanned by a pair of bridges. The rest of the parcel is peppered with little details – the bus stop (/landing point) alongside the road, the little second-hand bookstall / newspaper stand, a Parisienne-style kiosk, a fountain – all of which add character to the setting.
Those wishing to rez props for photography can do so by joining the local Group, and there is a 30-minutes return time for objects that are rezzed; however, if you avail yourself to the opportunity, do be sure to pick up your items hen done, so that other can rez without having to wait.
Hi Café, Heterocera – November 2022
All three locations are equally attractive, offering their own points of attraction. They are not the only such places to be found in Heterocera or SL as a whole, but I offer them here as a small selection, and may well do more pieces like this one in the future.
Carmel Art Community: Hermes Kondor – The Face of Beauty
The Carmel Art Community is home to many SL artists, offering both boutique studio spaces in which they can display / sell their work, and regular art-related events through the year. It’s a community I’ve covered in terms of facilities and exhibitions in the past in these pages – and will continue to do so. However, for this piece I want to focus on just one newly-opened exhibit, as it is focused on an tool that is fast becoming very popular with artists the world over, and one I’ve mentioned rather a lot of late: Midjourney AI art generator.
The exhibition in question is The Face of Beauty, by Hermes Kondor. Comprising a total of 14 pieces, it has attracted me due to the manner in which Hermes has used Midjourney; one that is somewhat different to the exhibitions featuring its use I’ve so far mentioned in these pages.
Carmel Art Community: Hermes Kondor – The Face of Beauty
As I’ve mentioned previously, Midjourney utilises descriptive text and text terms to curate together / generate images. The results can be far ranging, from almost perfectly capturing the artist’s intent in the most realistic of fashion, to entirely abstract or impressionistic results, depending on what is defined. For example, “/imagine a city in Japan at night” will result in something close to the description, whereas, “/imagine a knight in battle, cinematic, epic, detailed, octane render, intricate” may result in something more abstract – or at at least, unexpected.
For the images presented in The Face of Beauty, Hermes has used his own descriptions – or as he terms it, “personal concept and prompts”, then taking the results and further processing them using PhotoShop. The result is the most remarkable collection of head-and-shoulder portraits of women from around the world, dressed in period / floral / regional dress. Such is the craft involved – and allowing from the human touch in post-processing, it is difficult to comprehend these were images defined by the use of algorithms rather than captured on film or committed to canvas in oil.
Carmel Art Community: Hermes Kondor – The Face of Beauty
To describe these pieces further is to defeat the objective of having them displayed by the artist; therefore I’ll leave you with the images here as a taste and suggest you pay a visit and witness The Face of Beauty first-hand.
Mullein Woods, November 2022 – click any image for full size
Emm Vintner (Emmalee Evergarden) has opened a new parcel under her Nature Collective group. Entitled Mullein Woods, it directly adjoin her What The Buzz setting, which I originally wrote about in Making a beeline for WTB in Second Life. Together they offer a double-header of settings.
Still located in Heterocera, both regions offer a pleasant visit. What The Buzz retains its interactive nature as a bee preserve, albeit on a smaller scale to the setting I explored in May of 2022, offering the opportunity to learn about bees and their importance to the ecosystem. It sit directly to the west of Mullein Forest, seamlessly joining with it thanks to the shared narrow-gauge railway.
Mullein Woods, November 2022
Discover the quiet wild of Mullein Woods. Get lost among the trees and explore nature as it was meant to be – natural, alive and full of wonder and beauty. Explore by foot or by train – on the path or off the beaten path. By the Nature Collective!
Mullein Woods About Land
Mullein Woods, November 2022
Located alongside Route 3.5, Mullein Woods offers a gentle spot of some 6,600 square metres to explore, the aforementioned narrow-gauge railway circling it and running between it and What the Buzz, and serving the two stations that lie along it – the first for the woods themselves, the second for What the Buzz.
Mullein Woods, November 2022
The Mullein Wood station offers an introduction to the location and to the Great Little Railways of Second Life -some of which I’ve also covered in these pages (see here and here).
The setting itself is easy to explore, being small enough to cover easily on foot, with numerous opportunities for photography. However, rather than ramble on about it here – I’ll leave it to you to find out via a visit to the Woods and What the Buzz! – Just keep an eye out for the local critters and creatures! 🙂 .
