Currently open at the annex (formerly Dido Space) at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, curated by Dido Haas, is a small but enticing exhibition entitled Noir by Kitten (Joaannna Resident).
From her Profile, Kitten appears to be something of a newcomer to Second Life – but one who has made a considerable splash both as a writer on the subject of art, and as a photographer-artist. With the latter, she leans towards landscape images, using a more panoramic image ratio (as I also tend to lean towards) than most to produce stunning images of the places she visits – as can be seen within her Flickr stream.
Nitroglobus Roof Gallery Annex: Kitten – Noir
However, with Noir, and at Dido’s request to her to push her artistic envelope, Kitten takes a different route: avatar-centric images in celebration of the film noir genre, and here presents eight images offered monochrome pieces in keeping with the genre’s core thrust, all of them centred on a character who might potentially be considered both the protagonist and the femme fatale as are both found within this classic movies of the 1940s and 1950s.
And I do mean “character”, for rather than offering individual images and scenes, these eight images tend to unfold in the manner of a story – or to further remain in keeping with the theme, as stills lifted from a classic noir movie with some prototypical structures of classic crime and mystery stories. This unfolding narrative arc is given further depth through the fact that none of the images have been staged in terms of purpose-built sets and backgrounds; instead that have been captured – as the exhibition’s credits note – within some of Second Life’s more well-known locations. Combined with Kitten’s eye for angle, focus and composition, this gives each picture a depth that draws us into it.
Nitroglobus Roof Gallery Annex: Kitten – Noir
Compositionally, these are pieces that are structured to reflect the filmic aspects of film noir; the foundational minimalist look of German Expressiveness, the low-lighting and unbalanced nature in framing. Narratively speaking, five of the images allow us to witness a mysterious woman making her way by night through a darkened city; where she might be going and what purpose she may have remains unknown – although there are subtle clues contained within two more of the images that may help nudge the imagination.
In one, for example, we witness our heroine seated outside Berlin’s Café Kranzler, a location that – given the Noir theme – suggestions the Cold War, political intrigue and espionage. Within another we see her moving by torch light through a museum, the scene suggesting an illicit act – but is it simple theft, or a further twist on the idea of espionage? Note, as a well within this image what might be a nod towards both another era and genre of classic Hollywood movie-making.
Nitroglobus Roof Gallery Annex: Kitten – Noir
Then, within the remaining image, we get a change in perspective, with a reflective umbrella and a spotlight play as much a role as our model. Through it brings a further suggestion of film sets and the magic of film, whilst also bringing to mind a particular noir / black comedy classic with its closing words uttered by Norma Desmond…
Richly engaging – one can forgive the slightly repetitive element of shots of the woman walking because Kitten’s framing and composition is so beautifully structured – Noir is a deceptively captivating series.
Village de Roqueblanche, October 2022 – click any image for full size
On the advice of Shaun Shakespeare, I took a little trip to a corner of France here in Second Life, and found a setting rich in beauty and detail, offering a mix of public spaces and walks together with private residences.
Occupying a Full region utilising the private island land capacity bonus, Village de Roqueblanche is the work of Albane Claray (AlbaneClaray) and represents a corner of Provence, that region of France tucked between the Mediterranean Sea to the south and Italy to the east. Its location and topology offer a rich mix of climates and weather from the high slopes of the French Alps to the crystal waters of the Mediterranean.
Village de Roqueblanche, October 2022
I tried to reproduce a little corner of my country; a place with a Mediterranean feel very similar to Tuscany, Italy. It’s a land of many small villages nested in valleys or on hills, surrounded by lavender fields and vineyards and that so special light Van Gogh reproduced on his paintings. A village buried in my memories, a village where my childhood memories are asleep, stones worn by the rain, burned with sun…
Albane Claray
Journeys through the region start in the south-west corner and a square of an island separated from the rest of the region by a watery channel, a second channel separating the island from the neighbouring Homestead, also held by Albane, but which was under construction at the time of my visit – so I did not cross the bridge to avoid getting in the way of any building work going on.
Village de Roqueblanche, October 2022
The exact location of the landing point is, appropriately enough, right outside the local tourist office offering a little slice of Tuscan styling and overlooking one arm of the channel separating the island from the rest of the region. Above and behind the landing point sits the rest of the village, with houses and buildings arranged around two large squares. These have a Romanesque echo about them – something that is not entirely unnatural, given that Provence was the first Roman province established beyond the Alps, and its name is derived from the Roman name Provincia Romana.
A grand stone bridge spans the water to the western Homestead region, but to reach the rest of Village de Roqueblanche, it is necessary to leave the village on its eastern side and descend to where a small bridge gracefully arches across the water – the L’Auzon – to where a cart track winds its way through the rest of the landscape.
Village de Roqueblanche, October 2022
It is here that the private residences are located, so visitors should take care not to intrude. These houses are scattered to either side of the cart-tracks, but as each is marked by a large sign outside of the gates or steps leading to it, trespass is unlikely. Central to all of them is The Hamlet of the Mill.
Comprising a large farmhouse surrounded by tall walls and drystones which encompass a couple of the private residences, this is a place nevertheless open to the public, the farmhouse serves an a cosy restaurant visitors are welcome to visit; a place offering the first hint of the lavender Albane mentions whilst the wine served inside might have originated with the vines growing just outside of the surrounding walls.
Village de Roqueblanche, October 2022
This is a place where, no matter where you go, there is something to captivate the eye and offer opportunities for photography; a place that is a joy to wander and in which to pass the time.
My thanks to Shaun for the pointer and landmark, and to Albane for personally making me feel welcome.
The 22 ArtSpace: DeCarlo Maxim – The Art of Living in.adHD
Currently open at The 22 ArtSpace, the boutique gallery operated by Ricco Saenz and Randy Firebrand in Bellisseria, and running through until January 20th, 2022, is a fascinating selection of 14 photographs by DeCarlo Maxim (ReDDeE Hian), someone whose work I don’t think I’ve previously encountered.
Known in the physical world as DeCarlo Hoyte, and hailing from Montreal, Quebec, DeCarlo offers the fourteen pieces within the exhibition – entitled The Art of Living in.adHD – as a photo-essay in living with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). As such, this is a very personal series – but one which is also very approachable – in which he takes a unique and engaging approach to his subject.
The 22 ArtSpace: DeCarlo Maxim – The Art of Living in.adHD
ADHD is a condition affecting behaviour; those suffering from it exhibit restlessness and difficulties in controlling behaviour, trouble concentrating or in staying focused, and may act on impulse. The disorder tends to be noticed at an early age, with diagnosis generally occurring when children are between 3 and 7 years of age (although it can be diagnosed much later); it tends to be triggered as a result of a significant change in circumstance – such as moving to a new house / neighbourhood or when starting school. For many, the symptoms tend to improve with age, but for around one-third of those afflicted, symptoms can continue through adolescence and adulthood.
As there is no single cause, ADHD is considered to be a result of an interplay between genetic (70%-80% according to the Journal of Learning Disabilities) and environmental factors, treatment tends to be highly individual and focuses on a range of potential one-to-one and / or group therapies and the possible use of medication.
Within The Art of Living in.adHD, DeCarlo offers a form of self-therapy whilst also offering us insight into his interactions with ADHD. However, he does so in a special way: rather than using his avatar, he offers photos taken in the physical world which utilise toy characters as their focus. In doing so, he achieves a number of things that really help draw the visitor into these pieces.
The 22 ArtSpace: DeCarlo Maxim – The Art of Living in.adHD
Firstly, by using little characters rather than his (or other) avatar(s), he avoid these pieces being taken as simple avatar studies in which looks, fashion and setting are the focus. The use of these little characters also subconsciously reminds us that ADHD does emerge as a childhood disorder, and can radically and lastingly impact the child’s trajectory through their young life. Finally, he can, as an adult, offer thoughts and insights into living with ADHD in the most subtle but direct means, sans the risk of character expression misleading the eye and mind.
Each piece carries with it an emotional content that in some is immediately and heart-rendingly apparent (e.g Always There, Lefted Out), and in others offers a sense of amusement and fun whilst still containing a deeper message (e.g. the I Am Grooot images, young Groot being a personification of ADHD behaviours, whilst always being repressively positive in his outlook on life).
The 22 ArtSpace: DeCarlo Maxim – The Art of Living in.adHDWhen viewing this exhibition, I do recommend you start on the ground-floor rooms, and after seeing Groot on the upstairs landing, go to the room immediately to the left of the top of the stairs (between Summer Dip and Self Reflecting), before moving to the room behind the stairs-top, which to me presents the two images that crown this exhibition in terms of their visual and emotive content.
It is no secret to my friends and regulars to this blog that I have something of a fascination with Fallingwater, the house American architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed for Edgar J. Kaufmann and his family in the mid-1930s.
Located in the in the Laurel Highlands of southwest Pennsylvania, the house is one of Wright’s most iconic designs, sitting as it does within woodland and partially built over a waterfall on Bear Run, a tributary of the the Youghiogheny River. It’s hard not to fall in love with it when seeing it for the first time in person or in picture or film, and I’ve reproduced it in-world for my own use on multiple occasions.
In this, I’m hardly alone; there have been a fair number over their years built with varying degrees of accuracy. However, none – my own included – come anywhere close to the original as does the Fallingwater build by Miltone Marquette. It is exquisitely detailed and painstakingly accurate; and thanks to a personal invitation from Miltone, I was able to pay a visit at the start of October 2022.
Fallingwater by Miltone Marquette – the Great Room is true to the original as seen in photographs from the Kaufmann era, with one or two added details from Miltone!
Miltone has a long personal association with Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs both in the physical world and in Second Life. In terms of the latter, he was one of the principal builder at the Frank Lloyd Wright Virtual Museum from its inception through until its unfortunate closure. his physical world interest reaches all the way back to his childhood, and has grown ever since.
Many years ago, my father would take the family on a Sunday drive around town and we stopped by the Dorothy Turkel house in Detroit; there was this reverence in Dad’s voice when he said, “This is a Frank Lloyd Wright house.”
In later years I discovered that a business associate was a big Wright-o-phile and took me around to some of the FLW houses in the area. I was hooked. Second life is a perfect place to explore Wright’s organic building concepts, and Fallingwater is the most perfect expression of those concepts; and while I build here to satisfy my own curiosity and interests, I do enjoy sharing my work with others.
– Miltone Marquette
With Fallingwater he has – like most who have sought to reproduce it virtually – focused on the main family house (the original property can be broadly divided into three structures: the family home, the Guest House sitting on the hill above and behind it, and the garages with staff bedrooms over, sitting perpendicular to the Guest House). In keeping with the original, the house is reached via the driveway as it passes over Bear Run on a single-track bridge to sweep around the house and under the car port alongside the front door, before (in the original) winding on up the hill and back on itself to reach the garages above.
Fallingwater by Miltone Marquette – the view from the bridge
Given Miltone and I worked from the same source material (albeit unknown to one another) and we both used the Erlanger scale in-world, our respective builds are very similar in terms of scale and size. However, when in comes to interior décor, Miltone has genuinely brought his build to life in a way I never have. His build is a house where every room is faithfully reproduced, from the Great Room through all of the bedrooms and bathrooms up to the uppermost balcony, and out through the kitchen and staff lounge and down into the basement rooms (the latter of which I never attempted to include).
All the furnishings have been reproduced to accurately represent their physical world counterparts, whilst the ornaments and fittings have been carefully selected to match those found in the house and on its terraces, as Miltone explained:
I would be remiss in not mentioning the decorative skills of SummerSails who studied photos and scoured SL for suitable furnishings. But I chose to use the dining chair design that Wright recommended, but which only got to be used in the Guest House; I much prefer Wright’s design over those purchased by Mrs. Kaufmann in Europe and used in the dining area. Also, the floor lamps are based on sketches left behind by Wright for lamps that the Kaufmanns never commissioned.
– Miltone Marquette
Fallingwater by Miltone Marquette – the master bedroom terrace
There are also some “non-canon” – so to speak – touches to be found in memory of Wright and of Miltone’s father. On the main landing, for example, a black-and-white photo of Wright at Taliesin (his home) can be found; whilst above the desk in the Great Room hangs a reproduction of a 2-cent postage stamp featuring Wright. This is a copy of a stamp Miltone discovered in his father’s footlocker, and so forms a nice memento – although Miltone prefers to describe it as being “so folks can get my 2 cents worth of FLW”!
Across the river from Fallingwater are two more of Miltone’s creations reproducing famous Wright houses / house styles. Sitting alongside the local highway where they are periodically passed by tour pods, these are the Robie House of Chicago, and the Jacobs House of Madison, Wisconsin; both are – like Fallingwater – US National Historic Landmarks.
The Frederick C. Robie House – generally referred to as the Robie House -, with its distinctive walls and roofs, is located on what is now the campus of the University of Chicago. It pre-dates Fallingwater, having been built between 1909 and 1910, and is today considered the finest example of Prairie School, the first architectural style of house considered uniquely American.
The Robie House by Miltone Marquette – also available for tours with Miltone
Meanwhile, the Jacobs House – also called the Jacobs First House, given Wright designed two houses for Herbert and Katherine Jacobs – is contemporaneous to Fallingwater, having been built in 1937. It is considered to be the first Usonian home Wright designed. Both it and the Robie House are again exquisitely detailed inside and out, and beautifully reflect their physical world namesakes.
In the physical world, the Robie and Jacobs houses are managed by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation whilst Fallingwater is in the care of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy at the behest of Edgar Kaufmann Jr. Seeing all three requires planning, time and travel. Within Second Life they are all curated by Miltone as their creator, and visitors are able to tour all of them with considerably more ease. Should you wish to do so, please contact Miltone in-world via IM or note card, and he’ll work with you to arrange a mutually convenient time for a tour.
And just in case you need further convincing, I’ll leave you with a film by Suzie Anderton and available on her You Tube channel, which offers a taste of the beauty of Fallingwater in Second Life.
Again, if you would like to visit these iconic builds, please contact Miltone Marquette in-world.
Moorcroft, October 2022 – click any image for full size
It was off to Sansara for me once more for a little more mainland exploration, this time on the advice of Milo Collas, who suggested I might appreciate a wander through the streets and surrounds of Moorcroft, a place that defines itself as the queerest little village on the mainland.
Occupying a full region, Moorcroft is a join effort by members of the Show Society (a group dedicated to enhancing the equestrian community of Second Life through competitive events, shows, clubs, and classes) and their friends, with The Show Society’s founders, Ayame Kintsugi-Moon) (Stable Mum), Teagan Twospirit Kintsugi (DarlingTeagan) plus Pod Heartsong (Podruly Heartsong) leading the charge in mesh and prim pushing and terrain shaping.
Moorcroft, October 2022
In looks, the village appears to have its roots in a number of European countries (France in particular, with touches of Germany and elsewhere. It appears to be built upon the footings of what might have once been a mighty fortress, and is surrounded by the most genteel of countryside settings which blends into the region’s neighbours to the point where in a couple of places, visitors may not actually be aware they have strayed beyond the limits of the village and into the land of its neighbours.
The place I’ve selected to start a visit is the village square, just outside the Moorcroft Information Centre. The latter can provide visitors with information on The Show Society and the events they hold. Moorcroft is obviously an equestrian-friendly location, and the roads and trails winding outwards from the village are ideal for those who have a wearable horse – or who like exploring on foot.
Moorcroft, October 2022
Away from the main roads, the trails and single-track roads wind their way through the region, passing through and around the woodlands, with the longest of them running through the north extent of the region to where a little airstrip sits, which appears to be both a part of, yet separate from, the rest of Moorcroft. It also offers something of a challenging landing: the runway ending in vertical cliffs which tower over it!
The north side of the region is one of several areas which, at the time of my visit still appeared to be under construction (or possibly re-development). There are also one or two uneven points of landscaping within the woods – although these are largely hidden by trees, and the main trails that wind between the tree trunks avoid them and their odd pitfall.
Moorcroft, October 2022
Moorcroft is a place where people can come to level – there are various rentals awaiting discovery – and some of the locals have created some interesting perches.one of these is the Wizard’s Retreat away to the east and sitting high in the rocky hills to provide a commanding view down over the woodlands to the nearby coast.
Proudly LGBTQ+ friendly, offering a mix of architecture that is richly varied and suggestive of a lot of history lying in and around the village, Moorcroft offer plenty of opportunities for exploration and photography and is a charming little jewel sitting within Sansara.
Currently open at Terrygold Art Gallery (TAG), operated and curated by Terrygold, is My Little World, an exhibition by Karma Daxeline (Karma Weymann).
Located within an environment recognisably put together by Terrygold, and which is itself expressively minimalist and softly reflective of the exhibition’s title, give the sense of moving through a unique world, this is a selection of 20 avatar studies by Karma which might be said to offer a journey through her life within Second Life and a reflection of her love of photography (an additional frame within the exhibition offers the opportunity to view further pieces of Karma’s art).
Terrygold Art Gallery: Karma Daxeline
Each picture offers a vignette; a single-frame story focused on Karma’s avatar. However, these are not your typical avatar-centric stories. Karma has a natural gift for presenting scenes and settings that are at once minimalist in feel and look, yet deeply expressive of mood; that are characteristically atypical of the normal avatar studies so frequently seen, and all the more richer in content and tone for it; and which offer seemingly ordinary activities laced with the more extraordinary sense of humanity, life and – in some – sensuality – which all again reach far beyond the more usual focus of avatar expressiveness.
Utilising considered angles, focus and cropping, together with a very real understanding of the power of colour mix or monochrome scale, lighting, and use of shadow, all combined with a lightness of post-processing touch, the twenty images resent within My Little World are among the most richly expressive I’ve seen within Second Life, both in terms of the narrative each contains and for the way the pieces individually offer subtle counterpoints of style and idea within them.
Terrygold Art Gallery: Karma Daxeline
In this, Karma’s art is marvellously supported by the environment Terrygold has provided: the islands of green and autumnal browns, floating as they appear to do within a night sky, suggest moments in time and life, just as do Karma’s surrounding images. And by sitting with those parts of the environment where seating is provided, we can indirectly become a part of Karma’s little world.
When visiting, do make sure you have Advanced Lighting Model enabled (Preference Graphics check Advanced lights Model), and use the teleport disk from the landing point to reach the exhibition space.
