2026 Raglan Shire Artwalk in Second Life: call to artists

Raglan Shire Artwalk 2025

The Raglan Shire Artwalk is one of the staples of the SL art calendar, and for 2026 it will take place between Sunday, May 17th and Sunday, June 14th, inclusive.

Running across four weeks, the Artwalk is popular event among artists and residents, often attracting over 150 artists, who display their 2D and 3D art across the regions of Raglan Shire. All the displays are open-air, with 2D art is displayed on hedgerows in and around the regions, while sculptures and 3D art is displayed in a number of designated areas, all of which allows visitors to both appreciate the art and explore the Shire regions.

Qualifying Art

For the purposes of this show, qualifying art is defined as original representations of RL photography, painting, drawing, printmaking, collage, and digital fine art that can be displayed on a prim; and SL photography, manipulated SL photography and SL sculpture. AI-generated art and pictures of RL crafts, such as beadwork, leatherwork, etc., are not part of this show definition.

Call to Artists

A Call For Artists for the 2026 event has been issued for those wishing to participate, and key points about the exhibition in addition to the above, are as follows:

  • It is a non-juried show.
  • Artists can display more than one piece if they wish.
    • 2D artists (“flat” art – photos, paintings, etc.) will be awarded a maximum of 15 LI. Individual pictures should be 1 prim, including the frame, and pieces should not exceed the height of the hedgerows against which they are displayed. No hovertext allowed.
    • 3D artists (sculptures, etc.), will be awarded a maximum of 500 LI for up to three pieces of work. Artists are requested to state the LI per piece in their application, together with its overall dimensions (length, width & height). Note that any piece exceed 10m in any of these will require special permission from the organisers.
  • In addition:
    • Sales of art are allowed, but tip jars and floating text are not allowed.
    • All art must be rated PG / G: so no nudity, please!
    • Group membership will be required in order to display work.
    • Touch-based landmark / biography givers may be included, but will count against an artist’s total LI allowance.

Registration

Those wishing to display their art should review the 2026 Artwalk Information & Requirements and then complete and submit the 2026 Artwalk Registration Form by no later than 21:00 SLT on Tuesday, May 11th, 2026.

Raglan Shire Artwalk 2025

Event Dates

  • Tuesday, May 11th: applications close at 21:00 SLT.
  • Friday, May 15th (after 09:00 SLT) and Saturday May 16th: Artist set-up days
    • Hedgerow space for 2D artists is on a “first come, first serve” basis.
    • Areas within Heron Shire,  Athen Shire, and Morning Shire will be designated for sculpture set-up with available locations designated by a marker.
  • Sunday, May 17th: Artwalk Opens.
  • Sunday, June 14th: Artwalk closes.
  • Sunday, June 14th (after 21:00 SLT) through Tuesday, June 17th: take-down of works.

Event Contacts

In-world contact preferred.

  • Artwalk Director: Linn Darkwatch.
  • Artwalk Assistant: Panacea Pangaea.
  • Artwalk Assistant: Beth Ghostraven.
  • Artwalk Assistant: Karmagirl Avro.
  • Questions may also be asked through the Friends of Raglan Shire in-world Group.

Related Links

The ancient-modern beauty of Marina di Luna in Second Life

Marina di Luna, April 2026 – click any image for full size

Occupying a Homestead region, Marina di Luna is the work of Miri (SilentChloe). It is a beautiful minimalist region design which mixes a sense of history with a twist of the modern. Highly photogenic, the setting offers much to see without overloading itself or the visitor’s senses, and offers opportunities for the romantics at heart.

Marina di Luna is a breath-taking island where modern architecture meets ancient charm. Surrounded by olive trees and a carpet of flowers, the air is fragrant with herbs and the salty sea. It’s a perfect place to relax and enjoy a romantic day out.

– Marina di Luna’s Destination Guide description

Marina di Luna, April 2026

The region is split into a main island to the east and with a north-south major orientation, and two smaller isles, each home to its own structure, of which more anon.

When seen on the map, the main island carries something of a left-pointing sock look to it, the lower part of the sock – from “toe” to “heel”, forms an open meadow, curving gently upwards from the rocky coastline on three sides, and running north towards the island’s main structures.

Marina di Luna, April 2026

This gently humpbacked meadow is home to the region’s Landing Point, the lush flowering grass coating it home to toppled columns and guarded by patient red-crowns cranes.

The “toe” of this sock-like island points towards the smaller of the two other isles, while the rocks on the coast at this point offer a place to sit and a flat “table” on which an artist has set up their easel to paint the larger of the two islands  as it sits further to the north.

Marina di Luna, April 2026

The smaller isle is home to a partially-ruined stone gazebo topped by a copper (or possible iron) domed roof which shares the damage as the stone of the gazebo. With its steps dipping their toes into the water, the gazebo has been turned into a little romantic niche, complete with cosy sofa, champagne and flowers.

The larger of these own isles is home to a large circular bath house. This shares some commonality with the gazebo, hinting at their joint age and Greco-Roman heritage.

Marina di Luna, April 2026

Like the gazebo, the bath house has a copper / iron roof, this one intact but suffering signs of rusting on its iron panels. Inside, the bath house is pristine and its waters clear, the walls split between four points of access and four small alcoves. Outside, the bath house is surrounded by a small garden space on the flat-topped island, where shaded loungers await, whiles a small beach of warm sand offers its own attraction.

Both of the islands can be reached via little motorboats which can be rezzed from lifebuoys to be found on the main island, with the boat house island having its own boat rezzer to aid in a return to the main island (I didn’t see a rezzer on the gazebo island).

Marina di Luna, April 2026

Back on the main island, the northern end is given over to a modern building built in a reflection of ancient Greek designs, and with what appears to be a garden terrace of much greater age, mirroring that of the bath house and gazebo.

Places to sit can be found around this terrace, dominated as it is by a large fountain and smaller fish pond. Broad steps connect terrace and the open waters below, where one of the boat rezzers can be found, whilst to one side, a raised deck offers a place for private dining.

Marina di Luna, April 2026

The front of the main building – a museum and gallery – is guarded by an infinity pool overlooking the open waters below. The museum houses a number of exhibits and a collection of photographs by – I admittedly assume – Miri herself. The museum is also home to a little café and a wine cellar below, complete with its own secret. The For both the exhibits and the “hidden” spaces, the museum is well worth taking the time to explore and appreciate.

All of the above – I hope – draws an outline of Marina di Luna; however, to fully appreciate the naturalness of its beauty, the attractive nature present in its simplicity of design, and to fill in all of the colours it presents, it is a place deserving of a visit; just be sure to take your camera with you. Should you need props when taking photos, rezzing in the region is open – just do please be sure to pick your things up afterwards.

In all, a recommended destination.

Marina di Luna, April 2026

SLurl Details

Cica’s Happy Planet in Second Life

Cica Ghost, April 2026: Happy Planet

April 2026 is the month of Artemis 2 (well, at least the first ten days are!), which will see a crew of four pass around the Moon before returning to Earth In the process the crew will set a new record for the furthest any humans have travelled beyond Earth thus far – some 406,773 kilometres, just breaking the record of 397,848 kilometres set by Apollo 13 during its aborted mission to the Moon in April 1970,

As such, it is thoroughly appropriate that whether by accident or design, Cica Ghost is using April to take us on a trip into space and to her Happy Planet.

Cica Ghost, April 2026: Happy Planet

Set against the backdrop of night, from which a large Moon (or possibly a planetary twin) literally watches over everything via the circular (and eye-like) blue sea covering a far portion of its otherwise dull browny nearside, this is a place of fantastical wonder, backed by a truth from US cartoonist Lynda Barry:

We don’t create a fantasy world to escape reality. We create it to be able to stay.

In other words fantasy and our use of it is more about presenting us with opportunities to pause and renew our strengths and abilities in the face of a reality which can oftentimes be harsh or unpredictable – or both – in its daily nature, rather than being a simply a crutch for helping us cope – as the unimaginative in nature have often claimed.

Cica Ghost, April 2026: Happy Planet

And fantasy can be both wonderfully creative and fun – as Happy Planet, with its strange but in some cases familiar creatures and inhabitants. From cats with antennae to almost slug-like beings oddly mindful of Gru’s Minions, occupying the rocky landscape and possibly living in the rock formations which appear to have holes cut into them to form interior spaces complete with windows and chimneys, this is clearly a place born of a creative and fantasy-oriented mind, rich in strange flora.

Some of these semi-sluggy (if you will) locals are not confined to the ground, but zip around overhead in personal flying saucers, deftly missing asteroids which –  to unabashedly steal from Douglas Adams – hang in the air exactly the same way as bricks don’t. And you can join the flying locals; located in the setting is a free flying saucer giver. Simply claim one, add it from inventory and take flight.

Cica Ghost, April 2026: Happy Planet

For those who prefer the alien equivalent of terra firma, there are plenty of opportunities for ground (or slightly elevate, thanks to re various raised paths) exploration, which will also reveal interactive dance spots scattered around the setting. I didn’t find any sit points while mousing over things, but I may have missed them. Either way, there is no mistaking Happy Planet is a happy place to be.

SLurl Details

 

Cherishville’s Spring for 2026 in Second Life

Cherishville Spring 2026 – click any images for full size

Spring has come to Lam Erin’s Cherishville for 2026, and with it the region has evolved into a new setting for visitors to enjoy.

With this iteration of the region we are offered a truly pastoral location; a place of farming, outbuildings, a meandering stream, gently rolling hills crowned by trees and flowers, and a scattering of animals together with little touches of humour for those with a keen eye..

Cherishville Spring 2026

The Landing Point sits to the north-west of the region, in the lee of an aged, bent-backed tree. This tree appears to suggest that strong winds can at times visit themselves across the island, although the upright poise of the other trees across the setting appear to say otherwise, and suggest the curved nature of this tree’s back is perhaps due to some other factor.

Sitting on a stubby headland, the Landing Point looks both east and south over the region, the eastern view encompassing the tall form of what might be taken to be a lighthouse on the far horizon when first seen, but which is in fact a clock tower, its belfry sitting in place of any lamp room.  Between these stubby headlands is a sweep of beach which is separated from the clock tower by the mouth of the region’s stream.

Cherishville Spring 2026

Southwards, the landing point overlooks a rutted track leading inland, a small stretch of shingle shoreline and a further trail passing some old vehicles on its way south. This rutted track forms a junction with the one leading inland from the Landing Point whilst also pointing east, where it becomes sandwiched between the beach and a pair of Tuscany-style outhouses, one of which has been turned into a patisserie and the other a residence-come-coffeehouse.

With outside seating, a large rectangular pond that has become the home of water lilies and swans and a separate fountain, the coffeehouse makes for a pleasant place to stop, itself sitting between track and the sharp curve of the stream behind it which leave it and the patisserie effectively sitting on a finger of land.  The patisserie offers more limited seating, but is still a pleasant visit and also holds an element of the humour I alluded to earlier.

Cherishville Spring 2026

To the south of the setting and sitting on a hill is a large farmhouse, in the grounds of which chickens squawk and cluck among the flowers – fortunately leaving the vegetable garden at the front of the house alone; a goose watching over her brood as they learn to swim, and a family of birds has taken over the mailbox – the property sitting, appropriately, on Bird Lane. With lavender and fruit trees being cultivated to one side of the house, with the lavender extending to encompass two more sides, the farmhouse is welcoming in a shabby-chic kind of look.

The best way to reach this farmhouse is to follow the track down the west side of the region from the Landing Point. This takes people past the old vehicles, one of which – an old truck – has become something of an apiary, with hives established outside its blocky form, and more hives apparently mounted along either side of its rear chassis.

Cherishville Spring 2026

A second vehicle has been turned into someone of a psychedelic piece of graffiti art as it sits at the side of the track. Beyond this, the track then rises up a slope to pass another outbuilding / shack where horses and sheep graze, to meet the stone built bridge spanning the region’s stream. The track then curls along the slope of the farmhouse hill before passing between the fencing surrounding the farmhouse. As it does so, it passes a signboard explaining the art of trail blazing and referencing the Slovene cartographer and trail blazer, Alojz Knafelc.

High photogenic, calming and rich in colour, sound and with an ideal EEP setting, Cherishville Spring is another excellent design by Lam Erin.

SLurl Details

Nowhere B and Bamboo Barnes at Nitroglobus in Second Life

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery Annex: Nowhere B – Homebody Surrealism

As I continue to try to get back into regular blogging (and catch up with the backlog of invites and suggestions – please bear with me on this!), it was off back to Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, operated and curated by Dido Haas, to peek at a couple of exhibitions, one of which is by one of my favourite SL artists.

Within The Annex of the Gallery is a new exhibition by Nowhere B, who makes a return to the gallery, Dido having hosted Nowhere’s first solo exhibition back in 2023 (see:  Intimist journeys and Zorian women in Second Life).

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery Annex: Nowhere B – Homebody Surrealism

That exhibition presented a highly personal journal (if you will) of Nowhere’s journeys through Second Life. With Homebody Surrealism, he presents another series of images which again carry with them something of a personal subtext, but which take the observer in an entirely different direction, as Nowhere explains:

Homebody Surrealism is a domestic surrealist exploration—an inward journey into the strange and the marvelous hidden within ordinary life. It proposes that the familiar spaces we inhabit daily are not dull or exhausted, but quietly enchanted. Within the home, the most mundane objects become portals to wonder. An egg, a drawer, a window, a curtain—each holds the potential for revelation…
Homebody Surrealism invites us to look again, more slowly and more attentively. When attention deepens, the ordinary begins to shimmer with ambiguity and quiet mystery. The domestic world—so often dismissed as trivial—reveals itself as fertile ground for imagination, introspection, and awakening.

Nowhere B.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery Annex: Nowhere B – Homebody Surrealism

The result is a collection of highly imaginative and engaging images and pieces which are captivating when first seen, then quietly beckon us in closer to decern more of what they wish to say – or at least, invite us to see beyond the “mundane”, as Nowhere puts it.

Given the nature of the pieces, their potential subjective resonance and that touch of subtext, I’m not going to colour your thinking by offering my own thoughts on the pieces within Homebody Surrealism. Rather, I invite you to visit the exhibition yourself and see them first hand.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Bamboo Barnes – Infinity Wall

The main hall at Nitroglobus sees the return of Bamboo Barnes with her fifth exhibition there, one which is deeply introspective in nature and form, carrying with it the title Infinity Wall.

Bamboo is, for me, one of the most vibrant, evocative, provocative, and emotive artists in Second Life. Her work is far removed from that of other artists who mix digital techniques with images from the physical world and those from SL. Her work is both vibrant and open in its use of colour and tone, yet also deeply introspective – that latter often brought forward by her use of those same assertive colours and tone. her themed exhibitions are thus a window into art  – and into the artist herself.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Bamboo Barnes – Infinity Wall

This is very true of Infinity Wall, which is one of the most personal of Bamboo’s exhibitions. This is very much noted by Bamboo herself:

It felt like a small universe—perhaps because both of our lives had somehow fallen out of sync with the world. Now I find myself asking questions I cannot answer alone, and at times I shrink from the pain they bring. It is like standing before an infinity wall, staring at a black dot as it slowly fades away. I no longer know where I stand—whether I am falling or floating. The only certainty is that there is nothing beneath my feet.
…Nothing is perfect, and once something begins, it moves inevitably toward its end. This is a quiet, unchangeable truth we must accept. Until that moment arrives, we drift, sometimes sink, and continue trying to create a universe we cannot hold onto forever.

Bamboo Barnes

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Bamboo Barnes – Infinity Wall

The majority of the images in this collection are self-portraits; pieces which are deeply emotive and beautifully telling in their stories. From individual pieces through to a triptych, these pieces reveal Bamboo’s talent for setting mood and suggesting thoughts and feelings – and offering insight into her own thoughts and reflections.

As with Nowhere B’s exhibition, Infinity Wall must be seen directly rather than seen through the lens of my thinking in order to be properly heard in its messages. As such, I again thorough recommend a visit.

SLurl Details

Sunshine Homestead is rated Moderate.

Natthimmel: The Array in Second Life

Natthimmel – The Array, March 2026 – click any image for full size
Since opening their Homestead region of Natthimmel as a destination in Second Life in 2024, I’ve become an avid follower of Konrad Rune (formerly Kaiju Kohime) and Saskia Rieko, through their many region designs over the last three years. Frequently drawing on locations from the physical world – such as Göbekli Tepe, which formed the basis for their first build (of which I wrote about in 2023), or more recently, the paired lighthouses of St. Joseph, Michigan (which I covered in late 2025).

However, some of Konrad and Saskia’s designs are drawn purely from the realms of the imagination, such as with 2025’s  Ythari – The echo of silent stars (see here for more). This is also the case for their first design for 2026, which actually opened over a month ago in late February, but with personal things being what they are, I only recently managed to visit.

Natthimmel – The Array, March 2026

Entitled The Array, this build is an engaging mix of fantasy and the imagination. A place which, in many respects, defies logical description but which weaves a tale all of its own within one’s head, the notes accompanying the setting helping to open the door to imaging.

Then the vision came.
Not a dream—visions in The Array were never dreams. They were memories, borrowed from the Primordium itself.
Lira saw a vast ocean, black and endless. She saw the Primordium as it once was: a drifting seed, searching for a place to anchor. She felt its loneliness, its hunger, its ancient purpose. And then she saw something else—something rising from the deep, something that made the Choir’s harmonics tremble with fear. The vision snapped away.
Natthimmel – The Array, March 2026
The Choir scattered, their lights dimming as they drifted back into the fog. The Veins beneath Lira’s hands throbbed once, sharply, like a heartbeat skipping. Abyssara was preparing for something. Lira stood alone on the terrace, the Mist swirling around her, the echoes of the Choir fading into silence. She didn’t know what the Primordium had shown her—or why it had chosen her—but she knew one thing with absolute certainty.
The city was waking up.

– Natthimmel description, February 2026

For some reason, this description put me in mind of assorted Arthur C. Clarke short stories, including The City and the Stars. I’ve no idea why, as there is little in the way of any form of connection between Natthimmel’s The Array and that story, or indeed, The Nine Billion Names of God, another of Clarke’s stories which for some reason dropped into my thinking = although the idea of something long asleep waking to make a dramatic change in the status quo does sort-of track (with The Array having a City wakening, Clarke’s story having a deity).

Natthimmel – The Array, March 2026

To be clear, The Array owes nothing to Clarke so far as I’m aware; it was to his shorter stories to which my mind flowed for some subconscious reason. Rather, The Array is a place of glorious mystery; a city of geometric shapes bought together in a manner that is both familiar an alien, interspersed with organic growths peppered with bioluminescent stands and ripples, some of which appear connected to the buildings. Bioluminescence is also much in evidence in the plants growing from the wetland from which the city appears to be rising, the plants both familiar and also somewhat alien as well.

Some of the buildings in the city can be entered, revealing more exotic growths, whilst stairways offer routes to upper levels – although some might be a little difficult to reach, whilst deep in the city is an events space. Very little here seems to be static, lights and shapes roll across walls and floors and while they don’t move themselves, the strands and trails of bioluminescence etched into many of the walls and the twinkling of luminescence among the trees further adds to the sense of motion and life.

Natthimmel – The Array, March 2026

Lifeforms and some very Earthly technology can be found within the setting. In the case of the former, fish float in the air whilst fantasy-like gossamer creatures float and “swim” through the air in and around the city’ towers. These latter creatures seem to take two forms – one fish-like, the other more plant-like. Some are blue, some are orange, all drift apparently without a care for those who visit the city and explore, ethereally aloof in their drifting. Elsewhere, dragon-like creatures might be found, both near the Landing Point and within the city itself.

In all, a place very much worth visiting for its mystery and ability to suggest stories and tales as to its origins and future.

Natthimmel – The Array, March 2026

SLurl Details