Reviews – Page 516 – Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

A visit to a kitten’s garden

Posted on October 27, 2014April 9, 2021 by Inara Pey

Petit Chat-Moumou’s Square is the home of Trinity Yazimoto’s store and art gallery, both are located within the grounds of a garden currently rich in the colours of autumn, and where visitors are invited to spend time relaxing.

Trinity’s store, Petit Chat, occupies an old mill partially surrounded by water features fed by the falls that tumble from the high cliffs that border the garden on three sides. The water actually divides the land into several distinct areas, all linked one to another by stone bridges. There is the store itself, with its own garden nestled behind it, complete with Romany caravan and lamp-lit lily pond, a bridge providing access to a cuddle area across the pond. In front of the store, and reached via another bridge, is a further garden area, complete with swings and a roundabout, rocking horses, and a pergola offering shade and a place to sit and enjoy a cake or two.

A further bridge offers a crossing to the rest of the garden, where stone steps lead up a grassy slope to where a cobblestone terrace, complete with fountain, can be found, offering further shaded seating for visitors. Beyond the terrace sits the ruins of an old tower, the curved steps of which lead the way to a artist’s workspace, while hidden behind its walls lies a picnic area.

But it is what lies under the tower and terrace that will be of interest to lovers of art and SL photography. Here, in a vaulted, crypt-like space, is Trinity’s art gallery, a ladder held within the curve of the old tower’s walls providing access – simply touch the ladder to climb down to it.

I first became familiar with Trinity’s work during the Terms of Service upset in late 2013, and then through seeing her work on the SL feeds and on Flickr, where her landscape work has always been incredibly eye-catching for me. Within the gallery, her landscape work is mixed with more personal pieces, all displayed in a manner that is well suited to lower lighting conditions that match the look and feel of the gallery space.

A nice touch with the items on display is that Trinity provides a note card with many of them (right-click on a piece, and select “Info” from the menu). This provides information on the inspiration for the picture and details of the location where it was shot – handy if you feel like paying it a visit.

Trinity openly admits she works extensively within Photoshop to produce her images; where her landscape work is concerned, some might say that the result doesn’t really represent the region in which it was taken. I’d beg to differ with such views – as Trinity states in some of her note cards, these are her interpretations of the places she visits.

Besides, it’s not as if we don’t have tools within the viewer which can help us enhance / alter the look and feel of the regions we visit and photograph, whether it is simply by altering the windlight settings or using the likes of the SL Share filters or a tool set like Phototools or even doing it the hard way and digging through debug settings.

As such, whether or not Trinity uses Photoshop is incidental to the quality of her work; her landscapes are beautifully presented, and her still life work, often featuring herself as the model, is creativity composed and frequently conveys a strong message which draws the observer into it.

all told, Petit Chat-Moumou’s Square makes for a delightful visit, offering a charming garden in which to relax, excellent art to view and purchase, and an opportunity for the fashion hungry to do a little shopping. And for those who would like to combine art with fashion, check-out the top for of the shop 😉 .

Taking an early winter’s walk

Posted on October 25, 2014April 9, 2021 by Inara Pey

The Pines at Jacob’s Pond, Jacob (Flickr)

I last visited The Pines at Jacob’s Pond in February 2014, when an early spring was in the air. Now, with many regions embracing an autumnal feel in keeping with the turning of the seasons in the northern hemisphere in the physical world, The Pines has embraced a wintry scene.

The Pines at Jacob’s Pond, Jacob (Flickr)

The new scene brings with it a new design for the region. The lake is frozen, snow lies heavy on the surrounding farmlands and in the boughs of the trees; deer forage for grass and horses exhale colds of warm breath into the cold morning light.

The Pines at Jacob’s Pond, Jacob (Flickr)

Dacotah Longfall, who designs Jacob’s Pond, offers a warm welcome to visitors arriving in the small cabin on the south side of the region, inviting them to enjoy her backyard – and noting that clothing is optional. With the snow on the ground and the misty look to the air, I’m not sure this is advisable!

The Pines at Jacob’s Pond, Jacob (Flickr)

Snowy paths wind across the region, with lamplit bridges helping to guide the way over the frozen streams, guiding the way around the lake and to the barn, and to farmhouse up on the hill to the north. These don’t have to be followed, visitors can wander as they please, and – as ever – there are plenty of opportunities for photography.

All told this is a another delightful redressing of a region which never fails to please. It might seem a tad early for thinking about the depths of winter, but The Pines at Jacob’s Pond presents the perfect image of snow and crisp skies we probably all love.

The Pines at Jacob’s Pond, Jacob (Flickr)

The Pines at Jacob’s Pond forms a part of the End of Time group of regions, if you’ve not visited the estate, I can only recommend that once you’ve explored The Pines, you pop across to Nu Haven, Tide, Eotia, Wabe, Crow, and Gyre. All make for wonderful exploration.

Of bread and roses

Posted on October 23, 2014October 27, 2014 by Inara Pey

Bread and Roses, located at LEA13, is an interactive, educational installation commemorating the 1912 Lawrence Textile Strike, and which is open now through until the end of December 2014.

The strike, which commenced on January 1st, 1912, was prompted by textile mill owners in the town of Lawrence, Massachusetts, arbitrarily cutting workers pay after a new law reduced the working week from 56 hours to 52. The cut, amounting to around 30 cents, equated to the loss of around three loaves of bread for the already hard-pressed working families in the town (hence one of the strike’s other names: “The Three Loaves Strike”).

To put this in perspective, the staple diet of mill workers and their families in Lawrence was bread and molasses. Meat was a luxury few could afford. What’s more, the conditions were so harsh that the mortality rate for children was 50% by age six, and that 36 out of every 100 mill workers, male or female, were dead by the age of 25. Families were crammed into poorly maintained tenement blocks; thus the pay cut was, to say the least, cruelly severe.

With its largely immigrant population (some 51 different nationalities), the work force in Lawrence had been deemed by more conservative trade unions to be too ethnically divided to be properly organised. However, under the guidance of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), representatives of which had been active in the town ahead of the imposition of the pay-cut, the strike grew within a week to encompass some 20,000 workers and ran through a harsh winter prior to both sides reaching agreement.

The strike particularly came to the attention of the United States as a whole (and the rest of the world) after local police attempted to prevent IWW from sending 100 children from striking families in Lawrence to Philadelphia to stay with the families of supporters of the strike until it had reached a conclusion. Arriving at the railway station, the police drew their batons and began clubbing mothers and children alike, in full view of the press, resulting in Congressional hearings being called.

In the end, the mill owners acceded to the demands of the strike organisers. Pay was raised, working conditions were improved – but it was in the end something of a pyrrhic victory. The IWW refused to enter into written agreements, allowing the mill owners to slowly but surely take back the concessions made, whilst also removing union representatives from their workforce.

The installation at LEA13 is the brainchild of Canadian-born Dr. Sharon Collingwood (aka Ellie Brewster in SL), a Professor in the Women’s Studies department at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. It’s an interactive piece, aimed a school students, and offers plenty to do. A tour through the set takes students through a mill where images provide visual and text-based information on the strike, while large blue buttons provide additional information or questions to be answered by students. In addition, there are media elements and links to external web resources.

As well as examining the strike, the installation also offers some social commentary as well; not just in the strong contrast between the houses and attitudes of the well-to-do mill owners and the frightful conditions endured by the workers – but also in the often entirely blinkered viewpoints of movements which marked the times. The latter is perhaps most clearly demonstrated in the house occupied by the (white, middle-class) suffragettes, citing the strike as an example of the “power” embodied within women, whilst ignoring the black scullery maid in the kitchen…

An exploration of the installation will reveal it to be seemingly incomplete. There are empty rooms, etc. This is intentional, as it is hoped that students will add to the exhibit throughout its duration. In addition, students can assume one of four identities prior to explore the exhibit and, for the benefit of those who may not be familiar with using Second Life, there is a brief set of tutorial items offering basic instructions on finding one’s way around the viewer.

All told an interesting glimpse into history, and a useful educational tool. Those wishing to use the classroom facilities within the exhibit should contact Ellie Brewster in-world.

And the title of the piece? “Bread and Roses” was another name by which the strike came to be known, after being incorrectly linked to the strike by author Upton Sinclair. The origins of the phrase in fact seem to lie with labour union leader, Rose Schneiderman, who was not directly involved in matter in Lawrence, but who stated during a speech that, “The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.” This in turn inspired James Oppenheim to write a poem of the same name, which in turn became a song strongly associated with labour movements and the concepts of fair wages and dignified working and living conditions.

Bread and Roses: Joan Baez and her sister, Mimi Farina, who founded “Bread and Roses”, a nonprofit co-operative organisation, designed to bring free music and entertainment to institutions: jails, hospitals, juvenile facilities, nursing homes, and prisons.

Waterscapes and Flying Things

Posted on October 23, 2014April 27, 2020 by Inara Pey

During my wanderings through the SL10B Community Celebration regions in June 2013, I came across Evan Moonshine’s Lepidoptera Museum. It was both a lovely build, and the subject matter within it fascinating; my only regret being that the cards describing all of the lepidoptera on display were to small to the read, and the subjects were themselves a little on the small side to be fully appreciated.

Now, in an exhibit at the Ode’s Arts & Culture Community running through until November 15th, 2014, DecemberGrey has brought some of her own images of lepidoptera and beetles to Seceond Life, combining them with some of her fabulous waterscapes of well-known SL regions. Called Waterscapes & Flying Things, it adds up to a fascinating display of artistic talent well deserving of a visit.

The images of moths and beetles occupy the ground floor of the OACC’s converted watermill gallery. At first glance, these might appear to be reproductions of drawings of the subject matter painstakingly created in the physical world by some 19th century botanist. Not so. These are images painstakingly created by the artist as a result of getting unexpectedly sidetracked at university, as DecemberGrey explains:

While in my second year of a BSc in botany (some fair while ago), I looked into the microscope on the lab bench while the lecturer was talking about angiosperm reproduction…. And from that point on, was captivated by the world seen only through a magnifying lens. I forgot the lecture, became lost. Today, all I remember is the brilliance that captivated me. It changed my life.

…My macro work started manually, my fingers moving the focus ring on the camera – millimetre by millimetre – to create a number of images of the same body which would then be compiled into a single image. Now it is a process somewhat automated. Technology is impressive, and allows an entirely different method of working. It gives me time to dabble in color and light. And to imagine. To transform. To create.

The results are simply amazing, with each of her subjects beautifully presented (and all of them available for purchase).

For DecemberGrey’s waterscapes, climb the stairs all the way up to the mill’s attic, where you’ll find them displayed perfectly on the whitewashed walls.

Featuring famous locations such as Roche, Hazardous, The Colder Water, Nagare and Frisland, and arts locations such as Imagin@rium and Immersiva, these pictures are as beautifully composed as the real-life images on the ground floor; in fact I’d say without a shadow of a doubt that they are among the finest images I’ve seen captured from within SL. To call them exquisite would not be over-emphasising them at all.

Mistero Hifeng: straddling reality and the imagination

Posted on October 20, 2014October 27, 2014 by Inara Pey

Spettatori malinconici di felicita' impossibili - Mysterio Hifeng — Spettatori malinconici di felicita’ impossibili – Mistero Hifeng (click images for full size)

I’ve been coming across the work of SL artist Mistero Hifeng a lot of late; his pieces have appeared in a number of regions I’ve dropped into recently, and he has an entry in the UWA’s Transcending Borders challenge. So when artist and friend Sniper Siemens invited me to pay a visit to Mistero’s gallery and store, I was only too delighted to hop along.

Volare - Mistero Hifeng — Volare – Mistero Hifeng

While some may not be familiar with his name, I would endeavour to suggest many are familiar with his work, his sculptures being instantly recognisable when encountered, many of them presenting a subtle blending for realities: very human figures often in very extraordinary – you might say surreal – situations, driven from deep within the imagination. Little wonder, then, that Mistero takes a Tom Watts quote for his profile description:

Mostly I straddle reality and the imagination. My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane.

E' soltanto un ricordo - Mysterio Hifeng — E’ soltanto un ricordo – Mistero Hifeng

Mistero presents his work to visitors in an open air gallery space occupying one half of a homestead region. The design is minimalist, little more than a beach, partially flooded by the (presumably) incoming tide and a handful of off-sim islands, one of which is volcanic in nature, all overlooked by a marbled sky of white and black (do make sure you accept the parcel windlight on arrival). But while minimalist, it is also highly effective, the sand and water naturally acting to isolate each of the pieces on display, giving a sense that they each occupy a space that is independent of the others, no matter how relatively close some may be to one another.

The windlight setting also serves to complement the subdued colours used within each piece, allowing them to stand out on their own, an effect which certainly encouraged me to keep to the default rather than fiddling with alternatives.

Bella - Mistero Hifeng — Bella – Mistero Hifeng

The pieces on display are large – all the better to see the detailing within them; so much so, that I doubt my efforts here really do them justice – they really must be seen first-hand.

While there is a line of flat stones laid across the sand to form a footpath through the gallery space, linking two teleport points with one another, there is no need to keep to this when viewing the displayed works, the open space makes for relaxed wandering, and the park benches and pianos which can be found at various points encourage meandering – and sitting.

As well as connecting one to the other, allowing people to hop between the two ends of the gallery space, the two teleporters also provide access to Mistero’s skyborne store. Here one can purchase versions of the items displayed in the gallery, or images of them as captured by Mistero, as well as images of works not currently on display.

If you’ve not visited Mistero’s gallery before, I have no hesitation in recommending it to you. His work is an exquisite blending of ideas, images and emotions, presented through a skilled layering of the real with the surreal to produce pieces which are marvellous evocative and compelling.

Of trees, cultural hysteria and shit

Posted on October 18, 2014 by Inara Pey

Over the years, AIR has presented artists with the opportunity of using a full sim region and offering SL residents immersive environments they can enjoy. Over the years, this has led to some fascinating and quite amazing installations which might otherwise never have seen the light of day. Other times, it has to be said, the results have been less than satisfying.

As life has been keeping me a tad busy of late, I decided to combine recent visits to three of the current LEA Artist In Residence (AIR) installations into a single article. Into which of the above two categories they might fall is a matter of individual choice.

Travel Narratives into Trees

Uan Ceriaptrix uses Travel Narratives into Trees to offer visitors insight into the things that please him: natural environments unfettered by the imprint of human intervention, coloured by the natural flora and fauna within it, how these define reality for us, and the responses they evoke within us.

Or at least, that’s the intent. On an island which itself has a distinctly organic shape, perhaps a creature swimming in the sea. From this rise a series of leafless trees, almost claw-like in their appearance. Eye-like buds grow from the trees, while your path along the island creature is marked by giant ants, flowers and the skeletal forms of what might be dogs. The path leads to a smaller island, guarded by crocodiles (complete with a pose, if you fancy being their next meal) and on which can be found a teleporter leading you up to the second part of the installation.

Here sits a desert-like landscape, albeit one with plenty of trees and shrubs, in the midst of which sits a gigantic hollow tree which appears to be part study, part laboratory. Stairs and platforms wind their way upwards inside and around it, leading the visitor to various scenes of labour.

Metaphor is strong here, with clues provided by the artist’s biography and the notes accompanying the build. Whether the metaphor measures up to the visitor’s eye, however, is perhaps questionable.

Cultural Hysteria

Mario Zecca’s Cultural Hysteria is designed to be a piece that grows of the months of its existence. Starting with the build at ground / water level, successive platforms will be added over time, with the installation as a whole used as a venue for music, dance and poetry events.

Mario says of the installation, “the textures in the 3D prims, were derived from a process of automatic drawing. I used color or scribbles to create a texture or area and then allowed the images to arise. These are images that I have “drawn” from my imagination, the feedback from a lifetime of studying while I enjoyed cartoons, comic books, illustration and academic drawing. While building the installation here I had my avi walk around to get the walking point of view and perspective. My goal is to share and convey, in the form of an immersive visual environment, the unknown, undocumented and unmeasured language of art.”

The result is certainly colourful, and does require a fair amount of camming around to see. The region is filled with prims, some flexi, some static, some of which display static images, others moving images, some of which have glow applied, and so on. In terms of potential appeal, however, I’m really not sure how this installation will strike people. Perhaps we’ll only be able to really make a determination once all the levels have been added and, as Mario promises, the title of the piece becomes evident as they arrive.

Ovis Aries

So to Sheep – or to use the Latin as creator Sowa Mai (aka artist Stephen Beveridge) does, Ovis Aries. From the start, this piece is somewhat unusual and hard to define. Take the description, for example:

Sowa Mai has once again sidestepped his original idea and brought us a complete bastardization of the whole Second Life art ouvre. With this pile of shit he has left on our doorstep it is safe to say this will be the last time he is invited to participate. Don’t miss it.

Well, errm. Yes. Interesting reading. Taking the proverbial pee? And if so, at whom? The artist himself, or the “whole Second Life art ouvre”? It would be easy to conclude the latter, but let’s not be so hasty.

Your arrival is marked by a trio of sheep, one of whom can be chatty. If you’re on your own, it will initially discard with any pleasantries with a curt, “Go get a friend and we’ll talk…”. However, wait long enough, or have someone else present, and the sheep will engage in some ostentatious art babble – a poke, perhaps, at the world of art critics?

The sheep stand on a barren landscape enclosing, quarry-like, a body of water and shrouded in an evocative, misty windlight. A single stone tower rises from this landscape, while four transparent prims located to one side of the land offer a sound scape of crowd noises. At the top of the tower, celestially spotlighted sits … a turd, while down just above the water (and below it, for those who look) are images of the artist’s real-life abstract art.

Again, metaphor runs strong here, right down to the title of the piece. For those looking for a clue as to intent of this piece, a note card from the artist available at the landing point might hold a clue or two, dwelling as it does on issues of judgement. There is also a hint of questioning identity as well, found both within the note card and perhaps in the way the images of the artist’s work are presented.

Given that judgement does play a role in the artist’s definition of the work, I’ll leave it to you to form your own opinion of this installation – exactly as he intended.

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Category: Reviews

A visit to a kitten’s garden

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Taking an early winter’s walk

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Of bread and roses

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Waterscapes and Flying Things

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Mistero Hifeng: straddling reality and the imagination

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