IMAGOLand Art Galleries: Carelyna – Phantasmagoria
Having opened at the start of October and occupying a skybox gallery at Mareea Farrasco’s IMAGOLand galleries, Phantasmagoria is the latest exhibition by Carelyna.
Whilst the title might well evoke thoughts of ghosts and spectres, this is a collection which takes the term in a different direction to ideas of ghosts and demons, being far more subtle in intent – as I’ll get to in a moment.
The term phantasmagoria is said to have originated in the last decade of the 18th Century as a French concatenation of the Ancient Greek phántasma (“ghost”) with either agorá, (“assembly” or “gathering”) or (agoreúō, “to speak publicly”). Exactly who coined it is subject to debate, but Paul Philidor, a magician and showman, is perhaps most widely recognised as having popularised it in the late 1790s and early 1800s, using the terms to promote his shows featuring ghostly apparitions and the shades of departed famous people – although such shows, utilising everything from concave mirrors to magic lanterns and camera obscura to create / project such ghostly phantoms, reach back into at least the 17th century. Others who started using the term around the same time as Philidor include French dramatist and proto-science fiction writer Louis-Sébastien Mercier, and Belgian showman Étienne-Gaspard Robert – who is also credited with coining the term fantascope to describe the equipment he, Philidor and others used to create their spectres.
IMAGOLand Art Galleries: Carelyna – Phantasmagoria
For her show, Carelyna has created a collection of sepia-rich, ghost-like images of individuals. It overall tone, they are suggestive of the flickering images witnessed by those sitting through one of Philidor’s shows. Some are clearer than others, presenting an well-defined study; others are caught in a halo of light and brightness which both adds to the suggestion they have perhaps caught the spirit of a person who may not have been there – or that the image was taken a long time ago, and time and light have not been kind to it.
However, while they have that faded, ghostly sense about them, as noted above, these images are not intended to portray the spirits of the departed or suggest we’re within a magic lantern show; rather they and intended to evoke ideas of mood and emotion. From celebrations of life and expressions of love, to studies of strength and introspection and of potential loss or aloneness, the emotional depth found within these 12 pieces is both intense and also entirely open to interpretation: while Carelyna offers a suggestion or theme within the title of each. it is very much down to how we individually respond to each of them in its own right.
IMAGOLand Art Galleries: Carelyna – Phantasmagoria
Calas Galadhon Shadowfell II, October 2023 – click any image for full size
Every year, Tymus Tenk, Truck Meredith and the Calas team bring us worlds of wonder to explore in the form of their Halloween and Christmas wonderland builds as an adjunct to Calas Galadahon Park, and each year we are gifted with regions of mystical / seasonal delight. Mixing an atmospheric setting rich in places to explore, scenes to uncover, rides to enjoy and events to attend, all knitted together by the weave of environment settings, soundscape and supporting music, these builds are always and genuinely a highlight of Second Life.
For October / Halloween 2023, the Calas team once again present Shadowfell II, a journey to a realms which although probably not modelled specifically after any element of Tolkien’s mythology, carries with it something of a sense of Middle Earth during the Second and Third Ages, mixed with hints of other franchises to offer an engaging potpourri of elements deserving of careful exploration. First presented in 2022 as The Gardens of Shadowfell, things have this year been expanded into a third region for visitors explore.
Calas Galadhon Shadowfell II, October 2023
As with all of the Calas themed builds, this is one in which it is very important visitors note at least some of the guidelines regarding a visit, all of which can be found at the landing point – with the most important perhaps being:
Make sure you Used Shared Environment (via World → Environment).
Make sure Advanced Lighting Model is active via Preferences → Graphics).
Enable local sounds.
Make sure you have particles visible.
Calas Galadhon Shadowfell II, October 2023
It also is suggested that those who can, should also enable Shadows via Preferences → Graphics. This is worthwhile if you can – and with the roll-out of the performance improvements within the viewer, this should be easier than it might have once been for a fair number of Second Life users – and I’d at least recommend it for photography.
Those familiar with the Calas Halloween builds will know that there are two primary means of exploration – on foot, following the paths winding through the regions; and via tour boat (available a short walk from the landing point). I strongly recommend you take the time to use both; the paths and trails offer the most comprehensive way through Shadowfell – including to the teleport portals which are a vital part of the complete experience, but which are beyond the reach of the boats (for obvious reasons); just be sure to allow around 50 minutes for the boat ride.
Calas Galadhon Shadowfell II, October 2023
I would also suggest, perhaps, that when exploring on foot, the accompanying music track is turned off during a first visit so that the ambient sounds can be fully appreciated. Instead, turn the music on for the boat tour (and for subsequent visits). Finally, and as per the guidelines at the landing point, keep an eye out for the eye-in-hand tapestries along the routes – they offer teleport opportunities to additional sit points and locations that you might otherwise miss.
Shadowfell really isn’t so much a single place, but more a realm of multiples environments, all interlinked by the paths and trails as they wend their way through it. There is the forest, with its twists of Tolkien’s Mirkwood, and the caverns dark and old (and on the ground and in the air); places where spiders wait to trap the unwary and even more unearthly creatures have come to call “home” (and where I again found myself wishing that music streams could be defined by altitude as Jerry Goldsmith’s theme for a 1979 Ridley Scott film remains highly suitable for the caverns in the sky!
Calas Galadhon Shadowfell II, October 2023
Then there are the ruins where the cold eyes of battle-ready orcs keep watch, or which mark the place where a kingdom of men (or elves) has fallen. There’s also the caves cut by the aeons-long passages of water, lit by the glimmerings of crystals and otherworldly plants as the water leads inexorably to swamps as beautiful as they are mysterious.
Throughout it all creatures of many places and world watch or roam. Some are clearly hostile; others perhaps content more with the watching. Some might even look friendly and welcoming (although with one, I’m always reminded of a comment by the legendary Robin Williams: “Mickey Mouse to a three-year-old is a six foot RAT!” – so perhaps some of the funnier-looking characters here aren’t as innocent as they might appear!).
Calas Galadhon Shadowfell II, October 2023
Given this is an expansion of 2022’s Shadowfell, there is much which is likely to look and feel too familiar to those who visited in 202. However, looks really can be deceptive, and there are many new and subtle touches which bring a fresh sense of discovery and exploration. This is obviously very much true of the additional region, a place which extends the swamplands into something darker and more chilling and in which ruins mindful of both adventures in the depths of the forests of the Far East and also of places like Moria, hewn from living rock and long deserted by those who created it.
Here fires burn from high stone ledges, perhaps awaiting visitors such as yourself – or perhaps indicating those who lit them heard your approach and even now lie in wait should you stray from the path. Then there are the statues and figures: a hint of Sauron (or perhaps the Witch-King of Angmar) here, a hint of Herne the Hunter there; whilst all across the regions are hints of and suggestions of all walks of fantasy and horror.
The Shadowfell II calendar of events
As always with Shadowfell and Calas special events, entertainment is also provided throughout the time the realm is available to visit; check out the schedule below for dates and times of performances at The Pavilion. But above all else – do visit and enjoy; Calas events like this are not to be missed.
Open through October at the NovaOwl Sky Gallery is an exhibition of art by Louvre (Iamlouvre), a physical world artist who is now making her mark in Second Life, having joined (I believe) in 2021. This is the first time I have witnessed at exhibition of her work, and found it to be richly expressive.
Entitled Agua (the Spanish for “water”), this is an exhibition which fully embraces the space in which it displayed, Louvre demonstrating that as well as being a skilled artist, she has an innate sense of space and design, offering an environment that neatly folds itself around the exhibition’s theme, with the art split between the two levels of the gallery.
Water symbolises much more than an infinite space where we lose ourselves when we look to sea. Water symbolises transformation, Life. All of us are water.
– Louvre (Iamlouvre)
NovaOwl Sky Gallery, October 2023: Louvre – Agua
On the upper level, prints of her work are mounted on easels and walls, some of the latter backed by curtains of water tumbling to the floor below. On the lower level, this water spreads across a floor decorated with squares, some just below the surface other rising above it. All offer a sense of being stepping stones, encouraging visitors to make their way across them. These squares and mirrored by cubes and blocks climbing up the walls, the shimmering curtains of water visible in the gaps between them.
Close to the gallery entrance, sixteen cubes present sixteen paintings by Louvre, each painting repeated on all six faces of the cubes. Further back sit two larger cubes, each with an image of one of her paintings projected within it whilst further pieces are mounted on easels in an intentionally understated display, the entire level dominated by a single piece entitled Submarine.
Almost all of the paintings might be seen as portraits of a most unique kind. Few present a complete individual; rather they present images wherein the subjects are blurred or obscured, as if seen through a sheen of water, or with their subjects incomplete of cracked and fractured. In amongst them are paintings of a more abstract nature, but even these contain a sense of water-like fluidity and motion.
NovaOwl Sky Gallery, October 2023: Louvre – Agua
All of this is heavily suggestive of the opening lines of Louvre’s description for Agua, of water giving, being and transforming life. But there is more here as well, as Louvre goes on to note:
Water is also the tears produced by pain and sorrow. It is the force of the DANA flood that just hit my city. Washing away the homes of many neighbours and friends, taking within it their daily objects and their homes. Never in all my life have I been able to contemplate a greater disaster so closely.
Water is the effort of my hands helping them, to the point of exhaustion, with water and more water.
– Louvre (Iamlouvre)
Storm Dana lashed Spain with torrential rain in early September, causing widespread flooding, particularly in the region of Castilla La-Mancha, home to the cities of Madrid and Toledo, with water levels rising such that streets, major transport arteries – and most particularly, homes were overwhelmed. Such was the force of the water in places that cars were overturned or smashed together and evacuations were ordered. At least two deaths occurred, and several more people were reported missing.
NovaOwl Sky Gallery, October 2023: Louvre – Agua
It is this devastation, this sense of loss Louvre conveys through her paintings through their blurred / missing / incomplete elements. This reflection of Dana’s destruction is – as Louvre notes – very personal. She has witnessed the loss and hurt it has caused, and sought to help alleviate it through practical support for those around her hit by the storm’s ferocity. That this has also triggered her creativity through her art additionally completes the circle represented by Agua: that as a force of nature, water has the power to both positively and negatively bring about transformative experiences in life.
Witherwood Thicket, October 2023 – click any image for full size
Halloween is rolling around for 2023, and once more we’re starting to see region designs marking the time of year pop-up, whether along “traditional” Halloween settings with pumpkins and a light touch of ghostliness and spookiness, or with a deep footing in horror and / or bloodthirsty goings-on. As such, it is often hard to choose particular regions and locations to cover; after all, when you’ve seen one pumpkin patch, you’ve seen them all, regardless of whether or not they feature a small boy with a blanket steadfastly awaiting the gift-giving arrival of a mythical creature. However, there are exceptions.
For example, the annual Halloween regions delivered to the grid by Ty and Truck and the team at Calas Galadhon (of which I’ll have more in the near future) or – for this article, the realm of Witherwood Thicket, the latest Frogmore instalment from the imaginations of Frogmore owner Tolla Crisp and her companion-in-building, Dandy Warhlol (terry Fotherington).
Witherwood Thicket, October 2023
A Gothic Tale told in shades and shadows upon an English Moor, inspired by works of Edgar Allen Poe.
– Witherwood Thicket About Land description
The above description does much to sum this setting up, providing sufficient information to inform visitors they are about to enter a world edged in mystery-horror; one with a slant towards the English moorlands (take your pick, we have a fair number which are all known for their outstanding beauty and wilderness feel, starting far down in the West Country and then scattered all across England (as well as Scotland and Wales also having their shares of equally enchanting moorlands). However, it also leaves more than enough unsaid to practically demand a visit.
Witherwood Thicket, October 2023
Whilst it is an American master of the of the macabre mentioned within the region’s About Land description, the broad strokes of some parts of Witherwood Thicket might bring to mind images of mist-filled nights deep within the mires of Dartmoor, and the tall, slender form of Basil Rathbone’s Sherlock Holmes leading Nigel Bruce’s Dr. John Watson as they attempt to track a certain demonic hound. At the same time a certain part of the setting might have some imaginations edging towards thoughts of Tolkien, whilst throughout are elements of horror, the occult and monsters which might well give H.P. Lovecraft a reason to smile.
Which is not to say the region is in any way mishmash; far from it. Everything here has been well placed, with multiple buildings dressed to encourage visitors to step inside, with the passage around the region nicely set to present something of a visual narrative – although precisely what the story within it might be is left up to our imaginations.
Witherwood Thicket, October 2023Journeys through Witherwood Thicket commence at the landing point, well to the south and west of the region, where sits a fortified gatehouse, now roofless and all but deserted. It sits on a narrow spit of land with water on three sides, but it is not hard to picture the route through its twin arches having once provided access to wooden wharves where vessels might have at one time sailed for and to, laden with goods both coming and going. Or if not docks, then perhaps the mind might picture the tongue of land straddled by the gateway marching onwards a distance before the opening out once more beyond the region’s edge, the waters to either side allowing the stone walls of the gatehouse and the great gates which doubtless once stood under its arches form a natural defensive point.
Beyond this ancient structure, the land rolls inwards to a second arched gateway flanked by defensive towers, the path between the two bordered by the skeletal ranks of trees either side and they stand-in for any curtain walls which may have – if the imagination runs that way – between gatehouse and gateway. Once through the third arch, the path become further hemmed in on either side by a tall crop of something or other watched over by a scarecrow as spooky as the watcher standing guard over the path running from the gatehouse.
Witherwood Thicket, October 2023
Once past the crop and its guardian, the setting becomes more moor-like (so to speak), the path turning into an unpaved road curving through a small village. Here, lights spill out from shaded windows and / or doors stand open, inviting people in. Yes there are hounds here that may not appear entirely friendly (but are hardly demonic, to return to my earlier reference!), but the houses deserve time to look inside, as each presents its own sense of mystery and / or the occult. As the road passes between them, so it reveals the looming form of a castle perched up on a hill and watching over affairs. Perhaps the old gatehouse once formed a part of its defences – or perhaps not.
The village, riven in two by the passage of a deep gully with choked waters at its bottom and best crossed by the sturdy bridges, is actually more extensive than might first appear to be the case. There is, for example, the moulding manor house to be found at the end of another rocky promontory pointing a crooked finger out to sea and, across a small bay from it and directly below the village, the crouching form of an old cabin which might look quite at home deep with America’s bayou country, giving a further little twist to the setting. There’s also the village church and graveyard and, acting like a magnetic, the castle sitting high on its rocky perch.
Witherwood Thicket, October 2023
The castle is best reached by passing through the village and following the road as it becomes more of a trail heading back eastwards and then south to where a lighthouse rises out of the mist in impressive fashion to vie with the castle in terms of providing the highest view out over the landscape. It is here as well that the touch of Tolkien enters the imagination. Climbing the rocky incline leading up to the castle, it is hard not to look back at the lighthouse and expect to see a fiery eye staring unblinking out over the landscape as Sauron’s was said to have done from the highest point of Barad-dûr.
As for the castle, this offers its own sense of mystery. While the halls and rooms within its walls and towers are empty, its courtyard is set for some form of event – although what this might be is again left to the imagination. Then there is the second great house, no more than a stone’s throw from the lighthouse and sitting ablaze at the water’s edge, a burning ship close by. They both beg for visitors create a tale for why they are burning, be it the result of the demon on the terrace leading to the house or something else.
Witherwood Thicket, October 2023
Rich in detail – much of it intentionally not covered here – and presented with a fitting environment setting and a soundscape heavy with the cry of crows (possibly standing-in for ravens, given the Poe reference 🙂 ), Witherwood Thicket is a place you’ve want to spend a decent amount of time exploring and which (it really goes without saying) is highly photogenic.
October 2023 sees artist and builder Cica Ghost presents something a little different for Second Life users to enjoy. In Cica’s Workshop we find not a new fantastical landscape or garden or alien world or other setting where our imaginations might go wandering through thoughts of faerie and folk tales or memories of childhood or other such avenues. Instead, it sits as a kind of living gallery, a celebration of many of Cica’s creations down the years, and a place where if we’re so-minded we can pick up copies of her work either directly or via convenient links to her Marketplace listings.
For those with a long familiar with Cica’s work, this is a chance to take a walk down memory lane – which I found myself doing. For example, throughout the region-wide exhibition there are her 2D drawings, large and small, which carry with them memories of installations such as The Visitors (2014), wherein she brought a flavour of occupancy to the former art centre The Lost Town – La Città Perduta. These figures also offer a reflection of her monochrome characters from her 2012 installation Cica, which rightly brought her widespread attention in Second Life, and also 2013’s Ghostville, which I believe is the first of Cica’s installations I ever blogged.
Cica Ghost: Cica’s Workshop, October 2023
Meanwhile, up on the flat crown of a hill sits a pastel cream garden and little house. The latter brings to mind many of Cica’s builds stretching all the way back to around 2014 as well, when her Little Villagemade its first appearance. These little houses, varying in size whilst often retaining their general looks and proportions, have gone on to appear in many of Cica’s designs, such as Moonlight (2016, and still one of my favourites among Cica’s installations) and very uniquely within Drawn Town (2019).
This is a place inhabited by many of Cica’s animal and creature creations, from her ever-popular sheep and cows, through to her dinosaurs, which I think first appeared within 20022’s Dinosaurs andCoconuts, her residents of Burlap, and cast from Monsters and ever-friendly Elephants (all from 2020) – and more besides.
In addition, several new characters are waiting to befriend visitors, whilst the installation also includes many items from Cica’s furniture range for those looking for something a little different for home and / or garden. And if you fancy having a near-avatar scale sandcastle for your beach or spending a little time in an anti-gravity cage – Cica has you covered.
Cica Ghost: Cica’s Workshop, October 2023
Even for those who may be relatively new to Cica’s work and her marvellous imagination, Cica’s Workshop offers and lot to see and enjoy – and possibly purchase along the way. As such, and while it may not be a “traditional” Cica presentation, it nevertheless shouldn’t be missed.
Otter Lake, September 2023 – click any image for full size
Angel (BabyCatHead) IM’d me recently to suggest I visit Otter Lake, Sharon Hinterland’s ever-evolving setting in Second Life. As it’s getting on for a year since my last visit, I thought I should take her suggestion and drop in once more. Originally a Homestead region and Sharon’s home in SL – and a place I first visited back in 2019 after Sharon opted to make it a public destination (and to which I’ve returned on a number of occasions since) – the location has since moved on to a Full private region product, with Sharon continuing to re-develop it on a regular basis and offer new sights and touches.
With this iteration in particular, she has created two distinct but connected / related settings, the first at ground level and the second on a region-wide skybox level, 1250 metres overhead. They are distinct, because whereas the ground level setting retains the general rural vibe of the last iteration of the region I wrote about, the sky platform presents an entirely urban setting. However, linked as they are by a collision teleport disguised as a road tunnel, there is a suggestion that the urban setting lies on the limits of a larger conurbation, a place of mixed age and use, whilst the ground-level setting is the countryside just a short drive away from the town / city.
Otter Lake, September 2023
While retaining the rural vibe from the previous build, this Otter Lake ground level build is by no means just a continuance of the prior design – it very much has its own look and feel; one that to me, making a first return since the last time I covered it in November 2022, gave the suggestion that rather than being completely removed from that prior design, I’ve perhaps moved a modest number of kilometres along the same stretch of coastline to find myself in the current setting.
This is a place sitting within what appears to be a broad bay, a single tongue of land connecting it to the surrounding hills and providing a point of emergence for the tunnel which appears to dive under them to provide passage between coast and town. A paved road runs around the periphery of the landscape, linking the landing point to the north with the tunnel mouth to the south. Two wooden drawbridges help the road cross the channel of water separating the spit of land on which the landing point sits with the bulk of the landscape, so it doesn’t matter which direction you opt to take at the start of any wandering around the setting.
Otter Lake, September 2023
That spit of land, a long ribbon running west-to-east along the length of the region, with a lighthouse and small beach at one end and an aging gas station and garage at the other. Along the way the road between these two extremes passes a camp site, the landing point, cabins (some in better condition than others!) and a little café.
Across the water and particularly visible from one of the bridges is a building of mixed ancient / modern design which immediately caught my eye – Marcthur Goosson’s NO Cottage Bizar. It’s a structure I fell in love with after first coming across it at the start of 2023 courtesy of Clifton Howlett (see: A Highland Retreat on Second Life), and which I went on to purchase and kitbash for my own purposes (as related in The NO Cottage Bizar in Second Life). Here it has been used as a rather interesting residence, one of a number across the landscapes – none of which are private residences, but are instead open to the public.
Otter Lake, September 2023
As well as the houses, there are other structures awaiting discovery, particular along the rutted track cutting across the landscape. This offers the chance to find the haunted chapel ruins – a nod to Halloween, perhaps. Also waiting to be found are ponds, a stream with its own falls, meandering paths and numerous places for sitting and cuddling all of which adds up to an attractive sitting rich in detail.
Step through the tunnel and you’ll arrive in the town. Unlike the undulations of the ground-level setting, this offers a single level location encompassing a run-down industrial area where the main factory has long been shut-down and deserted, except for a single warehouse which has taken on a new lease of life. Across the road, the old steel works is now a club-come-bar carrying the name The Forge, whilst the rest of the western side of the setting has a similar aged and careworn look and feel to it.
Otter Lake, September 2023
This transition as one moves eastwards, the roads passing though and between tired apartment blocks with businesses along their ground floors to reach an open park bordered on two sides by much neater and news apartments / townhouses. Some of the buildings along they are mere façades, while others are furnished and inviting explorers to step inside. Those who climb high enough through some of the building might find some rooftop retreats for those who might want to spend time tucked away.
Sharon always produces richly detailed environments ripe for wandering and photography, and this iteration of Otter Lake is no exception.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 