Tag: Art 2020

2020 Kultivate Spring Arts show in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Kultivate Spring Art Show 2020

The 5th Annual Kultivate Spring Art Show opens it doors on Friday April 24th, 2020, and will run through until Saturday May 2nd.

Carrying a Parisian theme, complete with the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, and with art studios sitting with French style town houses fronted by cobblestone walks, the Spring Show also marks the re-launch of Kultivate Magazine, the April 2020 edition of which is currently available.

The event featured 2D and 3D artists, entertainment with live performers, give away events with special prizes, juried and non-juried art contests, hunts, storytelling and cabaret.

Kultivate Spring Art Show 2020

The artist participating in the event comprise: AlexAvion, Angyel Resident, Anouk Lefavre, Danielofangel, Eucalyptus Carroll, Freedom Voix, Ilyra Chardin, Jamee Sandalwood, Johannes Huntsman, Judilynn India, Juliette Rainfall, Kacey Macbeth, Kapaan, KodyMeyers Resident, Leaf Mia Lone, Michael Lysios, mth63, Myra Wildmist, Paineful, Rory Torrance, Sabine Mortenwold, SandyBlackCloud,  Sheba Blitz, Skye Joubert, softandred, softandred, Solana Python, Syphera Inaka, TaraAers, Tempest Rosca, Vanessa Jane, Veruca Tammas, ViktorSavior,  Whata Conundrum, and Zigmal.

In addition, there are special exhibition by Debauche Dance, Dirty Pretty, & The Art Loft.

Hunt information can be found on the information boards within the event grounds, close to the landing point.

The Photo Challenge

Open to all visitors to the Kultivate Spring Art Show, the Photo Challenge offers a prize pool of L$5,000 shared between the four selected winners, with the winning images published on the Kultivate website.

To enter, all you have to do is take a picture of yourself whilst visiting the show (moderate or pg/g in rating), and then upload it to the contest Flickr group. Make sure you include the SLurl of where you took the image in the Flickr description, and that your image is uploaded to the Flickr group before 23:59 SLT on Thursday, April 30th, 2020.

Full guidelines and rules can be found on the challenge page on the Kultivate website.

Kultivate Spring Art Show 2020

Event Schedule

Times, where given, are SLT. Note that there may be further give away prizes at events.

  • Friday, April 24, 2020
    • Exhibition opens.
    • Photo Contest and Art Quest begin.
    • Judging of Juried Categories Begins.
    • Entertainment:
      • 16:00-17:00: live performer Wolfie Starfire.
      • 17:00-18:00: live performer SaraMarie Philly.
  • Saturday, April 25, 2020
    • 16:00-17:00: White Party with live performer Aislen Sings
      • Photo background HUD and & Fotoscope Fotostudio give aways.
    • 17:00-18:00: White Party with live performer Melenda Baptiste
      • The Camden Photo Studio Build by Maven Homes give away.
  • Sunday, April 26, 2020
    • 13:00-14:00: Sam Quenda.
    • 14:00-15:00: live storytelling with Seanchai Library.
  • Monday, April 27, 2020
    • 16:00-17:00: Spring Art Ball with live performer Holly Giles.
      • Trompe Loeil L$1,000 gift card give away.
Kultivate Spring Art Show 2020
  • Tuesday, April 28, 2020
    • 17:00-18:00: Audience Participation Cabaret with Whymsee.
      • L$1,000 give away.
  • Wednesday, April 29, 2020
    • 16:00-17:00: live performer Savannah Rain.
      • TEMPLAR Poses give away.
  • Thursday, April 30, 2020
    • 16:00-17:00: Kultivate Magazine relaunch party with live performer Mavenn
      • LumiPro give away.
    • Photo Contest Entries Due
    • Judges Selections Due
  • Friday, May 1, 2020
    • 16:00-17:00: live performer Max Kleene.
    • Palette Hunt and Art Quest end.
  • Saturday, May 2, 2020
    • 13:00-14:30: Closing Party.
      • Juried winners announced & awards ceremony.
      • Photo Contest winners announced.
      • Event ends.

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Phoenix Artists Collaboration: April update

Posted on by Inara Pey
Holly Kai Park

In March I wrote about the Phoenix Artists Collaboration (PAC) obtaining a new home (in part) at Holly Kai Park. Since then, things have been moving along (including a few changes at the Park!), but as a whole PAC is now moving to a point where it can start hosts exhibitions and events.

Since my last update, PAC has increased its facilities with the addition of a sky platform at Cherished Melody, provided and looked after by the talented Audie Whimsy. This provides space for a further 22 artists in addition to the 28 currently exhibiting at Holly Kai Park, with plenty of room for expansion, should the demand be there.

Cherished Melody

Both locations offer the same facilities to artists – gallery spaces with up to 50 LI per artist for personal use. Units  – as and when available – can be obtained by joining the PAC group in-world (although we are currently full at both locations; new units will be come on-stream in the near future, we just need time to breathe!), and there is no rental fee associated with unit use.

Units can be decorated however artists wish (although we request no temp rezzing and particle effects are kept to a minimum). Artists can also arrange and promote their own mini-exhibitions and advertise them through the PAC group and website.

Holly Kai Park

Planning is about to commence on the first of the PAC group exhibitions, which will also likely serve as the formal opening events for PAC activities at both Holly Kai Park and Cherished Melody. We’re also mulling options for group social events, and details of these will be announced through both the PAC in-world group and the new website.

Members who use Discord can also track activities, join / create discussions about art, SL and whatever else that suits them through our Discord server. All that’s asked is that conversations are kept polite, topics keep a focus on art (physical world or SL) and Second Life, and that the server isn’t used for spamming others. You can join the server (and create a Discord account, if required) via the link here, or via any of our Discord Server stands located at both Cherished Melody and Holly Kai Park.

Cherished Melody

Rather than information on PAC being confined to the Holly Kai Park website, a separate web presence for the group is being put together. While this is still very much under construction, but it can be found at https://phoenixartsl.wordpress.com/, where information on PAC, the PAC locations and current artists using PAC facilities can be found. In time, the website will also promote PAC events, host a blog on activities, exhibitions, artists and more, and more as we think of it!

There’s still some work to be done (notably with the website as indicated), with some nips and tucks going on at the two locations – so please forgive and sawdust, construction signs or bits that seem to be missing in the need few days. However, for those who do fancy a visit, feel free to drop into either or both locations.

The Phoenix Artists Collaboration website

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Gem’s Skyscrapers in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Gem Preiz: Skyscrapers

On April 19th, 2020, Gem Preiz, the master of the fractal image, opened a new installation in Second Life – one that is a little different to his past installations / exhibitions in that fractals are almost non-existent within it. Instead, with Skyscrapers, he presents an immersive installation that is drawn from one of his many passions: architecture.

In short, the installation presents a region-wide city – but with a difference. Everything in it is represented at 1/10th scale (based on a region’s size). Thus, rather than offering a location just 256m on a side, Gem presents a city that is 2.56 kilometres on a side, representative of a city covering 100 regions. It has been built to reflect the beauty of modern skyscrapers which have a unique impact on Gem, as he explains in the introductory note card:

skyscrapers [are] modern cathedrals which are, like those of the past, the synthesis of all the techniques of their time, dedicated to the collective aspirations of their builders. Incredible technological challenges, they are increasingly integrating the search for an aesthetic that reinforces their impact. They have to be beautiful, since they will be more and more numerous in order to limit the surface of land arable or reserved for ecosystems that will be needed for human housing.

Gem Preiz: Skyscrapers

It is also – as he also explains – an exercise in immersion. By using a set scale for this build, and by providing the means to move through it at an equivalent scale, Gem has created an environment that is richly encapsulating, the scale allowing you to travel through the streets and parks of a city some 2.56km on a side.

This is achieved through the use of an option to make your avatar “invisible” via an alpha layer (remove all mesh and other attachments) and then using one of the flying vehicles available at the landing point within the city itself (in turn reached via a teleport board from the main landing point). Three of these vehicles are “self drive”, so you can pilot them yourself, or you can take the red car on a guided tour of the city, its sectors and buildings.

Gem Preiz: Skyscrapers

While it is possible to walk and fly around the city as an avatar, I strongly recommend using the alpha layer (your avatar sans all mesh and attachments) and the vehicles. The latter are scripted to move at a speed consistent with the scale of the city, and by hiding your avatar, you gain the distinct impression of the city’s size. If you opt to go into the installation as you are, without using the alpha option, then I still suggest using the vehicles – but switch to Mouselook when doing so to gain a real sense of scale. Note also that a teleport HUD is available from the city landing point, and with will allow you to hop between specific points of interest.

Like a real city, Gem’s is split into various districts, each with its own buildings / architectural styles. Some sections are purely conceptual / entirely futuristic in style, others are more recognisable in style (such as the residential districts, the shopping district with its malls, etc.). Most of the buildings are ultra-modern in look, although some offer stylised designs that embrace the past. Surface and elevated roads cut their way between districts, as do the tubes of what might be taken as a mass transit system, which also separates the main park in the city from the surrounding districts, giving it room to breathe.

Gem Preiz: Skyscrapers

However, it is the buildings that are the most fascinating. Some are simple box and cylinder designs, others more sculpted  / futuristic in style. However, many owe their inspiration to skyscrapers from the physical world, and it is seeking these out among the towers and districts that can get someone thoroughly engrossed. Gem provides a list of the latter, but during my visit I spotted what appeared to be a number  – by happenstance or design – that also appeared to be drawn from physical world counterparts not listed in the note card. These included the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank building in Hong Kong, the shape of which appears echoed through a number of blue buildings in the city, London’s Shard, and two graceful golden curves of buildings that put me in mind of the U.N. Building in New York, while a series of paired towers each linked by high-level walkways put me in mind of the Petronas Towers.

I mentioned above that Gem’s Fractal images are “almost” non-existent in this build. The qualifier comes because deep within the city is a large geodome, within which is a series of his fractal images, scaled down from their usual size, each one offering a view of futuristic architecture entirely in keeping with the installation’s theme.

Gem Preiz: Skyscrapers

An extraordinary and engaging installation, Skyscrapers is well worth visiting while it remains open.

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A Huntsman’s art in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Kiku Art Gallery: Johannes Huntsman

Johannes Huntsman may not be a familiar name to patrons of art in Second Life when reading it here – but if I mention that he’s actually the founder of Kultivate Magazine and the Windlight Gallery, then recognition will immediately drawn, the new moniker he carries being the result of SL’s Name Changes capability.

As a Second Life resident, Johannes’ support of the arts over the years has been indefatigable, from the magazine and gallery through to supporting multiple charity events to co-founding has own fund-raising organisation, Team Diabetes of Second Life, he is a veritable powerhouse. He is also an exceptional gifted photographer and artist – a fact that can be attested to with a visit at the Kiku Gallery curated by Suzanne Logan during April / early May, for that gallery is currently hosting a stunning portfolio of pieces by Johannes that are – without any exaggeration – quite breath-taking.

Kiku Art Gallery: Johannes Huntsman

Encapsulated in what is itself a charming boutique gallery space are 15 large-format image images, with a supporting collection of 8 smaller pieces, Naturescapes is an honest tour de force for Johannes’ ever-evolving breadth of styles with his art, offering as it does pieces that appear to enfold both second Life and the physical world. As the name suggests, this is a series of images focused on nature’s beauty, with three pieces offering painted coastal views that may have started life as photographs.

The collection is mostly presented in colour, but with five monochrome pieces, two of which have a marvellous quality of having been etched. Other pieces have the clarity of pencil drawings or the gentle tones of watercolours or the richness of oil paintings. Each individual item has a natural beauty, but I confess to being particularly drawn to the studies of a puffin and a dog – with a bias towards the former, if only because like many people, I have a peculiar fascination for those little alcids.

Kiku Art Gallery: Johannes Huntsman

Whether painted directly or the result of post-processing, these are all pieces that carry a depth of life that instantly draws the observer into each one. Meanwhile, the eight smaller pieces are in fact three collections of pre-sized, pre-framed pieces that would grace any Second Life home; one contains three miniatures of the coastal sail scapes, the second the trio of flower paintings and the third an exquisite pair of monochrome photographs of birds.

A genuinely engaging exhibition, well worth visiting.

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A boutique gallery visit in Bellisseria

Posted on by Inara Pey
Beckridge Gallery: Yellowstone Boardwalk

The Linden Homes at Bellisseria can be used for many things besides a house; so long as commercial activities don’t take place within one, people are limited only by their imaginations. So it is that friendly cafés, information centres, hang-outs, group centres and more have sprung up across the content – as have a number of boutique art galleries. I’ve had occasion to visit a couple of the latter in 2019, and the opening of two new exhibitions in April gave me cause to hop back once more.

Like myself, Diamond Marchant has an interest in space flight and astronomy, a fact that first drew me to her Beckridge Gallery in July 2019, when she was presenting an exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s landing on the Moon (see: Celebrating Apollo 11 in Second Life and Sansar). For April 2020, Diamond presents Yellowstone Boardwalk, an exhibition of her own photographs taken in Yellowstone National Park over a 10-day period in June, 2019.

Beckridge Gallery: Yellowstone Boardwalk

Yellowstone is famous for many things: being the first U.S. National Park (if not the first in the world), for its mountains and waterfalls, its geysers and hydrothermal system, and the incredible richness of its flora and fauna. As such, it is a place that allows people to create marvellous images of sweeping vistas, tumbling falls, rugged mountain ranges and towering peaks, and to film its fabulous array of wildlife.

Sitting atop a vast caldera some 72km by 45 km, sitting over a massive magma chamber thought to be 60 km by 29 km and up to 12 km in depth. This chamber powers much of the geologic activity within the park, and gives rise to a dynamic environment of heated pools, fumeroles and more, with paths through these living location by the use of board walks that both protect the landscape and the tourists visiting it.

It is from these board walks that Diamond has produced a series of images that convert the setting into wonderful fractal-like scenes that  show the hidden energies that lie below ground and seen only by the wisp-like venting of gas and steam. The make for a fascination portfolio of photographs, beautifully rounded-out by two of those sweeping vista style shots that capture the enormity of the park’s open skies.

Hoot Suite Gallery: Awesome Fallen

The Hoot Suite Gallery, curated by Owl Dragonash meanwhile, offers an exhibition of Second Life  art by Awesome Fallen.

Surrealistic is tone, rich in colour whether dark or light, Awesome’s work often has a dream-like feel to it, sometimes tinged with whimsy and at others by fantasy – but it is always carries a sense of depth and story. All of this is very much in evidence across the two floors of the Hoot Suite, the upper floor featuring a quartet of avatar studies that mix of fantasy and whimsy. The rooms on the lower floor can be found pieces that demonstrate the more surreal nature of Awesome’s work. Together, upper and lower floor offer a compact, engaging cross-section of her art.

Hoot Suite Gallery: Awesome Fallen

Yellowstone Boardwalk will, I believe, remain open through the spring of 2020; Awesome Fallen’s exhibition will remain open at the Hoot Suite Gallery through to May 11th, 2020.

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Sisi’s Celebration of Art in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Raging Graphix Gallery, April 2020: Sisi Biedermann

Now open at Raging Graphix Gallery, curated by RagingBellls, and continuing through until April 29th, is an exhibition by digital artist and Sisi Biedermann.

The exhibition marks both the gallery’s move to a new in-world location and an expansion of the space it provides for visiting artists, and I can honestly think of no better artist than Sisi to inaugurate the new building in its new home. As I’ve oft remarked in this pages, her work is extraordinary for its content, depth and presentation.

Raging Graphix Gallery, April 2020: Sisi Biedermann

Referred to simply as a Celebration of the Arts, the exhibit offers a rich pot pourri of Sisi’s wide-ranging work as a painter, a digital artist, a creator of the most marvellous collages, and a weaver of tales. Nature and fantasy are strong – but not exclusive – aspects to her art, while her ability to blend styles and approaches to her images is simply sublime.

All of this is much in evidence in this exhibit, located on the upper floor of the gallery (the lower being given over to Raging Bellls’ own art), which offers everything from almost “straightforward” images from Second Life (Sonata of Love), to marvellous paintings from nature such as Christmas Roses, through more abstracted works (Another Art in Copenhagen) and wonderfully surrealist pieces like Fisherboat and Time Flies, to Sisi’s always mesmerising digital collages such as Veils and the truly marvellous Oriental Dream.

Raging Graphix Gallery, April 2020: Sisi Biedermann

As is invariably the case with Sisi’s work, the 20 pieces presented in this exhibition are not so much to been looked at as they are to be savoured; each is so richly detailed it should – like a fine wine – be enjoyed in is own time, unhurriedly, so it might be properly appreciated.

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