Tag: Art 2023

The Raglan Shire Artwalk is one of the staples of the SL art calendar, and for 2023 the 18th Artwalk will take place between Sunday, May 14th and Sunday, June 18th, 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 the event, qualifying art is defined as 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. Pictures of physical world crafts, such as beadwork, leatherwork, etc., are not part of this show definition.

Call to Artists

A Call For Artists for the 2023 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.
  • Sales of art are allowed.
• All the above art forms are welcome, but should be rated PG / G – so no nudity, please!
• Group membership will be required in order to display work.
• Tip jars and floating text are not allowed.
• Touch-based landmark / biography givers may be included, but will count against an artist’s total LI allowance.
• Questions and enquiries should be forwarded via note card to Artwalk Director Karmagirl Avro, or Artwalk Assistants Kayak Kuu, Linn Darkwatch, or RaglanShireArtwalk Resident. Aid can also be obtained by asking questions through the Friends of Raglan Shire in-world Group.

Those wishing to display their art should complete and submit the Raglan Shire Artwalk 2023 Registration Form by no later than 21:00 SLT on Monday, May 8th, 2023.

Event Dates

• Monday, May 8th: applications close at 21:00 SLT.
• Tuesday, May 9th: notification of exhibit space location issued to artists – note that hedgerow space for 2D artists is on a “first come, first serve” basis.
• Friday, May 12th (after 09:00 SLT) and Saturday May 13th: Artist set-up days.
• Sunday, May 14th: Artwalk Opens.
• Sunday, June 18th: Artwalk closes.
• Sunday, June 18th (after 21:00 SLT) through Tuesday, June 20th: takedown of works.

Related Links

• 2023 Artwalk Registration Form
• 2023 Artwalk Information & Requirements
• Raglan Shire Artwalk in this blog

La Maison d’Aneli, the gallery complex operated and curated by Aneli Abeyante, and so long the host centre for a range of art exhibitions in Second Life (many of which have been featured in these pages), may have closed at the end of 2022, but the name lives on, now as a home for Aneli’s own art.

Her most recent exhibition, Scrap Heap, opened on April 19th, 2023, and it gave me good reason to visit the new La Maison d’Aneli, located within its own airborne space at vroum Short’s VeGeTaL PLaNeT. The core of this exhibition can be found on the upper level of the gallery, and features a collection of eight photographs taken by Aneli in the physical world which offer us the opportunity to view metal structures and objects through her eye and lens.

From the gears of aged industrial machines to the skeletal remains of metal frames, passing by way of the metal core of building long fallen into disuse, this is a selection of images captivating in their subject and the approach Aneli has taken to recording them. Her use of angle, focus and object presenting us with a series of images which – contrary to their static nature – have a richness of life and history to them.

Scrap Heap sits above an more expansive display area, complete with indoor event space, in which Aneli displays a selection of her digital art. Focused on the use of geometry withing pieces which are both static and animated, these are pieces which are engaging in form and in motion; visually pleasing digital abstractions with a further expression of life and motion which can be quite hypnotising – just cam in onto Lueur1 and / or Composition 2 for just a minute or two and see what I mean.

In addition, the gallery space has been dressed by Aneli in keeping with the Scrap Heap theme. the walls in places finished as aged, rusting metal, industrial grating used as flooring and walkways, and rusting flotsam in the waters either side of the landing point. This dressing and décor helps add a level of immersiveness to the gallery and the exhibition whilst also providing a visual counterpoint to the organised regularity of the digital pieces.

Although and engaging pair of exhibitions presented by an engaging Second Life artist, and on a personal note I’ll add that it is pleasing to see someone whole had devoted so much of her time promoting the art of others in Second Life now taking time to stage and display exhibitions of her own work.

SLurl Details

• La Maison d’Aneli (Oreo, rated Moderate)

 

 

Currently open at Galerie Principale within the United Arts of Second Life hub, is an exhibition of pieces by Melusina Parkin, showcasing her minimalist approach to telling stories through her photography.

A Minimal Gaze is not a retrospective in the strictest sense of the word, but it does contain some images that admirers of Melu’s work may well recognise. What it does present is a rich cross-section of Melu’s style, something which might be called “moments in solitude”, whereby she focus on aspects of scene within Second Life and presents a image with a single cynosure, drawing our attention to that focus alone.

Thus, the focal point stands in solitude in terms of their in-world surroundings, the framing of the image, and its ability to hold our attention. However, at the same time, a much broader narrative canvas is presented by the background and what lies just outside the frame of the picture; things not seen, but which nevertheless whisper to our imaginations. This gives Melu’s work a sense of unique individuality: the familiar seen without broader context other than what is suggested by the mind’s eye.

It’s an approach that Melu has used throughout the majority of her more than 10 years of Second Life photography, and which I’ve never ceased to appreciate, both for the above expressiveness and for the way it causes us to look at Second Life itself in a new way, bringing this digital world to life in a most unique and singular manner, unmatched by more “traditional” forms of photography (very much including my own) which provide broader, more contextualised views of the places visited and recorded within them.

In the notes she provides for the exhibition, Melu notes that she is currently experimenting (like so many) with AI-generated images – but that also, she is not deserting this approach to her photography. It’s an assurance I appreciate, as a Second Life without her unique insight to its many faces and places would, frankly, be a diminished world.

Surl Details

• A Minimal Gaze, UASL (Karpov, rated Moderate)

Now open at Kultivate Magazine’s Windlight and The Loft Galleries are a trio of exhibitions, one of which recently opened, the others of of which have been open a while (and so may be coming to an end – be warned).

The newer of the exhibitions is an ensemble selection of art waiting to be found in the ground floor level of the Windlight Gallery within its main hall. As always with the Kultivate ensemble exhibitions, it features a rich cross-section of artistic styles, with a focus on Second Life-derived landscape art.

The participating artists comprise captainofmysoul, Sheba Blitz, Angel Heartsong, Johannes Huntsman, Jamee Sandalwood, Hannah Starlight and Veruca Tammas. Of these, Angel Heartsong offers an engaging series of images of Jade Koltai’s Panjin region, a place I wrote about in A Red Beach in Second Life. With little (or very light) post-processing, these are images which perfectly capture the spirit of the region.

Along the wing of the ground floor between the staircase is a second exhibition, with works mixing Second Life landscapes with avatar studies. This features the work of Pam Astonia, Reya Darkstone, Jesse Janick, Vaness Jane, Anouk Lefavre, Kalina Sands, and Jamee Sandalwood (again). Tempest Rosca Huntsman is also listed, but at the time of my visit was not displaying within the group.

Upstairs, meanwhile, and spanning both arms of the gallery’s mezzanine level which forms The Loft Gallery, is a richly engaging exhibition of single-frame stories by Myra Wildmist.

Always an evocative artist,  Myra is a regular exhibitor at Kultivate, and never fails to engage the eye and mind. Within this selection of art – which has been open since at least early March, she offers a series introspective pieces mixing monochrome and colour to present what might be seen as both a potentially personal series of images that reflect moods and emotions which are simultaneously recognisable and understandable as they all reflect feelings and dispositions we have all experienced for ourselves.

With their rich cross-section of art and technique, these three exhibitions, housed within a single space, make for a rewards visit.

SLurl Details

• Kultivate Windlight Gallery (Water Haven, rated Moderate)