Tag: Kultivate Magazine

It’s been a while since I’ve had the opportunity to visit an exhibition by Kayly Iali in Second Life, so when Kultivate Magazine announced the opening of such an exhibition of her paintings within their Loft Gallery, I decided to make amends for this and hop on over.

Kayly is an artist in the physical world who uses Second Life as a means of reaching a global audience and present her work. She most frequently works with watercolours and oils, and describes herself as an impressionist in terms of her style of painting, utilising relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition with an emphasis on an accurate depiction of light and movement within her work. Her subject range encompasses still life, portraits and landscapes, and she has a reputation for producing engaging commissioned portraits of pets belonging to Second Life users, some of which have also featured in her in-world exhibitions.

At the loft, Kayly presents a modest selection of her landscape art – twenty in total – featuring locations and sights to be largely (exclusively?) found within her home state of California. Whilst all of them are individual pieces, some might also be drawn together as themed sets or pairings – such as those featuring various landmarks in San Francisco, the “causeway” paintings, and the “Vacaville” pairing. The majority are presented in that impressionist approach noted above, although the “San Francisco trio”, as I’ll loosely refer to it and featuring Alcatraz and both the Golden Gate and Oakland bridges, also leans  towards something of an abstract styling.

Whilst all originating in the physical world, these are pieces that could just have easily had their inspiration rising from within Second Life. As such, they offer something of an artistic bridge between both the physical and the digital, reminding us that our two worlds, whilst never exactly meeting are nevertheless closely intertwined.

These are engaging pieces which form an equally engaging exhibition; they are also – given the way the link our two worlds – pieces that will grace any Second Life home.

SLurl Details

• Kultivate Loft Gallery (Water Haven, 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)

Now open at Kultivate Magazine’s The Edge Gallery is a new ensemble exhibition of art to take us through the end of May and into June 2022.

The Edge is the home of black-and-white art displays at Kultivate’s home of Water Haven, making it a particular attraction for me, as I very much appreciate monochrome and black-and-white art, and have been endeavouring to develop my own technique with it, which I may get around to showing at some point.

This exhibition at The Edge opened on May 22nd, and is without a given theme, allowing the artists free rein over the pieces they’ve selected to display. The participating artists are: Dawnbeam Dreamscape, Sophia Galewind, Lena Kiopak, Maaddi, Hannah Starlight, Tacca Exotic, Vita Theas and Myra Wildmist.

As might be expected from such a gathering, the pieces on offer leans very much towards being avatar-focused, with three of the artists – Lena Kiopak, Hannah Starlight and Tacca Exotic opting to display a single piece each, all in a large format.

Lena is one of only two artists in the gathering to completely avoid avatars in her image(s), leaving The Passage as an powerfully eye-catching piece which calls to the observer, beckoning them to walk its length and into the waiting story. Similarly, Hannah’s His Song is highly sensual and artistically given whilst Tacca’s Emergence-1 matches the power of The Passage, but in a wholly different way.

The other artists to avoid avatar is Vita Theas, who once again present six superbly processed and presented landscape pieces rich in life, whilst Sophia and and Maadi offer a mix of avatar studies and landscapes – with Sophia’s b r e a t h e again particularly capturing my eye. Myra, meanwhile offers a set of five images that together form Myra Dances, something of a life and motion study.

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• Kultivate The EdgeGallery (Water Haven, rated Moderate)

Those looking for a cosy ensemble art exhibition in which to find a rich diversity of art might want to hop over the the Kultivate Select Gallery, where the April exhibition has just opened.

A part of the Kultivate arts and music hub, the Select Gallery occupies a garden space within the Kultivate region, offering an outdoor exhibition space that it usually host to themed exhibitions, with each theme set by the Kultivate team. However, for April 2022, and at events and exhibitions at Kultivate ramp-up once more, it was decided to keep the April 2022 theme to a simple “Artist’s Choice”.

Those responding to the call for artists with the exhibition comprise Duraya Resident, Hannah Starlight, Hero Blessed, Margo Hollak, Penni Noir (Penniwit Yearsley), SierraDiamond Panthar, Tarozaemon Rossini and Veruca Tammas. Between them, they offer an engaging mix of Second Life art and photography, physical world and and digital art in what is an engaging and easy-to-appreciate exhibition.

Tarozaemon Rossini is a digital artist whose work has a particular appeal for me, focused as it is on fractal pieces – an artform I’ve long appreciated in both SL and the physical world. A character as colourful as his art, Taro tends to be engaging for his enthusiasm for the genre, and his exhibits never fail to engage – and inform, as he is always careful to provide an exploratory explanation of the world of fractal formation; just check the info display within one of his two display areas.

Penniwit Yearsley is someone whose art I don’t believe I’ve previously encountered in SL. Here she presents images drawn from ancient Rome, celebrating goddess and emperors of the age, all cleverly rendered in a form of digital collages that gives them depth and life.

Throughout the exhibition, Veruca, Hero, Sierra and Hannah present very different but equally captivating images captured around Second Life and avatar studies, some of which have been left as photographs while others have been processed to resemble paintings and all of which demonstrate individual style and presentation.

Duraya and and Margo meanwhile offer two very different styles that joined Taro’s work in attracting me. Duraya presents a set of seven images captured from within Second Life that in terms of subject and post-processing are simply breath-taking in their depth and beauty – each one offering a unique story. Margo’s paintings, meanwhile offer a richness of colour and depth that is as captivating, the pairing of the two as side-by-side displays making them both all the more complimentary in their individual strengths.

Eight artists and eight small displays that collectively make for an engaging exhibition.

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• Kultivate Select Gallery (Water Haven, rated Moderate)

I dropped in Kultivate Magazine’s Windlight Gallery in the week, which is recently opened its April ensemble exhibition and – for the time being – is hosting a long-running exhibition by Elise Sirnah on the upper level. The ensemble exhibition opened on April 10th, with the featured artists listed as Jaime Poutine, Carmelia (captainofmysoul resident), Lucas Tiros, Johannes Huntsman, Tempest Rosca and Veruca Tammas.

Occupying the centre and right sides of the exhibition space, these six present engaging mix of art bringing together avatar studies, SL landscapes and physical world art in a combination that immediately captures the eye. In this, I admit to being particularly drawn to the selection by Lucas Tiros, an artist whose work I don’t think I’ve encountered before (he states he’s been absent SL for a number of years and is now just returning, so that could be the reason why).

A professional photographer in the physical world, Lucas here presents ten images in what might be said to be three groups, all of which are utterly absorbing in their content, use of colour, expressiveness and emotion. From portraits through landscape to wildlife, these are ten pieces that carry within them a captivating deep of life and vitality.

While is not to say the work of the other artists is not also worthy of praise and appreciation; all offer much to admire as one come to them, and  – as noted – all six together offer a rich and complimentary mix of art that is guaranteed to please. This is also true of a further group of artists waiting to be found on the left side of the gallery’s lower floor.

Although not listed on the April exhibition advertising (and so might actually be from an earlier exhibit, and so might be subject to vanishing soon), Jamee Sandalwood, Reya Darkstone, Pam Astonia, Kalina Sands, Anouk Lefavre, Jesie Janick and Vanessa James all – at the time of my visit – added a further engaging mix of SL landscapes and avatar studies.

On the upper level of the gallery (again, as she noted above, at the time of my visit) Kultivate presents The Art of Elise Sinah, a selection of predominantly avatar-focused pieces mostly offered as moments-in-time photographs such as might be found in a personal album.

Some are joyous celebrations of life (Dog Walk, Penalty, Coffee, An Oasis), some are considered studies designed to further engage both the grey matter and the emotions (Head in Clouds, Thoughts, Cling, Friend Hugs) whilst other offer a more personal glimpse of life and desires (and for some might be considered NSFW). All, however, are beautifully lit, framed and post-processed to convey their narrative and depth, demonstrating the eye for balance and nuance that marks Elise’s work as both a photographer and region designer.

Two (or three, depending on your point of view!) exhibitions that are well worth viewing whilst they remain available!

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• Kultivate Windlight Gallery (Water Haven, rated Moderate)