Burn2 Is Coming

 

 By Gemma Cleanslate

Burn2 , the Burning Man in second life is opening soon as you saw in the press release. https://slnewser.blogspot.com/2023/09/press-release-burn2-animalia.html

Meetings are going on planning activities for the week and detailing projects to be completed and ready for the opening October 6. I checked in to see if the town of Gerlach was ready for us all. The office , the Saloon, the workshop are all there . For newbies there is a help area to get them ready for second life movements and clothing for them is available.

Iskye Silverweb reminds all that “As is our tradition, our event’s theme is the same as Burning Man’s, which is ANIMALIA, an exploration of the animal worlds both real and imagined, and humanity’s place in it. Every year, artists and creatives are invited to get their plots to create homes and art installations in our virtual temporary city. For 2023, we have a total of 12 regions of virtual playa - plenty of space for seasoned and new Burners to build their art, theme camps, and even camp villages. Read about it here: https://www.burn2.org/animalia/ “

The gift area grows every year as artists add their gifts to the piles. There is a dumpster also and for the first time in a long time I did a dumpster dive to see what was in there.. some nice prizes.. don’t pass it by without stopping! The event is getting closer and closer every day. Get ready to travel all the 12 regions and visit all the stages. The Fashionistas will present their take on clothing to wear and there will be live performances and so much fun. I have set up my Ranger Plot out on Silverfox with a resting place if you want to stop by and take a rest on my bear rug and get information from the books on the table. See you on the playa and Welcome Home!

Gemma Cleanslate

 

Walk of Art

 

 By Gemma Cleanslate

I mentioned that on our tour with Andee Cooper led by Isa ( Isalia Michalak),  http://slnewserdesign.blogspot.com/2023/08/  , we also visited another gallery. It is one I had been to years ago but absolutely loved so was happy to experience it all again. The name is Walk of Art and does involve walking up and up to different levels where themes are diverse but connected. Treacle Darlandes and her team created this massive installation.

As you climb to each site stop along the way to read the many inspiring words of love, loss, beauty and compassion that are a large part of the exhibit.. They are the basis of the themes in the art you will see. Treacle took memories of her own and others from real life and second life and celebrated them here .

While you travel up the stairs and reach another theme there are interactive items to use while viewing that site. Here we swing as we read. 

Here we swing as we read. 

 

Parts of this creation are alive with movement that you cannot see in photos so I hope you will go visit each level, climbing those stairs through the stars until you reach the top. There is a lovely gift for you.

From there you can teleport back to Treacle’s awe inspiring gallery full of her art. Take a walk outside to see more of her fantastic art. If you walk far enough you can visit the Lawst Paradise Castle which is entirely another adventure.  This is the entrance to the walk.  

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lawst%20Paradise/200/234/2001

Gemma Cleanslate

 

The Shui Mo Gallery

 

By Gemma Cleanslate

 

Last week Andee Cooper’s  VAI tour group visited two galleries lead by Isa (Isalia Michalak) who is an aficionado of art. Our first visit was to the Shui Mo Gallery which is the installation of Fionafei. I am familiar with Fionafei’s art from Burn2 and various exhibits in Second Life. Her art is, “ Chinese ink brush painting, depicting a common theme or landscape seen in many traditional Chinese paintings.” At first glance on arrival it looks like a simple gallery of brush art on the wall. Take a close look. In almost every piece there is movement. At the end of the gallery is a red door and here is the real beginning .Enter and behold! Become part of the art.

Now you are facing a huge hall filled with black and white moving or still. This is the Dreams Garden Plot where one can float or pose on the umbrellas scattered around or dance while you admire the stunning garden and reflection under the floor . Koi swim gracefully around under the floor. There are four doors above on the bridge, two to the left and two to the right. One however shows an under construction sign.

Fionafei graciously stopped by to thank us for visiting her gallery and presented us all with a personal Koi like the ones swimming in the Garden Plot. She informed us she is creating a new exhibit that will fill the room behind the construction sign and invited us all to return to see it and I certainly will. I want to spend more time in the rooms examining all the stunning figures in each.We entered the first door. What a surprise. It is a full village of homes. Walk among them to see how they are “built”. This is where Fionafei is such an expert in her distinctive style. She is a Chinese American and loves to be in touch through her art with her ancestors and celebrate the “old masters who painted in this beautiful art style” she says. Fionafei told us she was inspired to create the village from her visits to Shanghai.

The third room holds Dragons intertwining and moving . Walk around so you can experience the dragons from different angles so you are viewing the art in 3d. Try another door. Inside the you will find a huge room full of windows from all over the world just hanging in the air and below the floor. This is a visit not to be missed. 

Here is the entrance to Shui Mo.  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dreams/149/34/2554

Some background on the region appears on the notecard available at the gallery.

“About the Dreams Sim

************************

Shui Mo hovers over Dreams, a sim dedicated to helping and supporting stroke survivors and people with autism by means of regular group meetings, classes, games, and creative building contests. The goal of the Shui Mo Gallery is to give the visitors and the Dreams community the feel of being fully immersed inside a 2D drawing as well as an escape from even 'virtual' reality, where the 3D space melts away into the mind of the artist. Initially designed as a stand-alone art installation is now also used to house many of my other Second Life sculptures and installations. “


I will tell you about the other fantastic gallery another day. 

Gemma Cleanslate

 

Design

Still More SLB Exhibits

 

 By Bixyl Shuftan

 

The Second Life Twentieth Birthday has now ended. The Lindens gave it a few more days, but nothing lasts forever. But yours truly went around to take a few pictures. 

One exhibit that got my attention was Caledon's, which gave you a quest to help out it's Catgirl Brigade.

You would go to various characters, sometimes getting gear along the way.

Your objective was to get a piece of crystal for the Brigade, after which you (and they) could go home.

I got some diving gear and a souvenir jacket out of it.

Another that got my attention was Drama Liebre's "Doodletown" cartoonish exhibit.

This camera exhibit for photography in Second Life, "Focus on Photography," I recognized from a previous SLB.

"Racing Through Time"

A list of names, possibly drivers. 

"A Java Island Journey"

There was a similar exhibit just across the road.

"Outpost 3020"

There was quite a lot to see. We may post some more pictures later. It was a great SL20B.

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Serenity's "The Fantastic Future of Health"

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

At SLB Fabulous (213, 221, 23), there's an exhibit "The Fantastic Future of Health," by Serenity (SerenKitty). It's also called "My Adventuredom's Hedge Maze."

The first part of the exhibit was what Serenity felt were the greater problems with the current US health care system, notably working-class people sometimes having trouble getting adequate treatment for illnesses and conditions due to a system "that focuses on sick people equaling profit."

 

"The current model causes the sick to go without care and medicine unless they can afford it."

 

 

 There, I ran into Serenity, and Kamden (KamdenFoxHyde) who Serenity introduced as her real-life son. Serenity told me the exhibit, "nutshells our two LLCs. I head one and Kam the other."

Serenity showed me the other parts of the exhibit, "This area highlights the wellness center that we're working to build."

 

"The purpose of our businesses is to fund no-cost wellness and urgent care centers across the US and Canada. We opened our My Adventuredom LLC in 2020, and Kam opened his this year.

Part of the exhibit was for "animal-assisted therapy to help with physical and psychological needs." Serenity would tell me, "Kam works with horses. He volunteers and trains at a stable near our house. He's working toward training therapy horses and dogs."

We then got to the next part of the exhibit, "This area represents how we do it. Some of these businesses are currently running and some we're working to build. We offer both physical and virtual products through our various companies, all under the My Adventuredom LLC umbrella. Kam's LLC has his own brands and lines. Typically horse focused."

We went up an elevator to the treehouse part of the exhibit.

Inside were a few gifts, and a couple graphs about My Adventuredom and Sen Michaelson LLC, "These graphics display how it all works. So now you know what I do in RL, besides school. This is why Kam and I are working towards our medical doctorates so that we can work in our own clinics."

Serenity mentioned her real-life trouble on her profile's First Life page, "You also know about my autoimmune disease. That is why my focus is diagnostics and rare diseases.

"Kam is my primary caregiver. He's my right-hand man in business, school, and my health. Well, my husband helps us too. I've been with him for 25 years, so can't leave him out (laughter)."

 

When I asked about her time in Virtual Ability, Serenity answered, "Oh, goodness. I can't remember how long I've been there. I believe it was 2012-2016 but then I left for a few years after a friend passes away. Kam moved the class I was teaching over to Whole Brain Health and added Spanish to the Nutrition classes he intends to teach. I'm only holding Building Hour on Wednesdays at VAI at the moment.  I also volunteer with Virtual Worlds Education Consortium. I'm on the comm team, events team, and networking team."

Our conversation soon drifted to other subjects, and Serenity soon had to take care of other matters. Her exhibit at the Second Life Birthday will be around until the sims close to the public on Tuesday July 11.

More information can be found on her website at: https://www.myadventuredom.com/

 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SLB%20Fabulous/238/226/23

Bixyl Shuftan

Some SL20B Exhibits

 

 By Bixyl Shuftan

The Second Life Twentieth Birthday, or SL20B, has come to our virtual world, a chance for both Linden Lab and the residents to celebrate our virtual world's anniversary.  Each of the Second Life Birthday events have been special in their own right. This year, two details make it stand out. This is the first SL Birthday event in which there have been adult rated regions, for both exhibits and the Shop and Hop. It's also been the first one that some exhibits from previous anniversary events have returned. 

The Newser had one of it's own, at SLB Fantasy (104/34/24). Built by the talented Silvia Ametza (and assistants), it was about a possible future astronaut base on Jupiter's moon of Europa.

 

There was information about the moon, which is strongly believed to have liquid water underneath the icy surface, and possibly life.

The section of base on the surface looked small. But there was an elevator to go down.

Underneath the ice was the rest of the base, as well as what the larger life forms could be.

We have learned much in our lifetimes about the heavens. But this learning goes back over countless generations to when cavemen looked at the sky and wondered what was out there.

Nearby was the exhibit of "The League of Extraordinary Roleplayers," along with two notable stories by HG Wells represented in an unusual combination. 

 

 
DeniseUnicorn Toonie's "Econocorn Living" exhibit in SLB Beguile.

Bay City's exhibit, also in SLB Beguile.

 

 

"The Fantastic Future of Health," by Serenity (SerenKitty) at SLB Fabulous.

 

 Drama Liebre's "Doodletown" cartoonish exhibit, also in SLB Fabulous. 

One of the pod cars to sit in and get around without walking.

 

That's all for now, but more locations soon.

 

Bixyl Shuftan