Cica Ghost's Drawn Town

By Klaus Bereznyak

Imagine you had a magic pencil that could draw 3D lines in thin air so they became real objects ... what would you draw? Cica Ghost has been busy with her magic pencil creating her latest installation, Drawn Town, in Second Life - giving us a taste of what it might feel for a whole town to come to life from a sketch. Coming as it does, so soon after her last immersive offering, Lullaby, this new sim reveals a creative mind at play, recombining elements and ideas in fresh ways that are nevertheless instantly recognisable as classic 'Cica'.

When the sim opened at the start of the month, white lines in a black, starry night outlined the moonlit town. Visitors landed in a box high above and were invited to jump through a hole and fall through the darkness into the drawn wilds surrounding the town. A short walk through the trees and plants brought them to the town where there are alleyways to explore, ladders to climb, and even a cafe where one can relax and drink drawn coffee.

It seemed as if you were walking into a child's drawing on a blackboard but, up close, everything seemed to be outlined with frosted icing. Some of Cica's installations have stories to follow, leaving space for the avatar to also make up their own. This one was introduced with just a simple quote from the Irish Actress Maureen O'Hara: "In the beginning it was all black and white."

Last week, members of Cica's group received a notice that the whole town had switched black and white: what was black was now white, and vice-versa. I went back to look and it was a very different experience in the 'daytime'. For one thing, the sun now looked down where the moon had flickered before.

Visitors to the installation will keep tripping over the cats that make an appearance, wherever Cica has been at work, but the town is also inhabited by her signature, sketched figures who have even hung out their washing to dry between the tall houses.

For the curious, there is plenty to click on and look at, including places to sit high up with great views of the streets.

Cica cars are available to drive, and easier to maneuver than many SL vehicles. Time spent here is rewarding, and I mean not popping in for a few highly unusual selfies but immersing in the playful fantasy and pondering the stories that might be behind the doors. The little details, like stars floating up from the chimneys, characters looking out from windows, and huge street lamps that look more like the standing lamps you might find in a living room, are all worth spotting.

Cica Ghost is an SL artist based in Serbia and has been drawing marvelous landscapes filled with fantastical whimsy and bringing them to life in our virtual world since 2010. Many of her creations can be bought at her store and found all over the grid, especially the cats. Virtually every single month last year (2018) saw a fresh creation unleashed, some dark, some playful, all compellingly unique and imaginative. We look forward to seeing what comes next.

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Draxtor Despress did a short video of the place: (click here if the video fails to play)

SLURLS:
Drawn Town - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Koro/169/128/22
Cica's Store - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Appalachian/141/139/3502

Klaus Bereznyak

Cica Ghost's "Arachnid "

By Becky Shamen

During the last month, we have been tied up with producing a full length animated tour of Sunweaver Estates. The next sim to be included is remodeling for upcoming RFL events, so we were faced with either rescheduling our shooting sequence or taking a break and creating a new article for the Newser. At the same time, we learned that Cica Ghost had a new exhibit, called "Arachnid", located on the Weeds sim. Having already enjoyed exploring and writing about two of Cica's previous exhibits, it was a no brainer and I informed the Editor that I was heading there to play with the spiders.
For maximum enjoyment of this exhibit, set your viewer to use local "windlight" settings and allow music and media to play automatically. This reviewer rates art by how well the artist uses their skills, tools and materials to communicate a series of thoughts, from their mind, into the minds of those viewing the art. If a picture is worth a thousand words, we expect these creepy spiders to tell us a detailed story of  "What was Cica thinking?"


The sim landing places us in a large cage, or trap structure, with information, a TP to Cica's workshop and a tip jar. The sim lighting is a cloudy twilight grey. It's the kind of sky that makes you wish you had brought an umbrella along. As we look around, the large spider webs, in every direction, suggest the umbrella might also serve to hack our way through the sticky barriers. We also notice that there are eight cages, like the one we started in, scattered around the sim. Eight is also the number of legs on a spider. Is Cica doing this to show that there is a connection between the spiders and cages. These structures are "man made". Are they here to protect us from the spiders, or are they the webs we weave for ourselves, that trap us and remove our freedom to live a full life?

One of the cages contains several revolving displays of fancy gowns. How much of our life energy is drained by the need to stay in style with the trends, when most of us would be just as happy to wear the same old t-shirt and jeans, every day?

Several of the cages have TV sets, that play music videos, in the living room, the bed room and by an open bookshelf. As we walk to the next cage, we wonder if we have misread these symbols. Surely, Cica is not suggesting that pretty dresses and TVs are going to kill us. Such thoughts are quickly dispelled, as we almost fly into a large web which holds the wrapped remains of two humanoid victims, with a pair of trash cans on the ground below.

In another cage, we find a stack of commercial clothes dryers. These, at first, seem to have no place in the theory being pondered, until we notice that each dryer is an amusement ride that will spin and tumble two avatars together. One has to ask, how much better would life have been, had you only learned to avoid whirlwind relationships that ended up taking you to the cleaners?

The last cage that we explored took a little longer to extract the thoughts from. It contains two chairs and a table with a potted plant on it. Over by the bars of the cage, a raven is looking outside the cage. You can sit in the chairs, so we parked our cotton tail down, to contemplate the meaning. The old saying, "a little birdie told me so", came to mind. What is this little bird telling us? He is looking outside the cage. Next, we notice the unusual construction of the furniture. The chairs, instead of having four wooden legs, each have a pair of human legs, wearing shoes. The table has a single wheel, in place of legs. A wheel and legs suggest motion and the raven is looking outside the cage. We got the hint and moved on, in the direction indicated by the raven.

Our forward motion is rewarded, as we come upon a small stage. The lighting is cheerful and a free butterfly is perched on the roof. Sitting down, we find it odd that the pianist, while still playing the same style of music that added to the gloomy atmosphere of the sim, now sounded more cheerful and entertaining. While we were enjoying the concert, an avatar with a pistol was dashing to and fro, behind us. It did not disturb our peace, in the least. We figured he just hadn't found which cage he belonged trapped in, yet.

 

I give the Arachnid Exhibit my top rating. Cica Ghost's  continually evolving artistic skills and abilities to communicate with thought forms, makes her exhibits a "Must See". Come to the exhibit and set your butterflies free.

 

 "Sha"

 

Weed (155/170/37)

Strawberryland

By Becky "Sha" Shamen

Here we are exploring our second art exhibit in a row. It wasn't planned, but I got a staff notice that was looking for a reporter to check out "Strawberryland," by Cica Ghost. My ears perked up, as I recalled my recent article, "Roots," by the same artist, last January. I found her art to be very simple, but radiating subtle mental imagery, through all of our senses. It even smelled good.

On the return visit, as my landing spot rezzed, I spotted a lady in a black dress, standing in front of me. Her name tag showed her to be the artist, Cica Ghost. I introduced myself as a reporter for the SL Newser, that had written about her last show and was now reviewing Strawberryland. She asked for the URL of the Newser and I gave it. I sensed that neither of us was prepared for an interview, but perhaps she could answer a question or two. In my mind, I am about to judge her art on how well it communicates ideas to me. I couldn't ask her, what's the meaning behind this or that, so I let the technical artist in me blurt out, "Are all you art objects made from sculpties or mesh?". She seemed proud to announce that they were all mesh. There was a steady trickle of new visitors to the exhibit, wishing to bestow at-a-girls and pats on the back side, so I thanked Cica for her time and inched away, pointing at my camera.

I think good art should convey a message, from the mind of the artist to the mind of the observers. I wanted to see more of what's inside Cica's imagination. After finding the link for Strawberry Land, in the Destination Guide, I made a short, scouting trip to make a LM and take a quick look about. First impression? I would return, a.s.a.p. and take pictures.

 Within a few feet of the meeting with Cica, I snapped a photo of a small, table top model of a house and flowers. What made it unusual was it had a background picture of sky and it and the flowers were moving, as if being blown by wind. I didn't realize, until later when I cropped all the photos, that this first model sculpture was a key to understanding the language being spoken, throughout the rest of the sim.

The first thing you notice is all the strawberries. When I think of the song "Strawberry Fields", I picture a place and event, but no fruit. In Strawberryland they are plentiful and BIG. How big? I walked into a small greenhouse, with a starter plant and baby strawberries. I estimate them to be about 30 inches tall. Strawberries also brought the smell of the fruit to mind. To my nose, the taste and smell of strawberries is  right in the middle of the scale. It's OK, but I don't seek them for myself. On the other hand, the smell of synthetic strawberry flavor (ester) has always raised a red flag in me. As before, Cica's art spoke through my nose.

Strawberries aren't the only big thing here. I felt about one foot tall, through most of the exhibit. I begin to notice another theme among some of these large sculptures. Although they contain no animated parts, they display motion, like wind blowing hair and cloth or wheeled carts under sculptures to move them around.

As we continue the tour, I remark to myself that this exhibit seems more colorful than the previous one. An industrial looking building, with rusting metal sides, is just ahead. Inside, we can see a collection of smaller sculptures, so we open the metal gate and go inside.

 

I recognized the objects as being ones that were used in "Roots", but these had somehow been made anew. They had been painted, but not in the way a normal house is. It's more like they were splattered with different colors. As I head to the next area, I remark to myself, "She's added a splash of color this time".

 

 At the painter sculpture, we see several of the communicated ideas come together in one spot. A big man, covered in a rainbow of paint spills, is splattering two different colors on one wall, as his hair blows in the wind and an impatient horse waits in front of the biggest strawberry on the island, to be taken somewhere else.

Down the path, we find a boy and girl enjoying this impression of wind. Looking back at the picture, it's hard to believe that nothing in this scene was moving.

So readers, let us review what these objects d'art have communicated to us today. We had strawberries. Did you taste them? We had the motion of wind and wheels. Did you feel the rush? We had a splash of color. Did you get wet? Perhaps, if these three key ideas were placed end to end, in the right order, they might form a complete sentence, a thank you from Cica Ghost to the visitors of Strawberryland.  I'll leave that for the readers to decipher. Meanwhile, I get out my tape measure to calculate if I can build an island with this huge strawberry.

 

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lost%20Isle/126/94/36

 

"Sha"

"Roots" by Cica Ghost

By Becky "Sha" Shamen

Sometimes, we just put all the possible destinations on the wall and put on a blindfold, spin around three times and shoot a dart. This time, I hit on one called, "Roots," by Cica Ghost. It was described as a sim art project. The illustration showed some odd looking buildings that beckoned exploration. An Artist and Architect in our own right, we decided to go see if there was anything cool to report on.

Arriving at the landing tower, as things rezzed, the music is first to make a good impression. Words like Majestic and Peacefull come to mind. We begin our tour with a spring in our step. From the tower, there are two ways to explore the sim. A balloon ride comes by and give a ride around, with a birds eye view, or you can just walk down the path and tour on foot. Flying is also allowed. Viewing the neighborhood gives us a split impression. On the one hand, the scenery looks like a child's urban creation, made in the sand lot behind his house, but long forgoten and left to nature and her seasons to take back. On the other hand, this place is anything but dead. One senses that the sim is one large, living compost pile, preparing the ground for a lush new life. This sim has an air about it....one that should be kept away from open flames and sparks.

Adding to the "look", the sim's largest resident, a giant snail, with a mud hut for a shell, slimes his way past us, probably on his way to the races. We tried thumbing a ride, but the house was small and he smelled like something that shouldn't be stepped on. We move on to higher ground, where the homes aren't mobile.

Several of the structures had animations, allowing one to gaze out an upper window, while contemplating images, stirred up by the beautiful music. We were somewhat shocked to find one house that was occupied by a little girl and a black cat. Fortunately, they were only statues, so no need to make the sign of the cross or throw salt over the shoulder. Moving on, we spot a large tower, that looks like it would give a great view of the sim, if we could get to the top. A long ladder was shy by 6 meters of the top, but a large flat rock travelled up and down, like an elevator. At the top, naturally a little contemplation came into play, imagining ourselves as a tiny mouse that made it's home here.

Before ending the tour, it was imperative that we take the balloon tour of the sim. Returning to the landing tower, we grab the next available flight and keep our seat for several go-arounds. On the second pass, a young lady popped into the adjacent seat. Always pleased to share our adventures with others, we smile and say, "This is a fun place, isn't it?" She agrees, then, red-faced, jumps out and waits for the next flight.

Overall impressions of the sim? My hat's off to Cica Ghost, for taking objects and textures of child-like simplicity and crudeness and melding them into a grand and masterful artwork, the size of a sim. It's like walking around inside a painting and you can almost smell the rich humus, ready to sprout any seed that finds it. Maybe it's just the viewer I'm using. Perhaps our readers should visit and see if their latest, greatest viewer comes with [SMELL] parameters.

I give "Roots", by Cica Ghost, a big thumbs up. I recomend you go see it and if you agree, leave a little tip in her balloon tip jar, by the landing.

Night Atoll (36/185/42)

"Sha"

Two New LEA Exhibitions

By Gemma Cleanslate

Two new exciting installations at the Linden Endowment of the Arts sims.( LEA) drew me over to the region.I was so busy at the Relay last weekend I did not have much time to visit but made time this week to get to both and the time was well worth it. 

 

Cica Ghost has been doing her magic in Second Life since 2010 and is a real life artist from Serbia.I love her art and have wandered through her works at many galleries and previous ones at LEA. 

This one is once again lovely and fun. The land area is worth exploring to see the delightful pieces set among the trees and under a lovely sky, all near the shore of the ocean. But in one area you will find a group of “heads” gazing upward to the sky. They are dreamers. To visit their dreams click a head ( not all of them are dreaming )  and you will be transported into their private dreams and become a part of them by interacting. Roam each area to discover what the dreamer is trying to enjoy. I found some of Cica’s cute representations that I have experienced before but all this is new.  Each one is different and enjoyable. It take more than one trip to experience it fully. Don’t miss it!  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA24/118/3/49

 

 My next visit was to  the installation  of ‘The Egg’ "You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs" = "you can't can't create (or reproduce) without breaking eggs" (either a "great egg" of creation, or to fertilize eggs) -Inara said is the land description. Livio Korobase is the creator of this fascinating exhibit and I think he is still working and adding bits and pieces.

Wander under the scaffolding,visiting the many separate islands here to see pieces on each. There is so much to see do. There are familiar scenes here that need to be coordinated in our minds . Climb the scaffolding and take a look down from above. I enjoyed just walking along the scaffold paths and viewing the islands from a distance. Finally, I entered The Egg itself to realize that all here came from the glowing center.  I remember his other exhibits here that I liked so much too. Again this is not a place to come when you have 5 minutes. It requires time to see and interact with all the parts but don’t miss it! http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA19/110/52/22

 

Both installations will stay in the LEA regions for several months. If you would like to keep up with what is going on these regions visit the website and see how it all works.The regions are always changing throughout the year with new and old Second Life artists building and installing installations . There are other regions under construction and I will be visiting them as time passes. To find out more information visit this  welcome area here . http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA3/128/127/22

 

Gemma Cleanslate