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

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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

RFL: Settlers of Hope And Fiona Fei's Ribbon Hunt

By Bixyl Shuftan

The theme of this year's Relay season was "Game On, Cancer." And at the Relay track this year, the camps often had a tribute to a game. Several of the camps had builds inspired by Monopoly, such as the Sunbeamers. And some had actual games such as the Second Life Cheerleading Squad's playable game inspired by Donkey Kong. Two I came across offered prizes for completing games. One was in RFL Encourage: "Settlers of Hope."

Sandie Loxingly told me that the game had been made by her Relay Team "Seekers of Hope." It was based off the board game "Settlers of Catan."

 I would come back later with an alt.  In this SL game, a player had to purchase the HUD for 100L.

 As one goes down the track, one clicks on the people next to the signs to get a resource. You only get one good per station. There's also several games on the track, such as this Bejeweled spinoff.

Usually you get the same kind of good as the station. But sometimes a different one will appear. If you prefer the usual kind, click on the person again once or twice again.

Besides the game, there was a little scenery to explore.

At the end of the course, click on the chest at the end to get a prize. What you get depends on what combination of the six resources you have. For instance, one of each will get you a "Gamer Signs Fatpack." But there are others. Trying a combination not mentioned in the notecard, what I got was a token prize. Oh well, next time.

Oh, and Sandie told me one can get an online version of "The Settlers of Catan" for free on Steam (link).

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/RFL%20Encourage/194/113/22

Of the sims, RFL Courage was a unique one, as it was designed by an artist.

Fiona Fei (Fionafei Resident) had designed the exhibit.

One place was meant to say "Pencil and paper games," which certainly described the sim.

Much of the place looked like landscape covered in various scribbling and simple games on paper.

But the place wasn't just scenery. There was also the "Black Ribbon Hunt."

 Clicking on the sign, one would get the first clue, and would find the eight others by finding the eight black ribbons in the sim.

 There were several tiny critters in the sim, that when clicked on would say something, occasionally offering a clue to finding a ribbon.

Some of the ribbons were clearly in plain sight, though others took me a while to find.

 A few of the ribbons had little gifts, such as this overhead, "Game on, Cancer!" (those in furry avatars, don't wear but add).

For getting all of the ribbons, the player gets a tiny "Toontoons" avatar. It seems to be one at random from a couple dozen, in my case getting a female panda.

There are of course more games in the rest of the sims, and a lot to explore. While some people have picked up their camps, there's plenty to look over. But not for long. Eventually the sims will be gone, so look around while you can.

Bixyl Shuftan