Tiny Carolers and North Pole Village

 

 By Gemma Cleanslate

Over the weekend I visited a few parties and events that were so Christmasy and then went looking for Santa. I stopped over at Benny's Christmas Trees and More where the Raglan carolers were doing a gesture show of their favorite music. Here is one tune.

[12:46] Raglan Shire Carolers:
~*~ You Better Watch Out, ~*~
~*~ You Better Not Cry,~*~
~*~ You Better Not Pout, I'm Telling You Why, ~*~
~*~ Santa PAWS Is Coming,~*~
~*~ Santa PAWS is Coming To Towwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnn,
~*~ SANTA PAWS IS COMING TO TOWN! ~*~

They had many more! Of course they finished with the infamous river dance everyone loves go see.

I also went over to a skating and dancing party at Ipperwich where dj Scott was spinning tunes for everyone! The whole family was there and having a great time along with residents and friends of Mount Campion. It will be a busy few weeks coming for him!

And then I made a long stop at one of my favorite places to visit every Christmas, “Christmas at North Pole Village & Santa's Workshop – Winter”. I am glad it is always there. The walls of ice and snow carve a path down the hill, past the Crystal Ice Caves to the door of the village where Santa, Mrs santa and and his 56 elves and 8 reindeer live and work.

Once you open the door to the little town you are in a land of enchantment. The town square holds tiny buildings filled with working elves. There are always little critters and elves skating and hanging out.
I always stop in at the Newspaper to say hi to those elves. They are easy to recognized with their little human faces. The post office is always busy at this time of year, loaded with carts of letters arriving by the minute.

The younger elves are busy learning about their future jobs in the school. It is a pleasure to see them. The longest visit is to the castle where elves are busy wrapping gifts to go out on the sleigh. In the kitchen others are making cookies and gingerbread. Mrs Claus is overseeing the work.

Upstairs is the dormitory where those off duty rest and sleep. A visit to Santa’s nearby bedroom is great fun. He is rarely there so I jump on his bed.

 

I know where to find him. Outside the Castle I walk down the icy path to the reindeer barn. Here I find him working with the reindeer for the big night when he takes off to fly through the air to you. I always help him take off for a practice run. You can do that too when you visit. Before you leave drop by the bakery and have some hot coffee with the elves there. They are always happy to see visitors.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Porvoo/217/133/128

Gemma Cleanslate

Raglan Shire Art Walk Does it Again

For a Lucky 13th Round

By Klaus Bereznyak

Open to be enjoyed until June 17th, The 13th Annual Raglan Shire Art Walk serves up an impressive cross-sectional variety of artwork for all tastes sprawled and nestled across four sims: Raglan Shire, Heron Shire, Morning Shire, and Athen Shire.

This is one of the highlights of the year hosted by the Raglan Shire tinies community who just entered their 11th year together. For five weeks, their home territory is inundated with biggies, stomping all over the place, and we are grateful they continue to host this event. Somehow Artwalk Director Karmagirl Avro, and her assistants Kayak Kuu and Shadow Marlin, ensure that the work of over a hundred artists is seen to be enjoyed. It's a "walk" so take your time.

Anyone can sign up and display their work: all levels of artists may show their works, and the only thing that seems to be excluded is photographs of real-life crafts. Artists arrive early on May the 11th to grab some hedge space and set up.

The variety of styles and subjects to be seen all at once is therefore one of the most striking things about this event. Here real-life photography by SimiXiamara1 faces SL photography by Lo. Coeur.

It would be rare in this world to see digital and real photographic work side by side along with real-life watercolours and manipulated Second Life pictures. This picture shows adapted SL photography by Free Dawn Voix and fractal work by Kraven Klees.

Several tinies have contributed exhibits to the mix. This picture shows 'My Tiny Life', a series by Kitty Huang, along with a watercolor by SkyBlue Earthboy.

Visitors can wander from sim to sim through the maze of levels, travel on a slow-moving 'hedgiepillar', or use the teleport boards provided to hop to the different areas, but it's easy to miss something. Each time I have been back in the last week, I have spotted something new. Most of the art displayed is for sale at prices fixed by the artists and ranging from 5L$ up into the thousands. There's something for all tastes and income levels.

The 2D work is concentrated on the network of hedge walls on the Raglan Shire Sim. Wild animals keep an eye on things. Here, a giraffe gazes hungrily at Tea Gupte's vegetable paintings.The 3D work is found mostly in the woods and along the water in Heron Shire, where it brings a magical aspect to the landscape.

Through the trees here can be seen the glitching triangles of Gravity by Elle Thorkveld, Stillpink's (pink) Memorial Tree, and Head + Brain by Otcoc.

Further along, with their feet in the water, can be found a build by Asmita Duranjaya, housing reliefs of carved Bactrian figures, alongside Terra Merhyem's Constellation of the Shaman.

Crossing over into Morning Shire, the visitor walks a path flanked by the canvasses of Kayly Iali and works by Giovanna Cerise before it opens out into parkland with more 3D installations such as the sculptures of Alander Starostin and SkyBlue Earthboy's immersive Healing Color Temple.

More 3D spills over into Athen Shire, where the eye is greeted by kienetic light sculpture by Slatan Dryke and iSkye Silverweb's Marble Dancers and purpose-built ArtWalk 2018 ColoursTower.

With so much on offer, it would be very hard for me to pick favourites. I blew my stipend pretty quickly, favouring affordable work by artists who were new to me and perhaps not seen every day on the grid. Filtered SL photography is probably represented more than any other approaches. However, close to where I first landed, I am glad I did not miss the portrait treatments by Caissa Amat.

The 13th Raglan Shire Art Walk is open until 17th June.

SLURLs:

Raglan Shire Art Area #1 - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Raglan%20Shire/34/221/77
Raglan Shire Art Area #2  - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Raglan%20Shire/68/148/58
Heron Shire Sculptures - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Heron%20Shire/125/132/22
Morning Shire Sculptures - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Morning%20Shire/206/166/22
Raglan Shire Art Area #4 - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Raglan%20Shire/75/245/23
Athen Shire Sculptures - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Athen%20Shire/69/245/23
Raglan Tree Art Gallery - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Raglan%20Shire/122/59/59

Klaus Bereznyak