A word about the new masthead

With the new blog design, I thought a white-background, black text masthead would fit in well.  But a splash of color was needed.  Scanning through the inventory, I came across one of PleaseWakeMeUp Idler’s “liminal” series – the “Sunrise”.  This combination of “time-lapse” SL photography shows just that, a sunrise over time.  It’s a great piece, as are all of Wake’s liminal works.  You can find this at Oyster Bay, close to the Second Arts Photography gallery.

(It offers a terrific splash of color, too – don’t you think?)

Arts for Autism Auction recap

Over the past weekend, Jazz Calhern of Jazzworks (SLURL link in the side column) and Second Arts Photography fame organized a mammoth auction of SL art for the benefit of those with autism. Here’s her official recap:

From the bottom of my heart, thank you to all who donated to and supported the JazzWorks Gallery ARTS FOR AUTISM Charity Auction on October 27. It was a smashing success, bringing in L$206,877 for autism! WOOT!

Jazz tells me that the top selling piece was photographer Tonu Noorits’ “Ice and Sand” – which fetched a whopping L$29,000. Even my small piece, Intertwined (the pink piece at the bottom of the photo), fetched L$1,300.

All told, Jazz will be writing a check to the Western Australian Autism Association Early Invervention for US$827.00. It’s a small organization and this money will be significant for them. To quote Jazzworks photographer and Arts for Autism SL group owner Indigo Mougin, “They’re totally blown away by the generosity and the creative way in which the funds were raised.”

Many thanks and admiring congratulations are due to Jazz for her leadership on this effort, as well as to the community-minded artists who stepped up and put good works ahead of the almighty buck. I’m very proud to say that a number of Oyster Bay artisans were represented in this auction; it says a lot about the people whose work populates this special little corner of SL.

Dragons and Swords at Crescent Moon

When you have the largest private collection of SL art, you can do themed art exhibits of incredible quality. Case in point, Tayzia Abbatoir’s latest collection of sculpture art:

“Dragons” by Sabine Stonebender, Red Levitt (who used to display at Oyster Bay, but I believe now has left SL indefinitely), Starax Statosky and Daryth Kennedy. “Swords” by Androclese Antonelli, Cheen Pitney and Stormy Roentgen. Incredible collection…come take a look! (Click on the Crescent Moon logo in the side column for a SLURL, which will teleport you to the gallery)

Housekeeping: Blog format modifications

No, your eyes are not deceiving you.  I switched the blog format to a 3-column look.  I also am tweaking the stylesheet to make the blog look just right.  Bear with me while it’s under (re-) construction!

Machinima: MoShang Zhao @ Terra Incognita

For those who have not heard MoShang Zhao‘s “dance music for grownups,” here’s a machinima of the Sound Jeweler’s recent live show in the Australian Terra Incognita sim. For a slightly better video quality, try this link. It’s one of the best “live music” machinimas that I’ve seen.

We don’t have MoShang on the upcoming calendar at Oyster Bay (Heck, we don’t have anyone on the upcoming performance calendar! I must be slacking!), but he plays a few times a week all over Second Life. I’d suggest looking him up in the upcoming events.

He is, of course, welcome back to Oyster Bay at any time…so perhaps it’s time to bring our Taiwanese friend back for another performance…

MUST READ: “A Story of Dual Hope”

What a GREAT blog post from Jordan Morgenrote on her Jordan’s Jewelry blog.

Beautiful work, fantastic stories. Top flight gallery owner, fantastic jeweler – now a storyteller too?

Dang.

The Abyss 2.0 – coming soon

Rezago Kokorin tells us that The Abyss is going to return…and that he and Sunn Thunders have some impressive plans for their undersea exploration/education build.  The photos (linked above and, for some of Sunn’s “postcards,” here) from the work in progress are VERY encouraging – some great stuff happening!

Happy thoughts on a lousy day

So I’m sitting here in a hotel room in Southern California, supposedly on vacation but having worked pretty much non-stop since I got here (web email is both a blessing and a curse).  And then, probably in part thanks to the crappy air quality from the smog combined with the smoke from the many wildfires, I’ve gone and developed a painful sinus infection.  So, yeah, RL pretty much stinks right now.

And SL comes to the rescue.  I just got this IM over my email, and it really made my day:

[7:47] Laci Snowdrop: I love OYster Bay! You’ve done a beautiful job! What inspired U to build sucha beautiful place? How long did it take U to make this? It’s awesome!!

Doesn’t get much better than that.  Thanks, Laci.

It also reminds me of something that used to come naturally to me – the recognition that Second Life’s population is constantly being infused with new residents…who have no idea what this little corner of the grid is all about.  I think it’s time to start writing a (very) brief history of Oyster Bay.  Perhaps, while I convalesce, I’ll put some thoughts down.  It really has been a great ride, and perhaps some of you might be interested in reading it.

In the interim, anyone interested in the history of Oyster Bay should look no further than the 2nd Floor of Second Arts Photography, where I’ve posted a few photos of Oyster Bay over the months.  It’s a good start, and probably something I’ll build upon.

As a teaser, here’s a shot from the grand opening party (DJ’d by Doubledown Tandino, no less…the beginning of a beautiful friendship!) back in January 2007. Enjoy!

Happy Rez Day – Rezago Kokorin!

One of SL’s truly great kinetic sculptors (and collaborator with Sunn Thunders on The Abyss) celebrates another trip around the sun….errr….grid today.  While I sadly couldn’t locate a SL snapshot of Rez on short notice, I DID find these examples of his SL sculpture art…so enjoy that, and wish him the best!

15,000 page views

Yup – Second Arts hit that milestone yesterday. Candidly, the Lauk’s Nest issue took off and readership on the blog has been substantially up since that point.

Thanks to all who read this humble little blog – I hope you find it worth your time!