Linden Endowment for the Arts Announces Land Rush Residency

The Linden Endowment of the Arts is an official Linden Community Partnership program whose purpose is to help new artists, cultivate art in SL, and foster creativity, innovation, and collaboration within the art community.

The Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) has just announced its Land Rush Residency. This initiative gives artists an opportunity to “claim” 1/8th of a region for a period of 2 months to mount a virtual art installation. Limited spaces are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The first round will be held in two phases on October 30, 2011 at 10:00 am and 4 pm SLT. A total of 16 parcels in two regions will be given away.

For complete information on the Land Rush Residency, please visit the official LEA blog at http://lindenarts.blogspot.com/2011/10/linden-endowment-for-arts-announces-its.html.

Earlier this month, LEA announced that it had negotiated with Linden Labs for the creation of 20 new regions for the arts in Second Life. Of these:

• four regions will be reserved for exhibitions curated from LEA sandbox art,
• two regions will be allocated through the above noted land rush, and
• fourteen will be allocated by application (deadline for submission of applications, which must be completed online, is November 1st)

Exciting things are already afoot on the LEA sims with the first monthly installation of the LEA Full Sim Art Series; Rebeca Bashly’s Inferno, inspired by Dante Aligieri’s Divine Comedy Inferno (slurl). For this series, each artist/group of artists will have a full 15,000 prim SIM for 1 month from the 1st day of the month, till the last day of the month. As such, Rebeca’s installation will be available until October 31st so be sure not to miss it.

This is certainly very exciting times for the arts community in Second Life!

2nd Annual Boobie-Thon Art Auction Opens Tonight!

October 1, 2011 marks the launch of the 4th Annual Boobie-Thon in Second Life. This annual Second Life event runs in conjunction with the Bloggers Boobie-Thon which is now in it's 11th year.

Second Life's Boobie-Thon is the result of the dedicated work of Eva Bellambi and Serra Anansi who have organized a wide-range of events since introducing this fundraising initiative in Second Life.

Funds raised during the Boobiethon in SL go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure as well as an annually selected charity.

While a serious subject, one of the hallmarks of the Boobie-Thon is to raise money and raise awareness in a fun, educational and irreverant way. Some of the events are downright saucy!

Opening Party, October 1, 2011 at 6:30 pm SLT
Tonight's opening party is at the Cliffs of Skye (6:30 pm SLT), the Second Life home of Eva Bellambi. Please be sure to join us at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Magna%20Carta/81/212/37 with music by DJ Frequency Picnic.

Art Auction Opens, October 1, 2011 at 7:30 PM SLT
Tonight marks the opening of the 2nd Annual Boobie-Thon Art Auction. is being held at Rowan Derryth's RoHaus Gallery right next door to Eva's at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Magna%20Carta/156/177/29. The auction runs until Thursday, October 6th with final bids at 8:00 pm SLT.

We are very excited about this year's auction which features 40 works by 37 artists! The auction has been organized and curated by Rowan Derryth and myself. I am so very proud of the massive support shown to us by all of the great artists who have donated a mixture of regular, limited edition and unique works for your bidding pleasure.

This auction includes some incredibly unique works, in particular a one-of-a-kind mesh sculpture of the Venus de Medici by Pumpkin Tripsa; whimsical Nipple Trees by Maya Paris; an amazing Bee Queen by claudia222 Jewel; a beautifully crafted image by Callipygian Christensen; and a really fun sculpture by Glyph Graves.

With 37 artists, it is impossible to mention every one of their submissions in this blog post so I encourage you to come and see all of their amazing works for yourself!

The full list of artists includes:

• Alexx Fenstalker
• AutopilotPatty Poppy
• Bobbi Laval
• Callipygian Christensen
• Cat Boccaccio
• Cee Edman
• Chrome Underwood
• Claudia222 Jewel
• Douglas Story
• Elin Egoyan
• Eliza Wierwight
• Floraclayflower Beeswing
• Fuschia Nightfire
• Glyph Graves
• GM Nikolaidis
• Gracie Kendal
• LadyDawn Starbrook
• Maya Paris
• Miso Susanowa
• Misprint Thursday
• Monty Streusel
• Nino Vichan
• PJ Trenton
• Pumpkin Tripsa
• Ragamuffin Kips
• Rowan Derryth
• Sledge Roffo
• soror Nishi
• Starlash Sweetwater
• Stephen Venkman
• T.S. Carson (RL)
• Texanna Schumann
• Tricia Aferdita
• Trill Zapatero
• Wildstar Beaumont
• Winter Nightfire
• Ziki Questi

Starting bids have been set at $1,000L for unique works, $500L for limited edition items and $100L for regular items. First bids are set at $100L less than opening bid prices so that the initial bid will be at the starting bid prices. Auction winners will be advised once bidding is closed and will receive their work(s) upon receipt of funds.

There will be an auction closing event on Thursday, October 6th from 6 - 8 pm SLT with last bids due at 8 pm.

Read even more about the auction at Rowan Derryth's blog I Derryth.

For a complete list of all of the events planned during the 4th Annual Boobie-Thon in Second Life, please visit Eva's blog at http://redroseofcaledon.blogspot.com/2011/09/once-again-we-work-to-save-second-base.html.

Designing Worlds Visits Isle of Wyrms

Hosts Saffia & Elrik get a tour of the legendary place in Second Life where dragons live. Welcome guides Orlith Nightfire, Skylarian Isachenko and Talarus Luan to the show and learn about the rich history and tradition.

For more photos of this fantastical set of sims, please visit my Isle of Wyrms set on Flickr.

You can visit Isle of Wyrms by visiting http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cathedral/125/142/102.

Calas Galadhon on Designing Worlds

In the latest episode of Designing Worlds, Saffia and Elrik visit the beautiful region of Calas Galadhon. This area is comprised of 9 gorgeous sims with incredible natural beauty and Victorian goodness. Created by Tymus Tenk and Truck Meredith...get thee to Calas Galadhon (slurl.com/secondlife/Calas%20Galadhon/14 2/230/23)



To see more, be sure to visit my Calas Galadhon set on Flickr.

Glyph Graves' Entropy: Machinima by Chantal Harvey

This fabulous machinima by Chantal Harvey, featuring music of Kolor Fall was featured on the latest episode of Metaverse Arts on Treet TV. Entropy is a creation of incredible Second Life artist Glyph Graves.

ENTROPY - World Expo 2010 Shanghai - machinima. from Chantal Harvey on Vimeo.

The Kiss by Rose Borchovski

Many of you are likely aware of the controversy sparked over the removal of Rose Borchovski's work "The Kiss" from the Second Life 7th Birthday (SL7B) celebration.

Quite alot has been written on the subject on such as Wagner James Au's New World Notes nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2010/06/the-director-t he-avatar-his-ros... and the Second Life blog blogs.secondlife.com/message/271979#2719 79.

Prim Perfect's Art's reporter Rowan Derryth has written a wonderful post discussing the actual work in question primperfectblog.wordpress.com/2010/06/27 /ekphrasis-extra-....

Visit the work at the UWA slurl.com/secondlife/UWA%20Winthrop/95/1 01/21

There is a very well machinima created by Ionoallen that you can watch on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJdVCqG3bZs.

View my complete set of images of this fascinating work on Flickr.

Points of Interest ~ Nemo

Another highly recommended destination on your Second Life travels has to be the gorgeously textured underwater steampunk "city" at Nemo. Built by Sextan Shepherd, the attention to detail is amazing!

NEMO is a world inspired by the works of Jules Verne, including "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and "The Mysterious Island." Inside the submarine city, you will discover Captain Nemo's workshop, complete with mechanical sea animals, Nikola Tesla's electricity-filled room, and the Jules Verne salon.

I have a set of images from Nemo that you can view in Flickr.

I strongly encourage you to visit Nemo in world at secondlife://FRANCE3D%20Futuna/91/148/21.

Art in SL: mushROOM by Scottius Polke

One of the most interesting and creative art installations that I have been to in Second Life is Scottius Polke's mushROOM. Scottius, affectionately known by many simply as The Otter is one of my greatest friends in SL and one of the most talented artists to boot!

mushROOM is a graphic, 3-dimensional art installation, by Scottius Polke who created special artwork for the exhibit, and hand-illustrated all the textures. Althought the setting is a simple bedroom with typical furnishings, the room is inhabited by the artist's subconscious - which manifests itself in life forms such as mushrooms, molds, amoebas, and other unclassifiable organisms.

Dance with amoebas, jump on the bed, kick the crumpled paper around, and discover the surprises this room holds. Lots of interaction so I recommend you go and see it as soon as you can!

mushROOM is currently installed at Project Z in Cetus (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cetus/128/128/11).

Points of Interest: Ciudad de Mexico

As an avid Second Life photographer, I am always on the look out for interesting places on the grid to shoot. One such place that I recently wandered to was Ciudad de Mexico.

Currently featured in Second Life's Showcase, the sim is defined as an urban combat role playing sim is set in an alternate version of Mexico City that covers various timespans, including pre-Hispanic, colonial, present day, and the future.

Visitors arrive at ground level; a bright, futuristic looking skyline of highrise towers and brightly glowing objects rotating around the sky. There are also a few shops which mostly sell clothing, although nothing particularly specialized from what I could see.

Below the surface is an underground city of older, more traditional structures, statues and shops. Certainly an interesting place to visit. Unlike other role play sims, particularly combat-based ones, I was unable to locate an information kiosk or visitor tag generator. There were very few people in the sim at the time I was there so I'm not exactly sure what you will encounter in the way of "hostile" individuals.

Additional photos of my short trek around Ciudad de Mexico can be found on Flickr.

You can visit the sim in world by going to http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ciudad%20de%20Mexico/186/80/65.

Points of Interest: Frank Lloyd Wright Virtual Museum

One of the most interesting places that I have recently explored is the Frank Lloyd Wright Virtual Museum. Second Life offers a unique and perfect venue for learning more about one of the world's most iconic figures in architecture.

I ventured forth to the Museum on assignment for Designing Worlds who taped their most recent episode from the Museum. Saffia and Elrik met with CEO Frey Bravin, Assistant Director Rosalie Oldrich, and Education Director Barbara Collazo.



I encourage you to visit the Museum in Usonia (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Usonia/6/4/22) and give yourself plenty of time to explore every square meter.

For more information on the Museum, visit their web site at http://franklloydwrightvirtualmuseum.ning.com/.

I have added the set of photographs that I took for the show to Flickr.

Imagine Peace Tower in Second Life

October 9, 2009 saw the unveiling of the Imagine Peace Tower in Second Life by Yoko Ono. Coinciding with the birthdate of John Lennon, the actual tower is an outdoor work of art conceived by Yoko Ono to the memory of John. The Second Life installation can be found in world by visiting http://slurl.com/secondlife/Imagine%20Peace%20Tower/128/128/2.

The tower is an inspiring tribute to both John Lennon and the hope that someday the world will in fact be a more peaceful place. To watch it firing up, one light at a time until all the beams are fully illuminated is quite something to behold and one of the most moving things I have seen in Second Life. It is perhaps made even more special simply by the fact that it isn't just on all the time...but actually illuminates and extinguishes itself on a sunset to sunrise pattern.

LIGHTING UP TIMES
After the opening ceremony, the Second Life IMAGINE PEACE TOWER will begin its cycle of illumination approximately 15 minutes after sunset on every Second Life day and will remain illuminated until dawn. The days are much shorter in Second Life than in the real world. Sunset happens in Second Life every day at the following times, both am and pm:

• 01.30, 05.30, 09.30: Chicago, Baghdad, Bangkok, Vladivostok
• 02.30, 06.30, 10.30: Anchorage, Montreal, Toronto, Reykjavik, Moscow, Shanghai, Suva
• 03.30, 07.30, 11.30: Los Angeles, Rio de Janiero, Liverpool, London, Karachi, Tokyo, Auckland
• 04.30, 08.30, 12.30: Guatemala, Europe, Dhaka, Sydney, Kiritimati

For more information on the Imagine Peace Tower in Second Life, visit http://imaginepeace.com/news/archives/8263.

Step Up! Make Your Voice Heard Over Content Theft.

In the wake of the wholesale theft of sims and content over the past weekend, it has become clear that many people wanted (and need) to do something about it – and also about all the other content theft that has been fought for so long – in the Content Creators Association and in magazines and on TV shows.

Through those discussions, people have come up with the idea of the Step Up! campaign; a campaign centered on a special day of action that everyone can become involved with, and that can empower and inform people.

Find out more at http://step-up-sl.ning.com/ or at http://stepupsl.wordpress.com.

New SL Art Calendar ning!

Utilizing the social networking strengths of the ning, Tricia Aferdita has created a new social network to help artists and gallery owners in Second Life to promote their work and their shows in one central location.

SL Art Calendar is a public forum for posting and finding art-related events in Second Life. It can be found at http://slartcalendar.ning.com/.

I encourage everyone who is interested in the vibrant SL arts scene to join the ning and keep up to date on artists, galleries and arts-related events across the grid.

Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Ning offers an easy-to-use technology platform enabling you to create and join Ning Networks for your interests and passions. With over 1.3 million Ning social networks created and more than 30 million registered members, millions of people every day are coming together across Ning to explore and express their interests, discover new passions, and meet new people around shared pursuits.