Victoria Lenoirre's Reviews for the October UWA 3d Challenge Round

Hi guys! So I walked around the UWA exhibit sim and found several art pieces that appealed to me.

Cautionary Tale: Witches Workplace Health and Safety




Cautionary Tale by Faery Sola


This piece of art is fitting for the season, very Halloween-like. I had fun with this interview. I actually giggled a little or cackled. It's fitting, don't you think? ;-)

How did the witch fall into the cauldron?

This is a cautionary tale of "when spells go bad" LOL the broom has gotten away from itself and knocked her into her own cauldron.

Is it the same witch from The Wizard of Oz?
No. She died already in a house relocation accident I believe.

The title of your piece is Cautionary Tale: Witches Workplace Health and Safety, so is this witch just one of many witches who works in an office of witches who oversee health and safety?

Ah, no. When I made this piece I was thinking about how their workplace might be a hazard to them... gotta think that at some point being able to move objects might not always work for you unless you're exercising constant vigiliance and due caution.

It seems ironic that in a place that tries to maintain safety, an accident like this happens. Do you often find yourself thinking, "How ironic!" in your life?

Which place are we talking about? No, not really, I don't go looking for ironic, but I do enjoy a giggle and having moments when I ponder silly things that could happen :)

Did you use use sculpts in this build or just prims?

Sculpts and I think one regular prim, particles and scripts along with a bunch of fun textures I made :) 

What inspired you to create this piece besides it being October and nearing Halloween?

Americans really get into Halloween in sl, it's in the SL media pretty early, and I was the inspiration for this piece. I just really wanted to make something that would give everyone a laugh and perhaps lighten their day :) It's not meant to be a profound statement of anything. I'm an Aussie, I like a good laugh :)

What a cute piece, right? The use of color was great....lively and fun. Nice job, Faery!

Snowglobe



Snowglobe by Lapiscean Liberty

 This piece appealed to me because it seems frozen, but warm and idyllic at the same time. Notice the cool and warm shades of purple and they're mixed into the white. I asked questions like what inspired the piece and if he created the poses himself. My favorite pose was the "chilling on the edge" pose. The couple pose is nice too. As an animator, I found those well-made and attractive. Here is what he said:

The truth is I made that and about 6 other globes at the time, about 3 yrs ago. JJ had been on me to donate some Art. I do not really consider myself an Artist. but found those in my inventory. LOL. He has some others you may like he is putting out next month. Yes the textures and scripting etc is mine. The pose balls may or may not be mine, as it been some time ago. but i think i just grabed some poses. The theme was Dreamspheres. that is to say enviromental globes that you could rez in space and be surrounded in the globe or interact with the globe. I made summer, winter, fall, space, rain forest. among other globes. Hope that answers your questions, if not, just holler. :)

I like snowglobes, but I thought to myself, "It's not winter yet!" LOL. Lapiscean told me that next month, there would be another globe on display. Sweet! I hope you'll come look, just don't press your nose to the glass! It might be cold. ;-)

The Wild Wild World of Illusions

The Wild Wild World of Illusions by RazorZ and Olga Soulstar

This is probably the most exciting exhibit this month. There is a lot going on. It really feels like the wagon is moving. The following is from a notecard that RazorZ gave me.

This animated piece embodies & expresses how 'wild' Second life can be at times!  Comparing it to the Wild West of the old USA & more recently the ' Spaghetti Western ' films which told fictional stories based on those real life times.  Where everyone is out for themselves & their own self interests, each to their own, getting ejected/banned for bad behavior, ripping others off, some only see what is before them, (On their PC screens in SL now!)  It captures this 'cut-throat' world where a lot of people are just trying to make 'a quick buck' & others who do the right thing, work hard & create a nice life for themselves.  It deals with the Immersive person, dis associative person & the augmentative person, and their approaches to life, second life & the way they live in general.  Already you can start to see the link with, "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly"!?

Also, as I have included a few sound samples & loops from the Sergio Leonie & Ennio Morricone soundtracks, I am making it a tribute to them too, in SL.  As I grew up watching these movies as a kid, which I adored, was influenced by & am still a big fan of.  

These sounds, played on touch by clicking prims, just help more to set the scene & accompany the whole piece & build in general.
With the animated horses, scrolling panoramas & alpha textures & particles it creates a para-lax effect.  Making an immersive piece when you get into it, & onto the poses!  & allowing for a dis associative view point from the outside, looking in!  And what it hopes to realize in the viewer is that it does not actually go anywhere at all!!  That the whole world revolves around the viewer.  And this is true for looking into Second life, through V1 or V2 , Phoenix, Firestorm or any other viewer/browser.  Upon realizing this, take it a step further back through our computer screens to think that in real world,  the environment changes around us as we look, walk & drive/travel about, but we, our inner souls and our bodies remain in the same place.  Our eyes, brains & bodies,  all of our senses create the world we live in.  The wild worlds of illusions!

This all makes us question truly 'what is real'?  (please refer to The Matrix film for explanation  lol)  I shall not get into it here, too long.

The whole set up can be interpreted symbolically.  How the boxes & barrels fall out the back, like we loosing positions, things from our lives we do not care to keep.  Missing inventory objects in SL.  And the particle linden dollars flying out the back as we race ahead careless with what we spend them on, or otherwise spend them randomly or pay over the top of what we should have done.  The tail & side curtains, flapping in the wind, representing parts of us or our lives that are just hanging on.   The past,  present & future as we sit inside our lives and time does not stop, as the scrolling & sliding textures, panoramas do not either!  The horses,  historically symbolic of fertility, carrying the passengers, riders or driver to their destination/s.  And so on, like the back tail gate opens/closes, representing our attempts to save all that we are loosing, trying to keep things inside, &/or keeping ourselves together.  Once you go on this carriage of thought you can start to think of what things symbolically represent to you, on a personal level.

The Kachinas



The Kachinas by Fiona Blaylock

 With the onset of autumn, I am inspired to honor the thunder beings, those who bring the rain.
"The central theme of the kachina cult is the presence of life in all objects that fill the universe. Everything has an essence or a life force, and humans must interact with these or fail to survive."

Click the name plate by this piece and this is what it says in the notecard you should receive in your inventory. Also click on the exhibit to hear a brief sound. Fiona loves to incorporate sound in her art. If you haven't already, go visit her gallery in Artemisia, artFiona.

Judge this!

Judge This! by RazorZ and Olga Soulstar

A piece by RazorZ and Olga Soulstar

This piece is dedicated to all the art both in Second life & real world which does not receive any recognition for its worth & achievements.  It is made & designed to be difficult to judge in the most comical & light hearted way, a little controversial, walking the fine line between insulting & humor!  As this is usually the easiest way to appeal to the widest audience & allow for people to think for themselves, make up their own minds & learn, while 'having a laugh'! 
It is a play on how we look at Art, judge it for ourselves, how it makes us all feel & communicate what we see to others.  This is a piece of theatrical drama with all its animated parts & particles & sounds!  And an interactive piece too which allows the viewer to get involved & make choices.
Partly inspired by a video on youtube called 'Maya particles - PP Man' ;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nyeWUz_6C0&feature=related

Back in March/April 2011 when I seen this video for the 1st time, I was just after winning at UWA for my 'Fractal Garden' piece for the very 1st time there, and was filled with many thoughts & emotions that that provoked.  So I showed the video to my friend Olga, and we chatted more & more about it, soon developing our own ideas for it.  When we started building it, it expressed all of these feelings & thoughts which we were currently discussing.  Things like, 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder', so each of us have our own ways of looking at things.  And judging whether something is good, bad or indifferent is purely a matter of personal opinion & not truly a collective yes or no answer!  Where a panel of so called Judges can say something is brilliant, award it & praise it for what they think & feel is amazing work or craft, many others may feel it to be less deserving & find other pieces of art or other material to be of greater value, quality or style.
'Judge not lest ye be judged'

This phrase is truly something to think about when you look at this "Judge this" art piece!

Nicely done depiction by RazorZ and Olga Soulstar! I love how art can be defined in many ways and there are no wrong interpretations. It is all about one's perspective and one's life experiences. And how much room art gives one for self-expression is just incredible at times.

Hopscotch



Hopscotch by oona Eiren

This piece looks very futuristic and high tech. Notice the satellite receiver. Maybe it's sending out sound waves or broadcasting a message to space. If you check out the links in oona's profile and search  the blogs for mention of her, you'll see that her work tends toward the spacial or galactic. She's also working on machinima (which has been featured in a previous blog entry), so that must be why I haven't had a chance to talk to her yet. Well, I'm sure the machinima will be stunning, just like her builds!

Too Much Caffeine




Too Much Caffeine by Thoth Jantzen

The times I've visited the exhibition area I noticed that the floor area looked kind of empty. So I looked (after talking to FreeWee) and saw many art works in the sky. You can tp up to Thoth's work instead of flying up by clicking the back door, it's near Lapiscean's art piece. Thoth's is just one of the many interesting ones up there. I sent him my questions and below is how our exchange went:

Do you find that you drink a lot of caffeinated drinks? 

Well, in terms of variety, no.  In terms of volume, yeah, I drink waaaay too much coffee.

What are all the shapes in the sphere, are those like enzymes or hormones? 

No..just circles and squares.

The sphere, is that the stomach?

 No, but sometimes I suppose it could be seen that way.  :)

What is this exhibit all about? 

It's explained in the notecard available from the Nametag on the ground near the door.  Basically, it's intended to provided an intensely immerisive experience using streamng media to 'surround' the avatar, giving the illusion, to some degree, of being 'inside' the video. 

From his notecard:

This work is the result of a combination of insomnia, an overactive imagination, a compulsion to build, and too much coffee.  Its sole purpose is create an intensely immersive virtual environment to 'experience' streaming media.  It's the builder's contention that music videos are much more interesting and powerful when the viewer is able to feel as though they've been inserted, even virtually, in TO the media, rather than just passively recieving it from a flat rectangle (let's not get into the fact that this virtual world is ultimately presented on a flat rectangle, for now).
For those adept at camming, there are certain angles to view the object that present some interesting patterns and views; you're left, however, to discover them for yourself (I feel that half the fun in designing, and experiencing, 'art' lies in the 'discovery' of hidden beauty and meaning.  What would life be like without those little "Aha!" moments we crave so much, anyway?).
Thoth says that streaming media is the main part of this work and without it, you're only "getting 10% of what's intended", that said with a smile.

Here's an inside look with media turned on:

The colors, textures, and shapes really made this piece hynotic, intriguing, or as a friend once said on a "higher plane", it is just unique. I think one could spend at least an hour just gazing at or absorbing the textures and ambience in this piece. The colors are swirling around and quickly changing, a lot like how life is in constant motion....constantly changing in numerous, different ways.

I would like to thank all you artists and all who make UWA in SL possible. You are brilliant and you do such wonderful work! I feel fortunate to have seen some of the masterpieces in SL and I hope to see many more! Who knows, maybe I'll start creating art too in SL? ^_^

Once again, thanks to all who participate! Thank you Jayjay, FreeWee, and quadrapop!