V. Lenoirre's Review of Project Guernia at LEA6

On November 13th at 2pm SLT, Project Guernica, a full sim build by Lizzie Gudkov and London Junkers, opened. http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA6/67/126/30

 Project Guernica is dedicated to Pablo Picasso's famous painting, Guernica. The painting portrayed the bombing of the Basque town, Guernica, during the Spanish Civil War. He created this huge mural in 1937 at the request of the Spanish Republican government.

The landing point to this full sim gallery is on a circular platform, surrounded by a railing. Lizzie and London stayed for a few hours to welcome friends and guests to their opening.

The platform location and its design is really quite clever. You feel like you're in the middle--at the very core of the art installation. And above and in front of you is the great mural....Guernica. It is like a grand presentation for your senses. You're in the midst of a great piece of art, kind of like being in the midst of war. It's awesome in its effect on your mind and your eyes. The images, the news, the people, the casualties...it is so real, yet at times you find it so surreal.

Landing platform at Project Guernica Nov. 13th, 2012

Closeup of Project Guernica, the red circle is SaveMe Oh. :-)

You can click either of the signs in the first picture for a Project Guernica gift and for a notecard describing the Project.

The rendering of this scene is great. Lizzie and London constructed it with prims. The 3-dimensional aspect is absolutely wonderful. One guest was thrilled at being able to sit on a section of this enormous build.

I even got a close up of the center of this image, the fallen horse and the fallen knight.

Center of Project Guernica

The timing for this work is relevant. The world is involved in the Iraq War and War in Afghanistan. There's just so much bloodshed and suffering. This mural has light that symbolizes hope. So my first question to Lizzie and London is: Where do you see hope in the wars we're facing right now?



*Where do you see hope in the wars we're facing right now?


London: Hope is a quality that we have. As the human kind progresses, culture changes and more of us understand that war is a futile effort. We shall never give up hope that peace will prevail some day.

Lizzie: Art is often an expression of reality, feelings and it may even anticipate solutions. Hopefully, art will have its share of contribution in finding a resolution for wars in the world.



*Is this your favorite work by Picasso?


Lizzie: Picasso is such an amazing artist, that it is difficult to choose one single piece!

London: I agree with Lizzie! It is definitely one of his best pieces but too difficult to compare to other epochs and styles of his work.



*What fascinates you about it?


London: Its dimension and what it represents.

Lizzie: I think that it is an impressive piece. It's incredibly rich and it allows for a diverse interpretation, in many ways reflecting our individual experiences and backgrounds.



*What was the hardest part about building this masterpiece in 3d for LEA6?


Lizzie: *points to London* :)

London: Building this piece was a joy and a challenge. In terms of the pieces the original painting has, the translation to a 3D environment of the horse was the biggest challenge.



*Where else do you have art showing in SL?


London: We had artwork in the UWA where we have participated in several of their contests. Plus we have also taken part recently in The Art of Protest exhibit.

Lizzie: We would like to thank LEA for giving us this chance and we are happy that the  Second Life community is enjoying it. The comments have been very positive. Thank you, Victoria, for this opportunity to share a few thoughts about "Project Guernica"!

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To Lizzie and London, you are most welcome. I enjoy seeing your art and I love being able to ask you and other artists about your work. Building can take awhile and it is always wonderful to see the result. A lot of time and love really goes into it. Your time and effort is very much appreciated!

If you haven't seen it yet, you should visit LEA6 to see Project Guernica! It is up for your pleasure until the end of this month!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American fellows in SL!

Have fun and enjoy the art!

-Victoria Lenoirre

Down to Earth

The UWA Artists' Choice Challenge for this month is on the theme: "EARTH". This is the last of the elemental themes the began with AIR, followed by WATER and FIRE.
Runs through Dec. 9.  SLURL

Mother Earth, nurtures and sustains us all, a small orb among many orbiting an insignificant star. She is the origin of life and is destined to receive life back again as dust. A delicate balance. Tectonic plates shifting. Species, including us, evolving and facing extinction. (A metaphor for every individual life?) The planet is so strong and so delicate. It's astounding that life is resilient enough to survive here. And yet here we are. Our artists were asked to show us what Earth means to them.

We received 27 entries from 26 artists (including one collaborative work and three artists with dual entries). People's Choice voting is now active for you to go explore and rate your favorites. The entries include:

• Aquaglo, MellyDee Macfanatic, Dinny Voom    Earth, without her?... We would NOT exist! 
• Barbara Wardell    Protect Our Planet Earth
• Brune BB Crash Queen    Madre Tierra
• Carmsie Melodie    Cherish and Renew
• Corcosman Voom    Harvest Dance
• Dragon Lord    Pachamama
• Dragon Lord    Please Recycle
• Finn Lanzius    The Formation of the Earth
• FreeWee Ling    Persistent Effects
• FreeWee Ling    It's the End of the World As We Know It
• GeeJAnn Blackadder    Microcosm
• Haveit Neox    Road Kill
• Herbie Haven    Earth (The Big Squeeze)
• Jeneve Felwitch    Earth Priestess
• Johnas Merlin    The desert in bloom
• Kandinsky Beaumont    EAT DIRT OR BE DIRT
• Krystali Rabeni    What a Wonderful World
• Lilia Artis    Earthen Patterns
• Lucignolo (coddax)    Universe Tao Ming
• Misprint Thursday    Earth Signal
• Nexuno Thespian    Earth Passion
• Secret Rage    Earth Child
• Secret Rage    Earth to Earth
• Silene Christen    Conceptual Earth
• Sir Real (vgtar.carlberg)    Goodbye Galileo, We are Redesigning the Earth to be Flat!
• Talia Sunsong    Abundant Earth Gaia Statue
• Talia Sunsong    I Will Shelter You

LEA FULL SIM ART SERIES (NOV): LONDON & LIZZIE'S GUERNICA

London Junkers & Lizzie Gudkov take over at LEA 6 for the NOVEMBER ROUND of the LEA FULL SIM ART SERIES (here for full year schedule), bringing back yesteryear with "PROJECT GUERNICA".
 
GRAND OPENING:
2PM SLT, TUESDAY 13th NOVEMBER
LOCATION: HERE AT LEA 6

IN LONDON'S WORDS:
In 1937 Spanish painter Pablo Picasso created one of the most important icons of the 20th century when he made the Guernica.

Painted in black and white, depicting the horrors of war, it is today as solid and modern as it was when it was first shown  in the 1937 International Fair in Paris.  T

he intention of re-creating this masterpiece in Second Life comes from the love for the original mural itself and what it represents. After a lot of thought and experimenting with external 3d software,a decision was made, this installation would be built primarily in prims, as an exercise of the possibilities that LEA has given us. With this piece, we would like  to pay  homage to Picasso and let visitors learn more from it.

A Ziki Questi image from the Grand Opening of Project Guernica

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Extinguishing the Fire

Saturday morning brought the latest in the UWA Artists' Choice Challenge awards presentation and the official closing of the "FIRE" show. Taralyn Gravois emceed the event.

By an overwhelming consensus, Nexuno Thespian won the First Place award for the October challenge, which featured the theme "FIRE".Nexuno's entry titled "Fireflower" seemed to have everything one could want -- exquisite use of form, color, figures, animation, and music to express a surreal vision of passion and heat and beauty.

In Second Place was Krystali Rabenow's "Tragedy", a poignant diorama showing a puppet theater on fire, the collapsed marionette resigning to his fate of impending doom as the result of an unrequited love .

In third place was Secret Rage's cryptic, surrealistic vision titled "When Lightning Strikes."

While we had no unscripted entries in last month's "Water" themed show, this month we had five to choose from. There was a separate balloting for this award, and the participating artists chose Corcosman Voom's "Fire Birds."

The FIRE show was featured on the SL login screen for the last few days of the show, resulting in a flurry of voting for the People's Choice award. With over 700 votes cast overall, the decisive favorite was Barry Richez's "Douce Colombe" ("Sweet Dove") inspired by poem of Mlle. NGEUFEU KENNE Alvine of Cameroon.

The full transcript of the awards presentation follows:
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Welcome to the sixth edition of the UWA Artists' Choice Awards!

As is tradition at the University of Western Australia, we would like to acknowledge that the University is situated on Nyoongar land and that the Nyoongar people remain the spiritual and cultural custodians of their land and continue to uphold their values, languages, beliefs and knowledge.

Before we announce the winners, FreeWee would like me to remind you that this amazing FIRE show is officially closing today, though it may remain up for another few days while the EARTH show gets installed. Do please take a last tour ASAP.

The exhibition catalogues for each of the Artsts' Choice challenges are being published in the online journal "UWA Studies in Virtual Arts." The current "FIRE" show will be added to the previous five editions that covered the "3D Self Portraits," "Perfume," "Music", "Air," and “Water” shows earlier this year. The catalogues for WATER and FIRE should be published very soon. They and the earlier editions can be found at this link: http://uwainsl.blogspot.com/p/uwa-siva.html

FreeWee has published the complete photo archive (166 images) of "FIRE" at this URL: http://goo.gl/Sqs7S

FreeWee also urges you to submit your work for the next show on the theme: "EARTH". Deadline for submissions is TOMORROW, SUNDAY at NOON SLT. The gallery for EARTH is under construction and the show should be open within a couple of days.

Looking ahead, start working on your submissions for the show to follow EARTH as we finish out the series of Artists Choice theme shows in December with a theme called "TRIPTYCH." Deadline for TRIPTYCH will be announced very soon. Full details on the Artist’s Choice Challenges are on the website at this URL: http://uwainsl.blogspot.com/p/artists-choice-challenge.html

The UWA Artists' Choice challenges are designed to inspire and support the work of artists. The key difference from earlier challenges is that the main awards are determined entirely by the votes of the participating artists and sponsors themselves. It's a special honor to be acknowledged by our colleagues.
We received 26 amazing entries for the FIRE theme by 20 artists.

L$15,000 was donated by our sponsors this month. Clearly, none of this would have been possible without the tremendous support of UWA in SL, and most especially the imagination and vision of JayJay Zifanwe.

We also express our deepest gratitude to the other sponsors for this event, including:

• Armany Thursday and Dyce Underwood for DNA Art and Music Fusion
• Flora Nordenskiold and NordanArt
• Ginger Alsop and Phi Clothing Designs
• and special donations by anonymous donors

Anyone wishing to support future challenges, please contact FreeWee Ling.

Now to the awards. Choosing "FIRE" for the October theme was inspired by the idea of having four related shows based on the alchemical "elements” of air, water, fire, and earth. The interpretations of "FIRE" have been diverse as usual. From fiery passion to nuclear fission to hot peppers and fried eggs. This has been one of the most engaging shows in the series.

The FIRE show was a featured site on the SL Login screen for a day or two this week. We have hosted over 300 unique visitors who cast a total of 725 votes for the People’s Choice award.

The voting was clear, with just over 20  points separating the winner from its closest competitor.
The People's Choice Award (L$2000) for UWA Artists' Choice FIRE goes to:

DOUCE COLOMBE by Barry Richez

Rounding out the top five were: both entries by Nexuno Thespian, Krystali Rabeni’s “Tragedy”, and Talia Sunsong’s “Ignite Passion”.

Next we go to the Non-scripted Award. This was determined by a separate vote by the artists. Last month there were no non-scripted entries. This time there are five to choose from.

The Non-Scripted Award for FIRE (L$3000) goes to:

FIREBIRDS by Corcosman Voom

Corcosman’s entry was followed closely by Chic Aeon’s “Global Warming”, with Dividni Shostakovich’s "Fire Is a Verb”, Dragon Lord’s “Man on fire an eternal flame”, and Hypatia Pickens’s “Fire Elemental: Salamander” rounding out the top five (with only one point separating the last three).
We go now to the overall awards.

The voting was diverse as always, with only one point separating each of the 4th-through 2nd places. But the First Place winner got more than double the score of the next highest competitor.

The Third Place Award (L$3000) goes to:

WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES by Secret Rage

Secret’s piece has so much going on, it takes close examination to take it all in. Her work always reflects a unique, often surrealistic, vision.

The Second Place Award (L$5000) goes to:

TRAGEDY by Krystali Rabeni

The aptly titled story of a marionette with a love that could never be touched many viewers. A work finely executed with a strong emotional impact.

Which brings us to the First Place award.

There seemed to be no question at all as to the winner of this round. By an overwhelming vote, the First Place Award (L$7000) for FIRE goes to:

FIREFLOWER by Nexuno Thespian

Our congratulations to Nexuno! Other artists who ranked strongly in the overall voting, in no particular order, included Nexuno’s other entry LEAVES DON'T FALL, RUST MAN by Herbie Haven, DOUCE COLOMBE by Barry Richez, PHOENIX RISING by Silene Christen, and FIERY FLAMES OF PASSION by Aquaglo and MellyDee Macfanatic.

Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to all who participated in a great show! Please take a final look around before you leave today.  The FIRE show will all be gone soon to make room for the EARTH, opening soon. Thank you all for coming! Have a great day!