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| LUMIERE (with the blessings of those who love him) |
I heard the sad news that Lumiere Noir, the legendary creator of the Ivory Tower of Primitives has moved on from the mortal plane. Lumiere one of the kindest and most generous people with his knowledge and he was mentor to a whole generation of artists and creators some of whom count among the best artists in Second Life today.
Lumiere had been on the judging panels of the UWA Art and Film Challenges these past few years and it was an honour to have worked with him. Vincent Frost (Lumiere), you live on in our hearts and minds always. This world needed you in it more than 52 years... but in those years... WOW...
(click here for his speech from 2010 @ The Imagine Challenge winners announcements ... the very first Grand Finale held at UWA)
This is a little something, with dedications to him by a few people:
From TOSHA TYRAN
(SL Partner)
Oh Love, you are gone
and I wanted to tell you so much yet:
how I love you
cherish you.
How I love your voice
your stories
your laughter
your thoughtfulness
your sadness too.
Watching movies with you
endless discussions
and always your tenderness
your gentleness
your sweetness
which not only enclosed me
but all people that surrounded you.
Love, you are gone
but never for me
you and I we were of
one mind
one soul
and that will never change.
My sadness
FROM GWEN CARRILON
Dear Vince,
What you loved about your favorite book of Japanese folk tales, were the unexpected endings to the stories.You once told me that those stories were great because they didn't always have happy endings.You said those stories were great because they unsettled the reader and caused one to pause and think.That was you all over! This was unexpected. You never did the expected.
You always taught others the benefits of taking the long and scenic route.You even pushed me to walk across town with you! I saw more of my own neighborhood with you than I had the whole time I lived there!
"Walking is good for you! Things look and sound different when you walk You can see things you'd miss while in a car."
Again- you were right. (Though my feet didn't thank you !) You knew that the long way around was often the most rewarding.
You tried to teach me to speak Mandarin! Yes ...you tried, ( I never learned...but that was my fault.) because it was inconceivable that you could know something and not share that knowledge. You were are born teacher. Your students at school were very fortunate to have you in their corner.
Your puns were painful ( I loved our pun wars! ) and your sense of humor quirky. I loved your mix of sarcasm with philosophy,your "Howdy howdy howdy" 's and your "toodles".
Teacher, artist, writer, crusader, adventurer, orator, designer, builder, dreamer, romantic, philosopher, spiritualist, optimist, fellow goofy person. Friend. To say that I will miss your presence, is an understatement. I am one among many that were lucky enough to call you ....Friend.
[2009/06/27 20:02] Lumiere Noir: ready! Where shall we meet again, in thunder, lightning or in rain?
[2009/06/27 20:03] Gwen Carillon: send tp to the center of your consciousness ...I'll meet you by the dust bunnies
"Toodles", Vince,, and one last hug.
FROM JOPSY PENDRAGON (another legend of SL)
You were a muse, a source of inspiration, creativity and mad tinkering... and you brought out the best in all of us. I'll miss you and all the wonderous things that will never be created without you.
FROM ELIZA WIERWIGHT
I've struggled for days to write this, I'm very poor at parting with the people that I value. So I compartmentalise the grief associated rather than embrace it head on. In the terms of my friendship with Lumi, the memories, the things I learnt from this Master Weaver of Prim, the pleasure of constantly observing his effortless generosity and not for a moment forgetting the laughter we collectively shared. We'd need a barrel of Mega prim of proportion of storage to hold all that. Some of you will recall the kind of Mega prim I'm referring too, the kind banned around 2011. The type had the potential to spread across multiple regions. We wouldn't be going for a box shape though, it would be a Torus all the way, Lumi loved a good torus, it was his favourite prim type. He in fact reminded a group of us one day that we all came out of a torus, you can't argue with that.So I trawled my diabolical Inventory a few days ago when I heard the incredibly sad news of Lumi's far too early passing. Looking for images of him during our mis-adventures so that Jay could share them here on this blog, looking for remnants of my friend in prim & code & text. Remembering exactly how I'd been fortunate enough to make his acquaintance & as time rolled on, his friendship. I had it immediately, I just wasn't immediately aware.
In March 2009, I explored for my first time, an incredible build, Planet Mongo. So luminous, so complex, so bloody perfect. So hedonistic in build terms and entirely outside of the realm of anything else I'd ever envisaged Inworld. I was captivated. It ticked every creative box in me, the prim work I purred, the textures I wrung my hands with delight. I had barely toyed with photography Inworld at that point being less than a year into SL and yet I found myself compelled to grab vignettes of the pixels for my very own. One of those SL memories when you discover the work of someone and later when you log out you so get it, so understand the allure of the craft. Sort of prim euphoria.......
Approximately 6 months later I was going through my Inworld images and come across those Planet Mongo textures and mused how beautiful they were but also had the potential to be on one of my hanging Kimono builds. The builds I was constantly tweaking and returning too because it was the first time I felt I was articulating in prim something that was inherently me. I slipped the texture onto the raw prim form, it was magic. A texture made entirely from Lumi's skill & poetry of design. Now one thing I was fortunate to learn early in my building days was to give fair and appropriate credit, at the very least, seek permission when something focal in your work is derived outside your own immediate realm. So I sent this 'Lumiere Noir' a notecard, explaining what I'd done, asking whether he was okay with it all. Not long after I get an IM from Lumi, he teleports over to baby Patron to see the Kimono, gives his entire consent, rezzes his latest UFO build and suddenly we're off. Creating havoc all over my half SIM, manic particles trailing, laughing like a lunatics & I suspect somewhere midst the chaos he's chattering about prim physics & server response times & scripting.Also around this time I'm predominantly keeping company of some inspired Builders, again serendipity, you know who you are, no need for name dropping. Sublime group of marauding miscreants we were. Mentioned in passing this really nice "Lumiere" dude I'd met, only to be sternly informed with some immediate reverence that I'd spent the afternoon hanging out with "The Grandfather of Building in Second Life", lofty for someone as young as Lumi huh. Not to mention (as I haven't) the incredible skill base of those paying the accolades. I cringed thinking he'd been subjected to looking at my work.
The other inherent charm of Lumi is he never grand stranded his own value, I think it amused him to some degree but he never loitered there. See Lumi had simply friended me, pertaining to see 'something' in what I was attempting to do Inworld & would drag me over to his SIM to see his recent works in progress which interestingly ALWAYS became an informal one on one Lumi patiently teaching Eliza to build class (he had a long streak of masochism in those days too apparently) I knew at this point he'd created the Ivory Tower and the legacy that was for many fledgling builders, I'd loitered there in times prior. Those that know me very well are aware that unless I'm in a specific head space I've the attention span of a flea. In those days great Builders just hadn't developed the rockstar status I attributed to them in later years. That visceral reaction when you know someone truly exists beyond the pale. Lumi was somewhere beyond that class, just not to him.
Naturally components of our friendship weren't all about building, Lumiere was so multi faceted, he also used to read books in voice over at Planet Mongo for groups of devotees on certain days a week. Risqué science fiction, another joy. He'd slap me on the back of the head via IM prior to starting and command my attendance. Just never could say no. As a side note one of the most kitsch abhorrent works of mine, intentionally in this instance lol, 'The Mr T Stained Glass Window" gifted to Lumi as a joke, he genuinely adored and hung behind the seat where he read those stories. So I sat there and squirmed with delight. MY work in Lumi's build, I mean seriously. Does it get any better than that ? Well possibly, but in those days I was buoyed & that fostered a confidence that extended far past my actual ability to build, great Teachers do that.
So we're firm friends, I'm still getting building classes one on one & feeling guilty. Posed the potential of Lumi extending the premise to a slightly larger audience . He agreed, dragged the League of Muses into the class realm and the apocalypse of fun starts. Don't get me wrong we were learning, constantly, but the fun had by all was off the charts. You get that many creative close friends in one spot it gets crazy, a special kind of crazy.
I've touched base with a few of these friends over the last few days, we're all on the same page, feeling the immense gravity of the loss of Lumi, reminiscing over his skill, his generosity, his superb sense of play. Promising each other to down tools or other and spend more time together. Not a bad legacy Lumi, because you know at the end of the day it's a select few of us that will earn the merit of anyone actually recalling what we created Inworld, the friendships though, the memories and feelings, they'll quite thankfully never be gone & neither are you my friend, neither are you.
I'll let Keith handle the last part and I quote.
"Keith Extraordinaire: *bows to the Luminator*"
You nailed it Keith.______________
Preludes in Higher Learning and Chaos. Lumiere Noir: E has already quite correctly noted my obsession with the torus Eliza Wierwight: I'm gifted finaaaaaaaaally ! Lumiere Noir: I adore kitschAfter rezzing an incredibly intricate template he'd made earlier which had all our jaws dropped.Lumiere Noir: I find this stuff very freeingI think my feeling at that point was something like "WTF"On the topic of home crafted micro prim, we weren't very PC I'm afraidLumiere Noir: you should wind up with something even smaller than a Soylent Green crackerLumiere Noir: okay....on to the other really super tiny micro prim making methodLumiere Noir: this will yield something about the size of a grain of sandLumiere Noir: I'm not really sure what it will be useful forCuwynne Deerhunter: shields his eyesLumiere Noir: but when you want to cast prims into your enemies eyes...make a bunch of these and set them physical.Lumiere Noir: the prim's path is...well thing of it as a wad of play doughLumiere Noir: or ordinary dough if you're from a country with no play-dough!Lumiere Noir: the profile is what gives the prim it's horizontal shapeLumiere Noir: and the path gives it it's verticle shape...I hope that makes senseLumiere Noir: we're going to cut it along it's path, like a pieCuwynne Deerhunter: indeed
Lumiere Noir: or a do-nutLumiere Noir: I like do-nut metaphorsAshera Enoch likes donuts.Cuwynne Deerhunter: ~has some rude ones for later~Lumiere Noir: and this is a pretty good base for a ring, you can shrink it down and use it for oneEliza Wierwight: oh myLumiere Noir: lolAriadne Barzane: Was waiting for that to start!I can't share the rest of that group conversation, it takes a salacious dive into Hell and mirth.........
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