What was that???

~ image ~ Sedja at Zooby's where cat avatars can be adopted

A green dot could be seen approaching on the mini-map and then it was next to me ~ and what was that?

Looking around, yes it was ~ it was a person with a cat avatar behaving like a cat ~ brushing against legs ~ moving around ~ entwining ~ being feline.

A little black kitty was visiting my studio ~ and it had a beautiful purrr.

This is the first time I have seen a really excellent cat avatar ~ and like a cat on the move ~ it shed a little love and fur ~ and moved on ~ and was gone.

Just like a cat ~ they either stay forever ~ or are gone in an instant.

Do you love cats?

Now you can be a cat ~ in the virtual world.

A hunt into the Second Life Marketplace revealed a suspicion as to the maker, especially when the ad boldly read ~ "ZOOBY'S offers the very first MESH CAT AVATAR to ever exist in SL. He moves exactly like a real life cat. He randomly relaxes, lays, kneads and sits. He purrs, meows and naps. He runs, jumps, leaps and eats. He is the perfect size for a domestic kitty."

The Marketplace revelation was followed by a foray onto the pixel ground of the Zooby's store and the finding of the cat to adopt, for all who would like to run as a mog, form prides and be able to respond to delicate questions, like ~

"What's new pussycat?"

The ABC Island to sink like Atlantis

~ image ~ Sedja reacts to the news that the ABC Island in Second Life is scheduled sink like Atlantis

It came as quite a shock to discover that Australia's government owned national media network, the Australian Broadcasting Commission, commonly called the ABC, is about to abandon its presence in Second Life and allow its hugely popular island to sink beneath the waves like a second Atlantis.

Launched on the 19th of March 2007, this is where I made my first baby steps as an avatar, ever so gingerly finding out how the virtual world worked, getting the computer settings right and finally breaking out only a year ago to explore virtual world prospects at Nautilus, then venturing into InWorldz and onto OSGrid to see how the growing pantheon of virtual worlds worked.

A report from the day of the launch describes how ~ "The island has been developed collaboratively with 3D, sound and design students and staff from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS), with creative writing from Jackie Turnure (AFTRS/LAMP) and direction and significant building from SL expert Gary Hayes. Interested Second Life residents known as 'ABC Friends', Lisa Dethridge (RMIT) and renowned artist and animator Nathan Jurevicius were also key collaborators in the project."

http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/media/s1874876.htm

After a massive griefing attack in May 2007, the ABC Island was described as the third most visited commercial site in Second Life ~
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/abcs-virtual-site-griefed/story-e6frfmq9-1111113593638

Now the landscape appears to have changed and the ABC is avoiding the virtual worlds in all shapes sizes and forms like it is a carrier of the plague.

Gabby Shaw, Acting Head of Strategic Development @ ABC Innovation recently wrote about the pending death by drowning of the ABC Island ~ "The ABC’s experience in Second Life has certainly exercised our imagination, but we feel there’s not much left to explore. We don’t see any new virtual worlds either by start-ups or a major web presence on the horizon. We do recognise though the continued growth in Second Life’s earnings since it started nine years ago, with one million people logging in each month and earnings of over $75 million a year for the founder Linden Labs. It’s obviously working for some but by all accounts it’s cyber-sex, gaming and virtual real estate that are the real drawcards, so it’s time for us to go."

http://abc-innovation.tumblr.com/

Seeing reference to "cyber sex", one can but wonder if there has been any political influence over the withdrawal of ABC funding for virtual world activities.

This is not a sudden decision, as ABC support for their island in Second Life as been scaled back to a volunteer level for some months, with all the amazing old builds removed and the new less impressive constructions never completed. 

The process appears to have been a slow strangulation, by cutting funding, before the final act of drowning the island.

Australian artists active in the virtual world became alarmed in 2009, when there appeared to be a real prospect that access to the virtual world would be blocked under proposed censorship laws. 

In her letter to the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, the virtual world Australian artist ~ Juanita Deharo ~ wrote in June 2009 ~ "You are probably aware there is concern amongst the virtual world community regarding the possibility of virtual world sites becoming inaccessible due to the possible introduction of filtering. The issue has been somewhat sensationalized and there is now a great deal of concern amongst the virtual world community about the future. I am writing to you to seek clarification of the government’s position and future intentions."

http://juanitadeharo.blogspot.com.au/2009_06_01_archive.html

In her letter Juanita declared, "I represent a group called ‘Australian Artists’ which is a group of artists working within virtual environments, most commonly the virtual world ‘Second Life’, but also including Open Sim, Open Life, Legend City, and others."

The virtual world has come to reflect the interests of people on the street in real life and for some, this is offensive. There will always be members of society who find real life offensive, where art often finds itself in the firing line, as an easy target for offence attacks.

We all have choices and just as in real life, we can decide what we do.

We can build a safe environment for children, but we can also build a mature world, where visual art can be explored in all its dimensions, just as happens in the art galleries of the real world.

If the whole society is forced to become a primary school environment, then youth will never learn to handle the adult world, making forbidden fruits all the more attractive.

This form of morality warps judgement and creates a secret society without moral judgement.

Considering the growth in virtual worlds and their increasing use in education, it is bizarre to see the ABC running away to hide under a bush and as a national broadcasting service, neglecting the needs and rights of a growing number of virtual world users.

A Delightful Adventure

~ image ~ Sedja sketches Jaqi Bluh in the studio ~ on the new couch

A good model can at times be hard to come by and at present I have a good friend living nearby at Nautilus to call upon, with Jaqi Bluh.

The new couch is handy too, as a place to work on, snooze, dream and generate impossible visions.

Nautilus is a very happy place to have a studio, with its echo of history and with the Space Pioneers nearby presenting ambitious designs for our future beyond Earth.

Hopefully we won't get another Earthquake at Nautilus any time soon, as sunken ruins and collapsed walls around the coast show has been the fate of the island from time to time.

Jaqi has the old Bohemian gallery, next to the general store, where she displays odd pieces of art to admire ~ and wonders about that great novel that hasn't been written yet.

Now to ponder upon the exhibition pieces for the gallery over yonder, all finished and ready for some artistic action.

It is all quite a delightful adventure.

The Arrival of the Immaculate Gifts

~ image ~ Sedja stands before The Arrival of the Immaculate Gifts by James Gleeson

It is the pleasure of an artist to be a pilgrim to the great galleries, often built like ancient stone temples, defying time with their immortal treasures.

On one visit to the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1986, I came upon an amazing work by the Australian surrealist painter James Gleeson, entitled The Arrival of the Immaculate Gifts.

For most of his career as an artist, Gleeson painted as if living in Europe, creating works that did not look or feel like Antipodean art.

The master of paint served a long apprenticeship, as it was only when he reached the age of 65 and retired from employment as an art critic, that he was gripped with a new vision which finally revealed that he had grown deep roots into the Australian land and sea scape.

The Arrival of the Immaculate Gifts was one of the first works in this newly invigorated style in 1985, when Gleeson was 70 years old.

Look closely and you will see that it is in part drawing inspiration from Turner's The Shipwreck and taking the story forward in time onto the fatal shore of the Australian land and sea scape, where many have perished on the ocean attempting to reach the land Down Under.

Upon returning to Tasmania, I was delighted to discover another Gleeson gracing the wall of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, called The Nest of Premonitions, which I would spend time with during visits to the city and ever find some new element to wonder upon.

Having been in an ocean cave where the innards of the living sea had been tossed up and revealed, I could feel what Gleeson was saying with his surreal imagery in paint.

I knew this story of the land and sea and sky flowing through his story spread with colour upon canvas to echo through time for others to find.

In 1993 I would have bought that Gleeson in the Watters Gallery in East Sydney, though I know not its name now, if I had the $7000.

It was like a work of devotional art, that would ever inspire, that would ever reveal some new element, as if a hidden program was renewing its form when not seen.

When I see art that draws on the sap of the land, I am left wondering if I am seeing and feeling the dreaming that we hear of in Australian Aboriginal culture, telling the story of the Earth through the dreams of the elders.

Gleeson is gone now, having passed on at the ripe old age of 92, but from his hands there are hundreds of works in the new style of an elder artisan, gifting something immortal to the world and the lovers of art.

The Shipwreck

~ image ~ Sedja in the studio with 'The Shipwreck' by William Turner

One of my all-time favourite paintings is 'The Shipwreck' by William Turner, who proved his metal in this 1805 oil painting for all to see.

It is such a tragic scene, with the death of a ship in a fierce storm and the desperate attempt to rescue survivors.

So many lives were lost to the ocean over the centuries and still are, when people take their fate in their hands on the waves.

Turner did not just observe, but also immersed himself in the experience, as when he had himself tied to the mast of a ship in a storm, so he could feel the experience that he sought to paint.

Such was the movement of light and elements in his art, that he broke the old ways of painting Nature with a new vigorous experience of the land and seascape.

His later art heralds the vision of the Impressionists that were to follow and in many ways, Turner's work is the dawn of the modern art movements that blossomed in the wake of those magicians of light.

Turner's 'Shipwreck' still looks back to an earlier time when art was more formal, but as if the ocean is released through the canvas, a new vision is washing through and a new adventure in art is upon us.

The Man from the Moon

~ image ~ Sedja with the Earthrise

Explorers from the planet Terra ventured to the Moon to challenge infinity and looked back to discover the Earth, floating like an emerald in the velvet night of space.

For a moment the vision echoed around home planet with the words of the explorer from the Sea of Tranquility, "That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind."

Then, like Narcissus falling in love with his reflection in the water, the human spirit fell for the Earth and fell back from the Moon

For some the love was with the beauty of the emerald orb, the spaceship Earth on its endless journey through the cosmos.

For many the love was for the black coal and oil that enabled a mighty civilization to rise and deliver wealth to many, but not all.

For a few the flickering flame of expansion among the stars lived on, but such was the magnetic attraction of Narcissus for the waters of Earth, most people remained blind to the glittering stars.

The man from the Moon has now left the stage, along with many who challenged infinity, but his memory will live on like an echo through time, of a mythical age when Narcissus looked up and reached for the stars.

Should we kick the water, should we splash the face, should we break the trance that has Narcissus' gaze locked upon the shimmering Earth?

Those who dream may sing their song of space and might be heard, that we can, if we will, rise up and reach for the Sun's unlimited energy and build far greater dreams than can ever be known on Earth alone.

Instead of slowly killing home planet through obsessive lust, we will have the energy to save the Earth from Narcissus' trance and liberate the human spirit among the stars.

If enough people awaken, to beat the drum of action, to return to the Moon, to press on to Mars, to reach for the stars.  

Just Dreaming

~ image ~ Sedja on Stjarna's couch ~ just dreaming

At times it is sublime just to dream, to float on the river of time in the sun and wonder about all that might be.

That is the role of an artist in life ~ to dream and to wonder ~ and then to create the wonder that makes others wonder.

The artist may go out into life ~ even for years ~ to experience the strife and the sublime ~ and then return to a safe haven to dream.

And out of the dreaming the form can emerge ~ from the memory of strife and sublime ~ of excitement and beauty ~ of places beyond the touch of sight or depth of reason.

And so it flows from the artist's dream, from the depths of imagination, a new flower of creativity may blossom in the light of the sun.

From the heart of the dreaming ~ through the hands of the making ~ into the creating and sharing. 

And then people passing by may stop to see the flower of art and wonder at this dream now taken form ~ and be moved by the experience ~ and be inspired to wonder and dream of what might be.