Art in Second Life 2022 (63) Gateway Gallery July 2022

Nils Urqhart sent me an invitation for an opening event at the Gateway Gallery. On June 30th a joined exhibition was opened there featuring 4 artists with different segments of art:
Nils Urqhart (RL photos)
Rage W Darkstone (Rage Darkstone) (large sculptures)
Terra Merhyem (TerraMerhyem) (colourful sculptures)
Zia Branner (paintings)

The Gateway Gallery is embedded into the main building of the Gateway International Airport in Second Life, the entry point to Sansara and Heterocera for air and sea traffic from all over the mainland. The airport itself is owned by Lethra. As the management is done by a group, founded by Lethra, I couldn’t find out who curates the Gateway Gallery.

The Gateway Gallery extends over two floors. In the entrance area and in the main hallway are one big sculpture named “Split” by Rage W Darkstone (Rage Darkstone) and three smaller sculptures of Terra Merhyem (TerraMerhyem).
The hall on the left side shows the exhibtion “Meraki” by Zia Branner and the sculptures by Terra Merhyem, who titled her part “Beings”. The hall on the right side shows Nils Urqhart’s exhibition “And darkness came..” along with a few large sculptures of Rage W Darkstone. Rage titled his part “Trompe l’Oeil”

I visited Zia Branner’s exhibition “Meraki” first. Meraki is a Greek word and means about as much as doing something with passion, love and creativity and giving a piece of yourself into it. Quite a fitting title!
I found a board where I could grab a notecard from Zia:
“Zia Branner had many drawing and painting art lessons at official institutes RL. She is also autodidact on things that did not come along in class. To her making art is a way of life. Often experimenting with techniques as a learning process …. The most important thing to her is that it makes her happy to see others enjoy her art as much as she loves creating it.”
Zia is in Second Life since 2008. She uploaded her RL paintings into SL. Zia owns an art gallery/shop “Elven Falls Art Collective“. Zia also has other permanent exhibitions at The Galleries, Emergent and at Carmel Art Community.

Zia Branner’s art is mostly colourful and ranges from abstract pictures over landscapes to flowers

Impressions of Gatway Gallery July 2022 (1) – Entrance hall (upper left) with Rage W Darkstone’s sculpture “Split” (lower left), Zia Branner’s paintings (upper right) and Terra Merhyem’s sculptures (lower right)

I had seen Nils Urqhart’s exhibition “And darkness came..” last year already (read here). As the Gateway gallery offers more space Nils’ photographs get more room and you can focus more on each photo than in the exhibition I had seen before.
Nils Urqhart (Paul Maurice in RL) is a French photographer in RL. He takes his photos mainly in French Alps and other French mountains (Vosges, Jura, Bugey, Aubrac…). Nils has a lot of exhibitions in different SL galleries every year.
Nils is in SL since December 2007. Since 2010, his photos have been on display year-round at Art gallery Rill’Arts. Nils (or Paul in RL) has an own website where you can purchase his pictures to decorate you RL home.
Nils Urqhart is the creator of the RL Photo Festival Helvellyn, the Helvellyn Christmas Market and the Helvellyn Summer Fair – all three are annual artistic events. There are quite some potential contact opportunities besides his webpage: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Impressions of Gateway Gallery July 2022 (2) – Zia Branner (upper left), Terra Merhyem (lower left), Rage W Darkstone’s sculptures (upper and lower left), Nils Urqhart photos in the backgroun (lower left and upper and lower right)

Rage W Darkstone (Rage Darkstone) describes himself as “Creativity Junky”. He’s in Second Life since 2007. Rage has an own gallery, the AvA Art Gallery. He also has some permanent and current exhibitions at The Galleries, Vision of Beauty Art Complex and at The Dove Rhoads.

Terra Merhyem (TerraMerhyem) is in Second Life since 2016. She’s a “French 2D / 3D artist, makes phostos, machinima and performances, is a choreographer and curator. Leitmotiv in my life is “Beauty”, that’s why the sentence in my profile is a verse of “The Beauty” (Baudelaire): “I am beautiful, ô mortals, like a dream of (Dark)stone…””
Terra also has several exhibtions at The Dove Rhoads Gallery. You also find her at flickr.
Terra Merhyem and Rage Darkstone are partnered in Second Life.

Impressions of Gateway Gallery July 2022 (3) – Rage W Darkstone’s sculpture “Trompe L’oeil” (upper right), one of Nils Urqhart’s photos (upper middle), Terra Merhyem’s sculptures with Zia Branner’s paintings in the background (upper right and lower left and right)

Thank you Lethra for providing the space for the arts, thanks to all who were involved to enable this great varied exhibition of different art. And last but not least, thank you to all participating artists.

Diomita Maurer’s Blog