Art in Second Life 2023 (6) Mindful Exploration by Michiel Bechir

23 Jan 2023 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life, Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , ,

Art in Second Life 2023 (6) Mindful Exploration by Michiel Bechir

I got an invitation from Jaz (jessamine2108) to the opening of a new exhibition at the Third Eye Gallery: “Mindful Exploration” by Michiel Bechir. I couldn’t attend the opening event but I went there a day before.

The exhibition consists of 10 pictures by Michiel Bechir. Michiel wrote about the exhibition: “A walking meditation helps us feel less distracted by thoughts and allows us to enjoy our stroll more. This exhibition is dedicated to this theme. I will show different locations on the Mindful Cove sim. The works have hardly been edited as I want to show the scenery in its most natural way.”

Impressions of “Mindful Exploration” by Michiel Bechir @ Third Eye Gallery (1)

Michiel has started his long virtual journey into Second Life as a photographer in 2009. Michiel enjoys seeing new places, meeting new people from all over the world and expierencing the creativity in Second Life (just like I do!). Michiel discovered the possiblities of different tools to improve his pictures. By editing them he also tries to add a personal touch and feeling.
Michiel owns and curates an own gallery, the Michiel Bechir Gallery. He also has a gallery with a selection of pictures at Art Park. Furthermore you can also see more of his work on his flickr page.

The featured pictures show the beauty of natural almost untouched nature that you can experience in Second Life – and Michiel’s passion for it.

Impressions of “Mindful Exploration” by Michiel Bechir @ Third Eye Gallery (2)

I had never heard about “Mindful Cove“, although it must be a sim that exists already for many years. Inspired by my visit to “Mindful Exploration” by Michiel Bechir I went exploring Mindful Cove myself.
Mindful Cove is a full region owned by a group founded by Avalon Birke who is in Second Life already since 2006. From the landmark profile I took the description of it: “Mindful Cove exists to provide both an entry point into Second Life, and an ongoing community region for newcomers and long-time residents alike, based on the core principle that SL can be an excellent place to engage in activities that support emotional and mental well-being.”
And in Avalon Birke’s profile I found the information: “After 14 years of volunteer service in SL, I have semi-retired – and Mindful Cove is now in the very capable hands of my friend Coughran Mayo.”

Impressions of “Mindful Cove” (1)

I started my own walking meditation and took a few pictures of this beautiful place myself. I can tell it is really worth a visit and offers beautiful views and the possibility ot take a short trip into nature, to blind out everyday life for and to get to positive thoughts. A very well made place!

Impressions of “Mindful Cove” (2)

Third Eye is Jaz (jessamine2108)’s home and gallery – a place that is designed to showcase art, particles, inspire stories, and offer a quiet place to relax and rejuvenate. Jaz says: “It is the culmination of my many dreams – to create a place that nurtures and helps the growth of all types of creative endeavors – be it words, pictures, or particles.“

I enjoyed my visit to the Third Eye Gallery and to “Mindful Exploration” by Michiel Bechir as well as my short trip to “Mindful Cove“. Thank you Jaz for enabling the exhibition “Mindful Exploration”. Thank you Michiel for your artwork – and for inspiring me to make a short trip to “Mindful Cove” myself.

Landmark to Third Eye and to Mindful Exploration by Michiel Bechir
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ravenglass/13/165/1002
Michiel Bechir’s flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39613053@N03/
The Michiel Bechir Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Embrace/26/226/2502
Michiel Bechir’s gallery at Art Park
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fermat/148/36/53
Landmark to Mindful Cove
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mindful%20Cove/180/175/27

Art in Second Life 2022 (89) Eunoia by Zia Branner

02 Nov 2022 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , , ,

I got an invitation from Zia Sophia (Zia Branner) to attend the opening of her latest exhibition named “Eunonia” at the Third Eye. I had no time to attend the opening but went there soon before.

Third Eye is Jaz (jessamine2108)’s home and gallery – a place that is designed to showcase art, particles, inspire stories, and offer a quiet place to relax and rejuvenate. Jaz says: “It is the culmination of my many dreams – to create a place that nurtures and helps the growth of all types of creative endeavors – be it words, pictures, or particles.“
Jaz shares the land with Harry Cover (impossibleisnotfrench), who runs his shop “L’Artisan” on the sim. Both are artists and I have reported about them before.

The Third Eye gallery is in a skybox. It is a classic gallery, in the form of a “L”. Zia’s pictures are arranged at the walls, in the center is a plave to dance and to celebrate events.

Impressions of “Eunoia” by Zia Branner @ Third Eye (1)

Zia explains the word Eunoia in the notecard that came with the invitation:
“Eunoia comes from the Greek word eúnoia. The meaning of this word is: beautiful thinking, a well mind. It indicates a mind in balance, benevolence, goodwill and kindness. 
In all lives from time to time it isn’t easy to have a mind in balance. We have our downs, we have our challenges. There is cold, there is warmth. Our strength then lays in our goodwill, in our kindness and with this the balance in our mind and our well being goes up again.
For me Eunoia is represented by the main colors blue and red. Of course you can assign to it the colors that are most applicable to you.“

Zia’s pictures are mostly abstract, yet the human brain tends to sort the impressions and to compare with known patterns. Some of them clearly look like labdscapes, like a beach or like a waterfall. Others are completely abstract, colourful and with multiple forms so that you can see objects like stones, teeth,  hands, or even persons or faces. And often the main colour is blue or red.

Impressions of “Eunoia” by Zia Branner @ Third Eye (2)

“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 Sophia (Zia Branner)’s motto is : “The Earth without ‘art’ is just ‘eh'”

Thank you Jaz (jessamine2108) and Harry Cover (impossibleisnotfrench) for providing the space for the arts and for enabling this exhibition by Zia. Thank you Zia for your artwork. I enjoyed my visit.

P.S.: Don’t forget to grab the two gifts in the center of the exhibition space. One gift is a 3D object created by Harry, the other is a painting from Zia.

Landmark to Third Eye and to “Eunoia” by Zia Sophia (Zia Branner)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ravenglass/13/165/1002
Zia Branner’s art gallery/shop “Elven Falls Art Collective”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Elven%20Falls/252/41/22
Zia Branner at “The Galleries”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Georgiana/241/100/57
Zia Branner at “Emergent”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mystique%20Isle/191/20/21
Zia Branner at “Carmel Art Community”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/McFarren/236/161/36

Art in Second Life 2020 (63) Third Eye Gallery October 2020 – Poppy & Thus Yootz

06 Oct 2020 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

I got an invitation from Jaz (Jessamine2108) for the opening of a new exhibition at the Third Eye Gallery, featuring the artists poppy (popikone) and Thus Yootz. I visited on October 3rd, just a few hours before the opening.

Poppy (popikone) is in Second Life for 5 years. She has a passion for photography. Storing her pictures on Flickr she came across SL. As we all know the creativity in Second Life is almost unlimited and hence poppy gets always soemthing to inspire her. The exhibition at Third Eye Gallery is her first exhibtion in Second Life ever. It shows a broad variety of picture. You can recognize that some of her pictures have their origin in SL, but for some I couldn’t tell at all. Poppy processes her pictures with different tools and techniques. The result is intriguing.

poppy (popikone)’s art at Third Eye Gallery October 2020

It is also the first time that I came across Thus Yootz. Thus is in Second Life for almost 12 years and has many different passions here. She plans and organizes weddings, she designs sims and gardens. she creates trees and plants and of course she has a passion for photography.
Thus is from Greece and studied the arts. She has taken art in many group art exhibitions in Greece. Her pictures might be pictures taken in Second Life originally, or at least parts of it. Thus uses them to creat something new from it, she adds texts of colour effects, the uses several levels in her pictures. This way you can discover new details every time you look at them.

Thus Yootz’s art at Third Eye Gallery October 2020

Third Eye is Jaz (jessamine2108)’s home and gallery – a place that is designed to showcase art, particles, inspire stories, and offer a quiet place to relax and rejuvenate. Jaz says: “It is the culmination of my many dreams – to create a place that nurtures and helps the growth of all types of creative endeavors – be it words, pictures, or particles.“

Landmark to Third Eye Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Midnight%20Sanctum/145/226/1101
Poppy (popikone)’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/141810250@N04/
Thus Yootz’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/154858142@N07/ & https://www.flickr.com/photos/65476505@N07

Art in Second Life 2020 (59) Third Eye Gallery – Jaz and Lynn

25 Sep 2020 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , ,

I got an invitation for the opening of a new exhibition at the Third Eye Gallery, featuring “Photos by Lynn” by Lynn (TitanicLynn Ayres) and “Navarasa” by Jaz (Jessamine2108). I went there Sunday, August 30th, the day after the opening.

The exhibition by Lynn is a collection of her captures of her SL exploration. They span across landscapes, architecture, still life, and stunning black and white photographs.

Lynn (TitanicLynn Ayres) started taking photos of Second Life this February. Lynn is fascinated by the colors and landscapes of SL. Most of her pictures are not post processed much, maybe just a few details like the sky. Her photos are about what captures her eye when exploring a sim. They maybe the vast panoramic landscapes or a small bird sitting on a branch. I personally was in particular impressed of the black and white pictures, a technique that I use myself for my pictures every once in a while.
Lynn presents her work also on flickr here.

20200830 Third Eye Jaz and Lynn_003

Impressions of “Photos by Lynn” by Lynn (TitanicLynn Ayres) at Third Eye Gallery

“Navarasa” by Jaz (Jessamine2108) is a visual journey through emotions in Indian dance. Navarasas are the nine flavors described in ancient Indian sanskrit texts in any kind of art, and the emotions they evoke. The photos are exhibited at two levels. The lower level contains a pose from Indian dance embedded in an RL photo that contains the emotion it evokes. The higher level contains a visual that uses the creations from SL to depict that emotion.

Mistero Hifeng, Harry Cover (impossibleisnotfrench), and Eldo (Eldowyn Inshan) created the beautiful and quirky subjects for “Navarasa”. The pose creators Olaenka Chesnokov and Belly Button (barkha131) made the Indian dance poses. The RL photos used for “Navarasa” are stock photos from Pexels.com.

20200830 Third Eye Jaz and Lynn_002

Impressions of “Navarasa” by Jaz (Jessamine2108) at Third Eye Gallery

Jaz has been doing photography in SL since 2018: “Thanks to all the artists and friends who have encouraged and inspired me. Special thanks to Harry Cover (impossibleisnotfrench Resident) for giving me an opportunity and courage to branch out on my own and to be able to collaborate and experiment with mesh with him. A big thanks to Kurk Mumfuzz and Tansee for showing me the magical world of particles and lights.”
I follow Jaz’ art work since 2019 when I saw an exhibtion of her work at Deva Westland’s Galerie Des Beaux-Arts (read here). Jaz is developing her own style and trying out herself and her art. I can sense her passion.

Third Eye is Jaz (jessamine2108)’s home and gallery – a place that is designed to showcase art, particles, inspire stories, and offer a quiet place to relax and rejuvenate. Jaz says: “It is the culmination of my many dreams – to create a place that nurtures and helps the growth of all types of creative endeavors – be it words, pictures, or particles.“

Landmark to Third Eye Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Midnight%20Sanctum/145/226/1101
Lynn (TitanicLynn Ayres)’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cheekymonkey009/

Art in Second Life 2020 (44) Third Eye Gallery – Jaz and Michiel Bechir

26 Jul 2020 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , , , ,

I got an invitation to the opening of a new gallery: Third Eye Gallery. I couldn’t attend the opening event but I went there a few days later. For the opening Third Eye Gallery features the collection “Virtual Cities” by Michiel Bechir and “The Awakening” by Jaz (jessamine2108).

Third Eye is Jaz (jessamine2108)’s home and gallery – a place that is designed to showcase art, particles, inspire stories, and offer a quiet place to relax and rejuvenate. Jaz says: “It is the culmination of my many dreams – to create a place that nurtures and helps the growth of all types of creative endeavors – be it words, pictures, or particles.“

Third Eye Gallery featuring Jaz (jessamine2108)’s art (1)

Jaz has been doing photography in SL since 2018: “It would be more than appropriate to say that Milla (Ladmilla) introduced me to the nuances in the art. While I still have much to learn, I am enjoying every minute of it. Special thanks to Eta (Etamae Resident) for making me look at the amazing possibilities of SL and to Harry Cover (impossibleisnotfrench Resident) for giving me an opportunity and courage to branch out on my own and to be able to collaborate and experiment with mesh with him.”

Third Eye Gallery featuring Jaz (jessamine2108)’s art (2)

Jaz selected “The Awakening” as the title of the collection at Third Eye Gallery. The series is about her changing perception of SL – to the possibilities and to be able to see beyond the surface and showcases the way I now perceive SL. I recognized at least one place that I visited myself: Kohlmannskuppe, a place installed by Serene Footmann. Jaz made a “postcard from the past” from the picture she took at that place – nice work!

Michiel has started his long virtual journey into Second Life as a photographer in 2009. Michiel enjoys seeing new places, meeting new people from all over the world and expierencing the creativity in Second Life (just like I do!). Michiel discovered the possiblities of different tools to improve his pictures. By editing them he also tries to add a personal touch and feeling.

Third Eye Gallery featuring Michiel Bechir’s art (1)

Michiel named the collection of picture showcased at Third Eye Gallery “Virtual Cities”. It shows the the virtual versions of the urban living in its different forms. Included in this exposition are works from his entire period as a photographer in Second Life (2009-2020).

Third Eye Gallery featuring Michiel Bechir’s art (2)

Thank you Jaz for this gallery and for the opening exhibtion. I enjoyed my visit.

Landmark to Third Eye Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Midnight%20Sanctum/145/226/1101