VWs - Distraction, or Inspiration? By Xirana Oximoxi

 This is a guest post by Xirana Oximoxi, aka the Catalan artist Núria Vives. She writes and illustrates children's books, including the delightful Amanda and the Snowman - presented in voice to the HG Safari group, back in 2016. Her books have a truly international feel, available in a variety of languages, making them ideal teaching tools as well as entertainment.  Xirana has shared her adorable art across both OpenSim and SL, as well of course in the real world too. Follow her blog to keep up with her latest creations and exhibitions.

Xirana Oximoxi - Núria Vives

The inspiration or stimuli we receive to enhance our creativity comes from the effect that the world and the people around us have on us, either in real life or in the virtual worlds in which we also relate with people who, behind the figure of their avatar, are very real. Music, Literature, Art and everything that happens in virtual worlds continues to be an experience that influences us.

My experience in these worlds is very positive thanks to the incentives I have received there to be more creative. I will highlight some of the aspects that I consider to have been important such as, for example, the possibility to show and share what I do, the opportunities offered by gallerists, the ease of relationship with other artists and ideas or suggestions that can make your friends and other people interested in art.

Xirana's Art Galleries at Craft World

Through my works I like to communicate concerns, emotions, sensations. For this communication to exist you need to find the medium that allows it. The possibilities to do this in the real world are difficult, limited and in general very expensive. The Internet has opened other paths, one of them is to show what we do inside virtual worlds. You can build your own gallery there and exhibit what you do without depending on what anyone else sees and likes. I did it this way. I rented a small space and after a while some people were interested in what I was doing and invited me to exhibit.

Becoming a part of a collective of artists is gratifying. Ernie Fastrider is a gallerist who offered me a space at The Galleries in SL on the condition that I change the exhibition every so often. This for me was very stimulating as it made me work harder. In virtual worlds the journey from one place to another is a matter of seconds, so you can not show the same works because people have already seen it. This fact forces you to renew and reinvent yourself.

Museo del Metaverso at Craft World

There are gallerists, such as Ini Inaka from Blue Orange in SL, who organize group exhibitions and proposes a theme that, at times, becomes a challenge, as it is far from what you usually do. It's an incentive to explore new subjects that you might not otherwise have considered. Other gallerists, such as Aneli Abeyante, organize exhibitions every month. This temporality means that her gallery space is very active and, as she usually presents artists covering a great diversity of styles, the interest in visiting it does not disappear. The same goes for the HG Safari prepared by Thirza Ember through different virtual worlds and the art exhibitions organized by Rosanna Galvani, director of the Museo del Metaverso in Craft, who gives voice and explains the work of each artist in a masterful way. I can't name all, so the creative vitality that can be found in these worlds is always a source of inspiration.

On the other hand, unexpected ideas and suggestions can always appear from friends who are interested in your work. For example, my initiation into the world of children's illustration was born  thanks to a 'virtual' friend who, visiting an exhibition showing a series of imaginary animals, encouraged me to use them to write children's stories.

 Later, when I had doubts that children's stories could be of interest in an environment like SL and my lack of skills in building, Aneli Abeyante convinced me that precisely one of the things that makes interesting the artistic offer of virtual worlds is its diversity. I wrote a story and thanks to her, on this occasion, the presentation of the story was an immersive 3D experience.

La Maison d'Aneli : The Secret of the Crystal Mountain

Therefore, in the virtual worlds, through the different types of galleries, the interaction with other artists and people interested in art or the mere fact of visiting and getting to know the work of the artists who also exhibit there, like everything that we can see, read, feel and live in our lives serves to feed our way of being and of expressing ourselves through art.