Nyx's Art for Space

Every grid in Opensim has its niche, its look, its personality, and with few exceptions they're all growing or evolving one way or another. It is a treat to explore each one! 

Creating a brand new region as a public venue can take a lot of time and talent, and maybe you've thought once or twice - "Argh... I wish I could just get a really top notch builder to come in and make a really unusual venue sim."

Jazzland, on Pangea

Here is an option that might appeal! 

Nyx Breen

Nyx Breen has been making  Virtual Art creations for nearly 18 years. 

He started in SL where he was the top monthly winner in the SL-UWA Build and Art contest.  

Here in opensim, he's been busy building both on Alternate Metaverse Grid, and at the Pangea Art and Culture Festival. A hypergridder at heart, Nyx has over the past few years also participated in the OSCC (Opensim Community Conference), OSgrid's  Anniversary, the Hypergrid International Expo, and more. 

The Safari has been to visit many of his builds, so if you're a long time reader of this blog his name will be familiar to you, and our experience has always been very positive with little lag and some amazing immersive experiences. 

Lorenza's Ladies of Lit

 Lorenza Colicigno's build on sim NoiLab in Craft is the coming together of a project dear to her heart which she calls "A room of one's own - Ariadne's Labyrinth". A long name for a big build you can enjoy in diverse ways: exploring this region just for fun, because it's full of treasures with a feminist twist, or if you're in the mood for a deep dive, take a moment to soak up some serious info on women who by and large have gotten a raw deal in the pages of literary history.The build is a walk in the park, matching humor and elegance of style with a thought-provoking trail through time. It's got a circular feel - the landing point, and first writerly mentions (Hellenic lit) are a stone's throw from the Enlightenment-age Ca' Rezzonica. 

Castle of Isabella Morra Valsinni

Buildings abound, some of them are general representations of houses in different eras, some are much more specific, like the hilltop home of 16th century poet Isabella Morra. 

Summer on Novale

 Novale, the Canadian landscape region, is up and ready for summer visitors. The islands have largely retained the form and features we've all come to love, with additions and tweaks both to the decor and the scripts, just as you'd expect.

Dabici Straulino  and Kelso Uxlay  are the imaginative inventors of this wonderland. They reccommend you use 'Shared Environment' which, just in case you don't know, is quickly achieved by clicking on the 'Quick Preferences' button at the bottom ov the viewer, and then clicking on the X next to Personal Lighting - that will remove any custom settings that may still be hanging around your sky. It's always interesting to see in what light the builder intended their world to be seen.

Patty Paranoid and the Failed TP

 It's an inconvenience that we have all experienced. 

G. de Digulleville: Pèlerinage de vie humaine, Pèlerinage de l'âme
National Library of France

You're all ready to hypergrid out of a place, ready to jump from here to there, and a little window shows up saying 'Teleport Failed' and asking you to go to the website of the destination grid, and the simple one click gesture suddenly takes on a positively Medieval flavor. 

Here's an example of the pop-up you'll see when trying to go to Kitely. You only have to do this once, on your first visit to each of the grids with this system set up. 
You may have heard people deride this event as a sort of authoritarian 'douane' or Checkpoint Charlie. Some may tell you it's an invasion of privacy, as you're asked to authenticate your avatar.

Before you - no, not you ! because you're not nuts ! - before your pal Patty Paranoia starts screaming conspiracies, let's answer a couple of questions: 

Arts and Friends - Coming Soon

 Victoria Logan's art collective on OSGrid is opening at the beginning of July, and it's not one to miss. The build is on a region named Arts & Friends which couldn't be more appropriate. 

The landing point at Zona de Arte, a small black and gold skybox just above a mountain-ringed lagoon, is immediately enchanting, but also a huge contrast to the gallery you are about to visit. The theme of this show is 'Mujeres que ispiran...' - women who inspire, for their courage and talent. Time to TP down and see who's being feted below...

From the black and gold, to the greenery and rainbow colors of the region below. Landing on a central island, you'll find tps to all the exhibits, plus the dance zone and a cafeteria. Art appreciation is hungry work.

Osgrid Auction

The OSGrid Auction is coming ! 

This year, the  grand sales event will be from 25 September - 1st October. 

That means, if you're a creator, builder, scripter or texture maker,  now is a good time for you to create something original to contribute to the mix. The items are gathered now, put on an exhibition region where everyone can take a good look, and then auctioned off for real money to support the costs of keeping the Test grid of opensimulator on the rails.

Auction organizer Caro Fayray was on the sky platform on Echo 1. The platform is empty as of now - so - is it too soon for people to begin building, and contributing their creations to the Auction?

Caro Fayray: Not at all,  stuff can  be given anytime:)

Coordinating any big event can be a hassle, but Caro seems to take it all in her stride with unflappable good humor. Is it a complicated job?

Caro Fayray: getting  people  to  commit  and give  me stuff in  advance is a challenge,  I  have to   bug  a  lot, and  I  make over  100  textures  for all  the boards, then the Auction Lots that fit go  here, if  not, I  have  tps  to see the original  item. There is no limit on the size of the items put up for sale. From smallest  jewellery  to a complete oar  is fine:)  but  items  have to be  unique.

Bogus Curry's Grid Talk

 Bogus Curry's Opensim story is a long one. He's something of an opensim oldbie, and his avatar is pure Legacy, with warm brown eyes, and some interesting tattoos.  

We met on sim grid Talk, on Dorena's World. The region is a delightful assortment of elements, with everything from beach huts to menhirs to sea monsters and windmills, all put together by Anachron Young, the grid owner, along with the eponymous Dorena Verne.

Grid Talk region on Dorenas-world

Poppy Shoppe

Poppy Fields has only been in OSGrid for about four months. We met on her region, Mistburry, where there's a charming, toast colored deck, with a sparkling pool and Zee Lounge, a sleek nightclub. 

The rest of the region is dedicated to long, palm-fringed beaches, and modern buildings, including her interesting project, the Opensim Shopping Expo, or  OS Expo, a hub for shops all over the hyperverse.

The Expo, with its posters, samples, and Landmarks, is designed to take some of the sting out of shopping for assets in opensim, which has to be the biggest bugbear for most people.

Poppy Fields

Poppy Fields: But I was here many many years ago. have been in SL from the start. 19 years . Before hypergrid I travelled many grids. called myself a gridnaut lol. I am creative in many aspects and it seemed a natural choice to be in a place that has less restrictions on creativeness. I knew about other grids but not much about how it all functioned. seemed stable here maybe not technically stable. more... socially stable, more community... with so many of the small grids, it's kind of 'little empires'

Amazing Mount Grace

Mount Grace is an ancient treasure in all realities. It was a Charterhouse, or Carthusian monastery. That's a religious order of Catholic monks, founded in 1084 just outside Grenoble, France. From that original monastery, the Grande Chartreuse - yes, where the liqueur comes from - other houses (branch offices, if you like) were founded by powerful pious men across Europe. They were built over the following centuries, often in quite harsh environments, which fitted in with the ethos of this particular form of worship. The wealthy and royally-connected Thomas de Holland financed Mount Grace in the one of the wildest parts of England, the North Yorkshire moors. 

The year was 1398, the era of  The Canterbury Tales, the Peasant's Revolt,  and the Hundred Years War - great for fiction, but less fun if you want political stability, or to grow old in peace. Within two years of founding Mount Grace, Thomas and most of his allies were dead. The monastery survived this early setback, however, and thrived for several centuries until - well, the answer to that is on the sim.

Not only the real Mount Grace has had to face setbacks and changes. This build by Christi Maeterlinck has had iterations as grids and hosts come and go. This build first appears in the HG Safari blog back in 2011   after a time on NWG, it moved to OSGrid, and more recently found a home on Science Circle grid, where it's on a 4x4 VAR giving plenty of space to convey the wooded uplands of North Yorkshire, and the large land holdings - fields, fish ponds, and woods - that provided wealth and sustenance for the religious house. The current HG Address is, of course, at the end of the post.

Christii Maeterlinck: It's good to have a home for Mount Grace after years of wandering in different servers and grids. strictly speaking, I'm here because the person who runs this grid, has made it available to the Science Circle members; and I happen to have joined Science Circle; I suppose it'll attract the sort of people who belong to the Science Grid... and they're a very varied bunch. 

Coopersville Parade

Yesterday was the Coopersville Flotilla on Kitely, and after many weeks of planning, devising, testing and of course building, nine waterborne vehicles and about 20 people gathered to enjoy the show!

The event was coordinated by Koshari Mahana on her VAR region, Coopersville.

Coopersville is a historical region, with an emphasis on the early 20th Century American style - lots of clapboard, gambrel roofs, and opulent villas, and although this is not a RP region, it offers the opportunity to dress up in your jazz-age finery, or your best Edwardian top hat and tails, and soak in the atmosphere.

Coopersville offers opportunities for people to take up residence, or open a shop on the region, provided it's in keeping with the look of the place, so if you're thinking about sampling life on Kitely, it could be an option worth considering! Contact Koshari Mahana in person for more details.

Koshari Mahana - Beatles Yellow Submarine - Four Winds

And it was the lady herself who wins the 'Yellowest float' award for her Beatles inspired barge, helmed by the Fab Four and carrying a raft below it with a fabulous array of Pepperland-style plants and animals.

Anatomy of an Artist

Something special has been brewing over the past few months. Cherry Manga, one of the most respected and admired artists working in opensim. The region is Anatobotanica, on Pangea Grid. This opening was timed for the conclusion of this season of the Safari, and it really gave the WOW factor to our trip.
At the end you'll find the HG Address spelled out for you - and just to say THANK YOU for reading this blog, for following it, for visiting the destinations whether with the Safari group or on your own - it means a lot to our kind hosts! - and for all the comments, suggestions, help and support. It's been a great season, and there is so much more out there to see.

Anatobotanica is a golden artefact, hanging on a mirrored ocean, with an inland sea of molten gold.

The highlands are spheres, bubbles, bodies - a hive of creativity, golden like the rest. That golden glow is everywhere; the lightbulb of an idea, the first rays of sunrise, the glistering of passions, thoughts, challenges, and pure creativity. It flows through virtual spaces, out into the real world and then back, directly through the fingers of, and the idiosyncratic imagination of, Cherry Manga. 

Rainbows, Sounds, Jellyfish and Doodles

The summer is coming, and while this blog will continue to have new posts, the weekly hypergrid Safari trips will be on hold until September 6.
The final stop of the Spring season was at the Grand Opening of a virtual gallery. It showcases the pictural art of late Jerry Garcia, best known as the lead guitarist and vocalist of The Grateful Dead.
 Peter Agelasto opened the ribbon cutting ceremony with a few words.

 Peter Agelasto: Hello friends, family, sisters and brothers. Welcome to the opening of the Virtual Jerry Garcia Archive Museum, We are so grateful to have you join us for such a special event and free concert.  Thank you everyone who has helped bring this to joyful place life...  Manasha and Keelin Garcia, my teammates over at the Jerry Garcia Foundation. Huge special thanks to the creators behind the Neverworld Grid. Govega and your team. 

Peter Agelasto

Felix and the Mythologies

Felix, qui potest rerum cognoscere causas

Virgil, Georgics 490:II

Ange Menges: C'est une  région tatouée ? :-)

Cherry Manga: pretty creatures everywhere ♥

Shapeshifter, a region famed across opensim, is now on OSGrid. 

Its creator? The well known artist of many names - in RL, she is Elif Ayiter, in SL she's best known as Alpha Auer, but here in opensim she goes by the name FeliX Ringtail. 

The region is  complex, detailed, varied. On the ground level, the landscape is divided into a pair of islands and all the installations make up a story, which you can read here. In the sky are one-off elements, defined by FeliX as 'not really having a story' but they invite flights of fancy, dreamlike motions of the imagination, just the same.

Tosha's Towers

 For our second stop on this week's adventure around the hyperverse, we went over to see a build by Tosha Tyran on Craft Grid Tosha is famed for her reconstructions of real world places, including the Taj Mahal, India; a Hopi village, Arizona; the city of Timbuktu, Mali; and the Guggenheim Museum in Barcelona.

This one's in Cambodia - the famed Angkor Wat.

If the build looks familiar to you, there's an earlier Safari blog post about it here, but this was our first opportunity to explore as a group. If you go alone, you'll have plenty of company - there are about 25 NPCs around the build, adding atmosphere and context.  

The arrival point is sets the scene immediately - as jungle and architecture vie for supremacy.

Tosha Tyran: I would like to tell you a bit about Angkor wat, ok?

Wizardoz Chrome: yesss :)