Tina on Pangea

Tina Bey's life has been one of art for just about forever. The person behind the avatar is an award-winning artist with a wealth of academic knowledge of Fine Arts, and a long experience of working with galleries, patrons, students, teachers, and lovers of art in general. She got her first region on OSGrid eleven years ago.

Tina Bey: My first region was called "Araucana" (Antarctica in English) thanks to someone generous who lent me his server. I wanted to create futuristic constructions floating on the seas. Later I had, for many years, the "Araucana" region also in Osgrid. It had a purely science fiction theme, which I continued with for several years... until I started seeing and attending exhibitions, galleries and museums dedicated to art in the metaverse. It was almost a replica of my real world, in which I had navigated quite successfully, with a good resume, awards, scholarships, commitments with galleries and contracts to fulfill... too many things. When one has already gone through all that, the 3D virtual world opens up as a great breath of freedom, where a canvas can be walked and walked on literally without restrictions.

 A bit of Arcuana on SolarPunk

As you can see, Arcuana has found a little corner on the brand new region too! Obviously there is a lot to see here, and these photos only give a glimpse of everything you'll see if you attend the grand opening on November 22. Here's your invitation, but don't worry, the event will be included in all the usual social media places.

It's a worked out very well for both Tina and the Pangea team, since they have similar values and a great working relationship. For Tina, it's been a huge win since virtual worlds offer the perfect escape from the commitments of RL art.

Tina Bey: I became more fascinated every day with virtual worlds, until I practically lived in the metaverse. Working in total freedom is something that, when you try it, you no longer want to leave. Commercial is not my thing.

This new region feels like an explosion of ideas by Tina, some that will be familiar to those of us who have been 'Bey-watchers' for many years, and some are totally new departures. In addition there are a bunch of posters that give you an in-depth understanding of the values and background that have informed and inspired her. This one on a little paper boat is very cute.

Tina Bey: I called the sim SolarPunk because it is the movement that is closest to what I wanted to tell. "SolarPunk" was born as a cultural and artistic movement focused on imagining and creating a sustainable and ecological future.

If you're curious about this optimistic view of a possible future, take a look at the Solarpunk Manifesto, it is cheering reading. Without exaggeration, there must be a hundred different scenes, tableaux, and delightful detailed corners in this new build. It's a sort of gallop through Tina's sketchpad, as if you're flipping through the pages, seeing different notions following one after another like a stream of consciousness.

How did Tina end up on Pangea? I asked the grid owner.

Marlon Wayne: Tina came to visit and saw Cherry Manga's region Anatobotanica here on Pangea. We are a small grid with a great many artists; here you can build your projects in peace and without any time pressure. Lampithaler Artist is the director of our ongoing Art and Culture Festival, so it was through her that Tina got her region on Pangea.

Tina Bey: I noticed that there were only regions of artistic creations here. It's an open community, with no requirements regarding your work... the panacea for any artist! Today I feel very comfortable and grateful there! They even offered me to choose the size of the grid I wanted for my new project. So I began in total freedom to recreate the SolarPunk movement, although in the middle of the construction of this new project I saw new needs to tell little by little... then I decided to begin to intersperse different scenes that somehow touched me in my day to day. Thus were born the ironies about the war, the disagreements of the migrants, the addictions to the screens, creations of scenes of games and glorious moments of my very imaginative childhood that coexist with adult concerns!

Tina has already had a long career on this platform, working steadily for over a decade and developing her skills. I wondered what tools she uses, and whether she ever gets to the point of feeling like stopping.

Tina Bey: At first in SL, I worked on various assignments, like installations for a modeling academy that needed sets every week for its fashion shows. It was a nice way to learn quickly. Then mesh came on the scene and I had to learn seriously and leave prims behind. Blender became essential for me. It wasn't easy, I quit several times, but the visual result of mesh had no comparison, so I kept at it, studying many tutorials. I focused on the ones I needed at the time and I still follow that practice - adding knowledge as I need it. It is very important that all these modeling tools, such as Blender, Substance Painter, Sculptris and Corel, are at my service, as well as the new ones, such as artificial intelligence. You have to learn to master them and take advantage of them.

Tina Bey: What keeps me as a creator in OpenSim is the possibility of the system that solves my need to create scenes and images that represent what catches me, what moves me, what hurts me, what amazes me. Art is my best friend; it is the one that is in all my silences, the one that gives me the possibility to speak... and to communicate what I feel in this life. My greatest inspiration is life itself. 

HG Address:  hop://pangeagrid.de:8002/SolarPunk/248/279/23  
the grand opening and party is on November 22 at 12 noon SLT