gone memespelunking

"Cosmic Kisses Illuminated"
Originally uploaded by Strawberry Holiday

"Kisses under the stars.
Yes, in love once more."

This line from the poem in the Exhibit information about "Cosmic Kisses Illuminated" captures the feel of the piece completely. Swirling, twisted, cubes dance in an array of pink and white. Soft sounds, like a digital wind chime, only add to the magical feel that surrounds you as you teleport into the first installation at "The Garden of Memespelunk".

4:4
Originally uploaded by Strawberry Holiday

Walking away from Cosmic Kisses is a difficult thing to do, but you're rewarded by immediately discovering "4:4". "4:4" is the final week of four installations in four weeks by Juria Yoshikawa, the artist behind all the exhibits at the Garden of Memespelunk. About this piece Juria says "In making this I imagined a situation climactic yet pristine. Like a supernova, magnitudes greater than the star in its normal life, expelling all final energy. In logical terms, the cube gallery has been multiplied by 4, rising toward the heavens. There are tables with 4 chairs, some right side up others upside down." She continues and talks about the rise and fall of all things in life, including art, and how this piece is a celebration of that cycle.

Juria Yoshikawa at Garden of Memespelunk
Originally uploaded by Strawberry Holiday

Piece after piece, I'm amazed by her works. Each is unique in its composition, but mimic's the other's abilities to draw you in. Juria's artist statement says she came "looking for a new artistic spark". Well I think she's found it. Landmarks to all sorts of builds and installations by her can be found at The Garden of Memespelunk.

This Second Life artist is definitely worth more than a few minutes of your time.

Links:
- Blog
- Flickr

SLURLs:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/North%20Dolores/202/61/24
To Liquid Light, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Stheno/83/100/600
Garden Electric, http://slurl.com/secondlife/IBM%201/220/10/37
Aurora Room, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Alexander%20Beach/116/124/25

The Far Away

The Far Away
Originally uploaded by strawberry.holiday

Tall dry grass, abandoned locomotives, windmills and a view of farmhouses off in the distance make you feel like you're in a field in the mid-western USA, instead of in Dreamland North in Second life.

AM Radio's installation, "The Far Away" transports you out of SL. Avatar Erin Lasek, a good friend of AM Radio told me this evening, "This place is impressive because it actually feels real to the mind." The more I think about that statement, the more I think that it's true.

I've been to "The Far Away" a few times, but haven't had enough to say about it to make a comprehensive blog. "Wow" on a sheet of paper by itself doesn't make for much interest, so I IMed AM Radio tonight and he agreed to sit and talk with me.

AM Radio with Strawberry Holiday
Originally uploaded by strawberry.holiday

" I wanted to see if it could be done… large amounts of grass stalks without grinding the server to a halt… how to solve the problem." AM radio describes how he began the build. When sitting on the front of the locomotive, contemplating the earth, or the sea, or counting the pieces of grass in this installation, you don't imagine that it began as a test of skill. It feels like it has meaning, something to say.

According to AM, this was intentional, " I started creating all these things, I realized that I could start putting things together in ways that implied meaning" The things that came together, rusting cars, dining tables, sideboards and windmills create a plethora of eye candy. I think it'd be hard to choose a favorite, but I asked AM what his favorite part of the build was, anyway.

Strawberry Holiday
Originally uploaded by strawberry.holiday

The thing that AM chose as his favorite element of "The Far Away", was not any of the physical buildings, or objects, but the experience of being able to share his visual story with painters across Second Life, and the charity that he has a donation box for at "The Far Away".

"The first week this was up, I got crazy traffic. I decided I better do something while I have an audience. My 15 minutes of SL fame wasn't going to be stupid. So I researched charities and Heifer had a great rating on all the charity comparison sites. Its agricultural slant also was appealing as a match and that's how I settled on Heifer… and look here I have raised enough to buy a real cow for charity. How can that not be my favorite part of the build?"

Table for Two
Originally uploaded by strawberry.holiday

This was AM Radio's first claim-to-fame in Second Life but there is more to come! Keep an eye on his group notices in the open-enrollment group "The Quiet and The Far Away"!

SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dreamworld%20North/227/96/30

Toxic Garden Rezzable

Sky View of Toxic Garden

Toxic Garden Rezzable is an extremely well designed prim build. Wandering around this overgrown garden overflowing with mutated garden life and genetically altered insect species, you feel like you're trapped on the home planet of Audrey 2 from Little Shop of Horrors.


A combination of prim trees and texture shrubberies creates a complex landscape to house a drowning statue of liberty, a series of foundry/reactor buildings, a train, and a vast system of tunnels and sewage.

Train at Toxic Rezzable

You'll need to find your way along a path, starting out in a dank entryway that leads you through a forest of plants writhing with moss and slime. A trail will lead you around to a plethora of delightful prim builds as long as you don't get bitten by the toxic ant-like creatures; you'll find one surprisingly well done build after another.

Lady Liberty of Toxic Garden

The Toxic Garden is another must-see build in the growing collection of Steampunk sims, but be prepared to face the challenges of toxic poisons in the air and ground which suddenly overwhelm you and send you back to your home sim.

Find Toxic Garden Rezzable at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Toxic%20Garden%20Rezzable/128/128/0

by Strawberry Holiday