The Winter Bear @ Pirats!

My immersive art build "The Winter Bear" has just been installed in a snowy landscape that I built at Pirats Art Network Omega this weekend, along with the digital drawings of the totem animals that appear inside as particles. The opening reception will be Tuesday, December 21 (the winter solstice!), at 1:30 pm PST.


I decided to recycle a favorite set from the RL play, "The Winter Bear" by Anne Hanley, as one of my Immersive Art bell jars. The scene happens in the middle of a blizzard with temperatures so cold that hoar frost crystals form spontaneously in midair. The spirit of the Winter Bear reigns over all, while totem animal images populate the wind. Spruces and snowcapped boulders surround the cave from which the bear broke its hibernation to meet its fate. If you take the pose ball inside, you can recapture the last few peaceful moments of the doomed animal's life.


Here's the SLurl to the installation: http://slurl.com/secondlife/PiRats%20Art%20Network/137/87/22Many thanks to Merlina Rokocoko and Newbab Zsigmond for so generously and professionally hosting so much of the amazing art that is being created in Second Life!


Link to the teaser for the RL play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMYSYJNkm1E&list=QL&playnext=1

============================================
Links:
DIGITAL ART: Martha Jane Bradford
Web Site: http://www.marthavista.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/
MJB Blog: http://marthajanebradford.blogspot.com/
VIRTUAL ART: Alizarin Goldflake (Metaverse avatar of Martha Jane Bradford)
Atelier Alizarin (Second Life studio): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/222/189/35
Blog: http://alizaringoldflake.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alizaringoldflake/
YOUTUBE VIDEOS: http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake
Anza Borrego Oak:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/1/5s_KRMi55v8
Acquarella:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/a/u/0/u-lo6JosN0M
Acquarella:the Fable ( a Chantal Harvey machinima)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX1eFMtjV6U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hhO2Rf88uM (Chinese narration)
Metemspyche's Garden:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/2/GfQGuNXWvLo
Studio Tour:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/3/XDjrLmPpopA
The Maze:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/4/OEa9rtEiINE
The Mysterious Forest:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/5/c6Xv_pAf0Qc
The Winter Bear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMYSYJNkm1E&list=QL&playnext=1

Update on my digital-virtual art exhibit in the Cahners ComputerPlace at the Museum of Science, Boston

The Museum is currently accepting applications for two Digital Art Exhibit Spring Internships for my exhibit.

Please find the info for the Flash Programmer Intern here: http://www.mos.org/visitor_info/about_the_museum/internships&d=4750

and for the Open Sim/Second Life Developer here:
http://www.mos.org/visitor_info/about_the_museum/internships&d=4752

As Alizarin Goldflake, Second Life(R) avatar of Martha Jane Bradford, I am designing a digital-virtual art exhibit for the Cahners ComputerPlace at the Museum, in real life. The exhibit will further visitors' understanding of digital image creation and manipulation (http://www.marthavista.com/). It will also introduce people to the idea of making virtual art. The physical design of the exhibit will be an immersive installation employing sound and video projection to simulate the experience of being inside one of the immersive art environments that I create in Second Life. Thoth Jansen ( Bob Johnson in RL) is currently working on the technical design.



Links:
DIGITAL ART: Martha Jane Bradford
Web Site: http://www.marthavista.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/

VIRTUAL ART: Alizarin Goldflake (Metaverse avatar of Martha Jane Bradford)
Atelier Alizarin (Second Life studio): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/222/189/35
Blog: http://alizaringoldflake.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alizaringoldflake/
YOUTUBE VIDEOS: http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake

CHEZ ALI Grand Opening

View of Chez Ali from the south. Particle emitters! Paper Lanterns!And much more!






I am pleased to announce the grand opening on Saturday, November 27, at 3 pm SL time, of CHEZ ALI! http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/204/174/701 The shop features an eclectic mix of beautiful garden items, furniture, particle emitters, personal accessories, and more, all of which are derived from my art and studio builds. They retain what some have called "the unique and deliciously ethereal quality" of my artwork but are also practical items for your SL home, garden, or avatar. Start your holiday shopping here! Gift wrapping at no charge (look under the Christmas tree on the first floor).


















Pick up your free Skate skates by soror Nishi on the North Patio.


















The North Garden has Hoar Frost and Snowflake particle emitters and a cool snow cave you can hibernate in.


















Tapestries and the Arizona Chairs and Table set on the South Patio.


















The Greenwoods Collection of furniture can be found on the first floor. Elegant shapes and upholstery and high-quality Bits and Bobs furniture animations.

The Winter Bear

Another fun crossover project! I recently constructed Second Life sets for a Real Life play, The Winter Bear, that will premiere in Anchorage October 29, 2010. My machinima of the SL sets will be projected on a cyc (cycloramic backdrop) as a major component of the RL stage.

There is a teaser for the play made up of short clips from the machinima that just went up on YouTube. A/V production by Alfred M. Ajami.

View it here:



Or take the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMYSYJNkm1E&list=QL&playnext=1

The sets feature my digital drawings, done with Corel Painter and a Wacom tablet, and my Second Life building skills, including sculpties (unique 3-D shapes created in Blender) , scripts (code), and particles (temporary phantom images) which I also use to make virtual Immersive Art.

about THE WINTER BEAR
Written by Alaska State Writer Laureate Anne Hanley and directed by Jayne Wenger. Troubled Athabascan teenager Duane “Shadow” David is considering committing suicide when he’s sentenced to cut wood for elder Sidney Huntington. It’s only by combining the elder’s knowledge of old hunting ways with the boy’s expertise in video games that they stand a chance against a marauding Winter Bear. The Winter Bear delivers a message of hope that a young man can become a leader by using the wisdom of his traditional culture to transcend the traumas of his past.

Previews of the play in Galena and Fairbanks were enthusiastically received, and I am very excited to be flying to Anchorage for the official premiere.

Gala opening Oct 29th, 2010 at Cyrano's Off-Center Playhouse: http://www.cyranos.org/
Performances Thursday through Saturday at 7 pm and Sunday at 3 pm through Nov. 13th. Special added WEDNESDAY performance Nov. 10th.



============================================
Links:
DIGITAL ART: Martha Jane Bradford
Web Site: http://www.marthavista.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/
MJB Blog: http://marthajanebradford.blogspot.com/
VIRTUAL ART: Alizarin Goldflake (Metaverse avatar of Martha Jane Bradford)
Atelier Alizarin (Second Life studio): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/222/189/35
Blog: http://alizaringoldflake.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alizaringoldflake/
YOUTUBE VIDEOS: http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake
Anza Borrego Oak:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/1/5s_KRMi55v8
Acquarella:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/a/u/0/u-lo6JosN0M
Acquarella:the Fable ( a Chantal Harvey machinima)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX1eFMtjV6U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hhO2Rf88uM (Chinese narration)
Metemspyche's Garden:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/2/GfQGuNXWvLo
Studio Tour:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/3/XDjrLmPpopA
The Maze:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/4/OEa9rtEiINE
The Mysterious Forest:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/5/c6Xv_pAf0Qc
The Winter Bear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMYSYJNkm1E&list=QL&playnext=1

"Acquarella: The Fable" showing at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai now!

It gives me great pleasure to announce that my digital and virtual art is now on view at the World Expo in Shanghai!

Chantal Harvey brought her awesome machinima skills to filming "Acquarella: The Fable," and I did the story, storyboard, art, set, costumes, props management, direction, production, and acted the part of Acquarella. The parts of the three Nymphs were acted by soror Nishi, BridgetMarlane McDonnell, and Yman Juran. The sophisticated and lovely Chinese narration (in Mandarin) was translated from the English and performed by Wei Yin. Our collaborative effort is now showing in the Air Tree Exhibit in the Madrid Pavilion of the World Expo in Shanghai, curated by Spanish curator Cristina García-Lasuén (Aino Barr in Second Life), founder of the virtual arts group Open This End.

You can watch the English version of the machinima, narrated by Alfred M. Ajami, here:



and the Chinese version here:



To see the list of accepted machinima on the Madrid Pavilion web site, please go to
http://www.madrid2010shanghai.com/calendario.asp?evid=79&id=1 (click on the English flag in the upper right corner). Scroll down to 3rd Exhibition, September - October 2010 . Our video is under the name of the machinimist, Chantal Harvey.

"Acquarella: The Fable" was inspired by one of my immersive art creations by the same name: http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/a/u/0/u-lo6JosN0M
============================================
Links:
DIGITAL ART: Martha Jane Bradford
Web Site: http://www.marthavista.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/
MJB Blog: http://marthajanebradford.blogspot.com/
VIRTUAL ART: Alizarin Goldflake (Metaverse avatar of Martha Jane Bradford)
Atelier Alizarin (Second Life studio): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/222/189/35
Blog: http://alizaringoldflake.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alizaringoldflake/
YOUTUBE VIDEOS: http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake
Anza Borrego Oak:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/1/5s_KRMi55v8
Acquarella:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/a/u/0/u-lo6JosN0M
Acquarella:the Fable ( a Chantal Harvey machinima)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX1eFMtjV6U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hhO2Rf88uM (Chinese narration)
Metemspyche's Garden:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/2/GfQGuNXWvLo
Studio Tour:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/3/XDjrLmPpopA
The Maze:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/4/OEa9rtEiINE
The Mysterious Forest:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/5/c6Xv_pAf0Qc

RED MOON RISING: A Summer Garden Party

The August full moon is sometimes known as "The Red Moon," and it seems an auspicious date to celebrate the completion of my new Sky Sculpture Garden with a summer garden party for my friends and art lovers. Please visit me on Tuesday, August 24, at 2 pm PDT. Frilly gowns? Straw boaters? Flower avatars? A L$5,000 Atelier Alizarin Gift Certificate goes to wearer of the costume that best captures the spirit of "Summer!" Judges: Chrome Underwood, Maeve Eiren, and Thirza Ember!

The party will open with Miso Susanowa performing traditional japanese dance on the main stage/dance floor. She will continue to perform throughout the event in spots around the build. Free parasols and walking sticks! Recommended enviroment settings: sunrise or sunset.




The Sky Sculpture Garden, which is full of lush plants, stones, moss, and gravel, is inspired by a real Japanese garden called "Tenshin En." It's main feature is a "dry waterfall" on the east wall. The walkways are decorated with festive paper lanterns, and strollers will hear soft fragments of Japanese flutes, drums, and a koto. There are viewing benches for sitting and surveying the scene, and at the west end there is a dance floor and dance ball with animations to match the flamenco and classical guitar land music. Champagne and petit fours for your virtual hunger and thirst.

The Sky Sculpture Garden was built at the suggestion of some of my friends that I make a demonstration of how people might display my work on their own land. So the center island features my recent art environment, "At the End of the Day" - wander inside and you will find yourself transported to another world!

Other Atelier Alizarin Attractions include: Orfeo's Oratorio, Musical Kinetics and more immersive art (sorry soror!) in Sky Studio, The Particularium on the third floor, RL digital drawings on the second floor, 2-D digital collages on the first floor, and a beautiful sculpture park on the ground - just look for the tp boxes.

============================================
Links:
DIGITAL ART: Martha Jane Bradford
Web Site: http://www.marthavista.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/
MJB Blog: http://marthajanebradford.blogspot.com/

VIRTUAL ART: Alizarin Goldflake (Metaverse avatar of Martha Jane Bradford)
Atelier Alizarin (Second Life studio): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/222/189/35
Blog: http://alizaringoldflake.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alizaringoldflake/

YOUTUBE VIDEOS: http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake
Anza Borrego Oak:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/1/5s_KRMi55v8
Acquarella:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/a/u/0/u-lo6JosN0M
Acquarella:the Fable ( a Chantal Harvey machinima)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX1eFMtjV6U
Metemspyche's Garden:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/2/GfQGuNXWvLo
Studio Tour:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/3/XDjrLmPpopA
The Maze:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/4/OEa9rtEiINE
The Mysterious Forest:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/5/c6Xv_pAf0Qc

New Urls for My Videos

I have moved all of my YouTube videos from my editor's channel to my channel, where I will be posting future videos as well. They may now be found here: http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake

If any of you were kind enough to post links, please update the urls. Here is a current list of video urls:
Acquarella: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-lo6JosN0M
Anza-Borrego Oak: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s_KRMi55v8
Metempsyche's Garden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfQGuNXWvLo
The Maze: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEa9rtEiINE
Atelier Alizarin Studio Tour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDjrLmPpopA
The Mysterious Forest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Xv_pAf0Qc
Museum of Science Project Concept: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93YYMJANpZs
============================================
Links:
DIGITAL ART: Martha Jane Bradford
Web Site: http://www.marthavista.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/
MJB Blog: http://marthajanebradford.blogspot.com/

VIRTUAL ART: Alizarin Goldflake (Metaverse avatar of Martha Jane Bradford)
Atelier Alizarin (Second Life studio): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/222/189/35
Blog: http://alizaringoldflake.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alizaringoldflake/

"Acquarella," a documentary machinima about my one of my virtual immersive art builds, is now up on Youtube!

"Acquarella" is a machinima documentary about my Second Life (R) immersive art build by the same name. I did the filming, and Cobalt Zeplin/Alfred M. Ajami did the editing and sound remixing.

When I was a child, I kept an aquarium and I would stare into it for hours, mesmerized by it then as I am now by Second Life, a magical weightless world also populated by strange and beautiful creatures. These memories were the inspiration behind the creation of "Acquarella." An aquarium on a cosmic scale, "Acquarella" is filled with swaying, lacey aquatic plants, schools of neon tetras, animated angelfish and goldfish, drifts of diatoms, and huge green lily pads that bob up and down in the invisible current. The build echoes with the songs of whales. Pose balls invite people to swim to their music, and throughout, there are traces of an untold story. A fragment of a submarine that torpedoed itself hints at an apocalyptic destruction that could possibly be a metaphor. Who is hunting whom with those ghostly sonar pings? Why does color sometimes creep into a largely monochrome vision? How to explain the fact that the black and white tetras school, while their rainbow-hued counterparts are solitary? Who is Acquarella? Is she a giantess or are we liliputian?

"Acquarella" employs highly-detailed digital drawings done with Corel Painter software and a Wacom tablet. It uses scripts, animations, and sounds to provide an immersive art experience that is intended to create visual and psychic pleasure for the participant.

Come visit Acquarella inworld here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/204/203/333
============================================
Links:
DIGITAL ART: Martha Jane Bradford
Web Site: http://www.marthavista.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/
MJB Blog: http://marthajanebradford.blogspot.com/

VIRTUAL ART: Alizarin Goldflake (Metaverse avatar of Martha Jane Bradford)
Atelier Alizarin (Second Life studio): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/222/189/35
Blog: http://alizaringoldflake.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alizaringoldflake/

YOUTUBE VIDEOS:
Acquarella: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-lo6JosN0M
Anza-Borrego Oak: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s_KRMi55v8
Metempsyche's Garden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfQGuNXWvLo
The Maze: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEa9rtEiINE
Atelier Alizarin Studio Tour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDjrLmPpopA
The Mysterious Forest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Xv_pAf0Qc
Museum of Science Project Concept: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93YYMJANpZs

Open studio for my new build, AT THE END OF THE DAY: Saturday, April 24, at 3 pm PDT.

I will hold an Open Studio at Atelier Alizarin on Saturday, April 24, 3 pm PDT, for "At the End of the Day," my latest immersive art build. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/181/209/301

"At the End of the Day" (ATEOTD) is based on a view of an actual place in the village of Round Pond in Maine (USA). Follow the link http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=43.947371,-69.455201&z=18&t=h&hl=en or touch the Google Maps screen shot just outside of the build to load the web site.

I have spent all or part of every summer inRound Pond, and the build reflects my feeling for the beauty of warm, moonlit June evenings. You approach through a dark forest of lupines. Once inside, you find yourself in a moonlit clearing. Lush fields of blooming lupines sway in the evening breezes. Hylas below and bats overhead keep up a constant chorus of small noises. Occasionally, the calls of a loon and a whippoorwill are heard. Once in a very great while, the evening calm is split by the screech of car tires as some teenage boy lays yet another intricate patch on the black top overtown.

There are poseballs so that people can sit and stir the water with their feet, and some tinies sits, also. The pose balls glow green on and off in a way that is reminiscent of fireflies, as are the little floating green particles. Other things to notice are the way the water in the cistern sparkles and gently washes up and down, the smoke drifting up from some of the chimneys, the lights that go on and off in some of the houses, and the patchy ground fog that hovers over parts of the field.

The reference photo that was used to create the original digital drawing is displayed nearby, along with the Google Maps screen shot, an aerial photograph of the site, and an SL version of the RL drawing. The drawing is of the same name as the build and is available in RL at http://www.marthavista.com/dayfornightshow.htm. It was done just like a traditional pen-and-ink and watercolor drawing except that I used digital tools, including a software program called Corel Painter and a pressure-sensitive Wacom digitizing tablet and stylus. All of the textures in the build were drawn with this software or in Photoshop.

ATEOTD uses scripts, animations, and sounds to provide an immersive art experience that is intended to create visual and psychic pleasure for the participant.

Other Atelier Alizarin Attractions include: Orfeo's Oratorio, musical kinetics and more immersive art in Sky Studio, The Particularium on the third floor, RL digital drawings on the second floor, 2-D digital collages on the first floor, and a beautiful sculpture park on the ground.

Champagne and hors d'oeuvres, of course!
============================================
Links:
DIGITAL ART: Martha Jane Bradford
Web Site: http://www.marthavista.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/
MJB Blog: http://marthajanebradford.blogspot.com/

VIRTUAL ART: Alizarin Goldflake (Metaverse avatar of Martha Jane Bradford)
Atelier Alizarin (Second Life studio): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/222/189/35
Blog: http://alizaringoldflake.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alizaringoldflake/

YOUTUBE VIDEOS:
Acquarella: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-lo6JosN0M
Anza-Borrego Oak: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s_KRMi55v8
Metempsyche's Garden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfQGuNXWvLo
The Maze: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEa9rtEiINE
Atelier Alizarin Studio Tour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDjrLmPpopA
The Mysterious Forest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Xv_pAf0Qc
Museum of Science Project Concept: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93YYMJANpZs

MOCA hosts an Alizarin Goldflake/Martha Jane Bradford Machinima!

The Museum of Computer Art in Brooklyn, New York is now hosting Alizarin Goldflake's "The Mysterious Forest" in the New Media Gallery section of its web site: http://moca.virtual.museum/newmedia/bradford/bradford.htm. There is also a link on MOCA's splash screen, upper right corner: http://moca.virtual.museum/. Visit this site to see all kinds of other interesting computer art as well.

About "The Mysterious Forest:"
The subject of this machinima is a large-scale piece of immersive art that I did as a member of The Caerleon Artists Collective "Interactive Collaboration." The textures are all adapted from my digital drawing "Anza Borrego Oak." Artistide Despres was the project leader, and the Caerleon Sims in SL are hosted by Georg Janick/Gary Zabel, professor of philosophy at UMass, Boston, founder of the Virtual Artists Initiative, and organizer of "Through the Virtual Looking Glass" show (see my previous post). I filmed the footage using Fraps and a Space Navigator mouse and the AV production and SmartSound (R) remix were done by Alfred M. Ajami.

About MOCA:
The Museum of Computer Art is a nonprofit US educational corporation chartered by the NYS Department of Education. It is a member of the University of the State of New York. It is first and foremost an online museum but it is also a physical gallery located in Brooklyn NY.

The MOCA site is host to hundreds of world-class digital artists and thousands of their images. It is one of the most heavily-trafficked, comprehensive, frequently-updated and respected computer art museums on the Web.

MOCA was established in 1993 by computer artists Don Archer and Bob Dodson to promote digital art in its various forms and manifestations, including 3-D rendered art, fractals, enhanced photography, animation, mixed media, computer-painted and -drawn art, etc. In September 2008, MOCA established a brick-and-mortar physical gallery in Brooklyn NY showing advanced digital art in print and on-screen.

Don Archer is MOCA's co-founder, director and administrator. He operates MOCA out of his studio in Brooklyn and Prattsville, NY. He is responsible for the commentary and notes accompanying many of the exhibits. He welcomes your comments. Write to: admin@moca.virtual.museum Don is also a digital artist whose work may be viewed on his personal webpage at: http://www.donarcher.com/

About Alizarin Goldflake:
Alizarin is Martha Jane Bradford's avatar's name in the virtual worlds of Open Life, Open Sim, Reaction Grid, and, primarily, Second Life (SL). There I specialize in making immersive art, so called because it is meant to be experienced from the inside. Many of my sculpture are 3-D reinterpretations of my digital drawings. I create my work using the 3-D building tools of SL to shape the component objects, called prims; to texture them using images I draw with Corel Painter and/or manipulate with Photoshop; and to animate them with SL programs, called scripts. Most of my builds include sounds that I record myself or download from the internet and then remix using Audacity and also particles, which are phantom, temporary images that I draw with Painter.
============================================
Links:
DIGITAL ART: Martha Jane Bradford
Web Site: http://www.marthavista.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/
MJB Blog: http://marthajanebradford.blogspot.com/

VIRTUAL ART: Alizarin Goldflake
Second Life avatar of Martha Jane Bradford
Atelier Alizarin (Second Life studio): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/222/189/35
Blog: http://alizaringoldflake.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alizaringoldflake/

YOUTUBE VIDEOS:
Acquarella: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-lo6JosN0M
Anza-Borrego Oak: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s_KRMi55v8
Metempsyche's Garden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfQGuNXWvLo
The Maze: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEa9rtEiINE
Atelier Alizarin Studio Tour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDjrLmPpopA
The Mysterious Forest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Xv_pAf0Qc
Museum of Science Project Concept: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93YYMJANpZs

Through the Virtual Looking Glass: A Mixed Reality Exhibition of the Art of Virtual Worlds

One of the most unique art events ever in Boston's history is about to happen!!

Through the Virtual Looking Glass: A Mixed Reality Exhibition of the Art of Virtual Worlds opens at the Harbor Gallery, UMass Boston, April 7, 3 pm to 8 pm. The show will run through April 30, 2010. Please visit http://www.umb.edu/harborgallery/ for info and directions to the gallery or visit the show in Second Life at (link to be added).

Hosted by the Virtual Art Initiative on the web and the Caerleon Sims in Second Life and OpenSim, the Boston exhibition is part of an unprecedented international collaboration which will exhibit the work of artists from more than twenty nations simultaneously in real world galleries in six countries: Italy, France, Holland, Germany, Brazil, and the USA. Check out the Virtual Art Initiative at http://www.virtual-art-initiative.org/Virtual_Art_Initiative/Virtual_Art_Initiative.html

Virtual Worlds are computer generated, immersive, three-dimensional environments that allow people from around the globe to interact with one another through "avatars" (digital bodies) and to shape their environments, both individually and collectively, by using graphical and programming tools.

In process of development since the 1980s, virtual worlds now have more than 12 million participants, and include such venues as Second Life, OpenSim, VastPark, Blue Mars, and World of Warcraft. Virtual worlds are like photography, cinema, video, and electronic music were in their early years in that they provide the opportunity, in the form of a new technology, for radically innovative forms of aesthetic expression.

A "mixed reality" exhibition brings virtual art into real world spaces where it becomes accessible to wide audiences.

The Harbor Gallery exhibition will bridge the gap between the real and virtual worlds through a variety of innovative methods, including digital projection of artworks from the virtual worlds Second Life and OpenSim with interfaces permitting real world audience interaction; images and machinimas (virtual world videos) shown on computer screens and in digital frames; prints of virtual artworks; physical sculptures and paintings inspired by virtual art, some with embedded electronic components; and musical performances occurring in the real world gallery space and streamed live into Second Life where they will be translated into avatar performances.

Please join us for this unique event at one of the most advanced borders between art and technology.

New England Artists participating with real life artwork in the Harbor Gallery show include Martha Jane Bradford (Alizarin Goldflake), Bob Johnson (Thoth Jantzen) , Mary Linley (Feathers Boa), Karina Mitchell (Misprint Thursday), Jason Pramas (Sunseeker Miklos), and Gary Zabel (Georg Janick). Also a New Englander, the real life art of Jeffrey Lipsky (Filthy Fluno) is a painting that will be exhibited in France at MUUSEAV in Nice.

Other VAI artists include Adam Nash (Adam Ramona), Brigit Lichtenegger (Evo Szuyuan), Phillip Mallory Jones (Jacque Quijote), Thorsten Küper (Kueperpunk Korhonen), Dr. Andrew Burrell (Nonnatus Korhonen), Piotr Kopik (Olza Koenkamp), Seogwang Snim (Snim Hanley), Stephen Beveridge (Sowa Mai), and Second Life avatars Artistide Despres, Aurakyo Insoo, Botgirl Questi, Bryn Oh, Four Yip, Fran Benoir, Glyph Graves, luce Laval, marnie Reinard, Pete Jiminy, Pixels Sideways, Sabrinaa Nightfire, Trinity Halberstadt, and Ub Yifu.
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Show Links:
Harbor Gallery: http://www.umb.edu/harborgallery/
Virtual Art Initiative: http://www.virtual-art-initiative.org/Virtual_Art_Initiative/Virtual_Art_Initiative.html

My Links:
DIGITAL ART: Martha Jane Bradford
Web Site: http://www.marthavista.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/
MJB Blog: http://marthajanebradford.blogspot.com/

VIRTUAL ART: Alizarin Goldflake
Second Life avatar of Martha Jane Bradford
Atelier Alizarin (Second Life studio): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/222/189/35
Blog: http://alizaringoldflake.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alizaringoldflake/

YOUTUBE VIDEOS:
YOUTUBE VIDEOS:
Acquarella: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-lo6JosN0M
Anza-Borrego Oak: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s_KRMi55v8
Metempsyche's Garden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfQGuNXWvLo
The Maze: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEa9rtEiINE
Atelier Alizarin Studio Tour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDjrLmPpopA
The Mysterious Forest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Xv_pAf0Qc
Museum of Science Project Concept: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93YYMJANpZs

A Taste of Second Life comes to the Cahners ComputerPlace at the Museum of Science, Boston

As Alizarin Goldflake, Second Life(R) avatar of Martha Jane Bradford, I am designing a digital-virtual art exhibit for the Cahners ComputerPlace at the Museum of Science, Boston, in real life. The exhibit will further visitors' understanding of digital image creation and manipulation (http://www.marthavista.com/). It will also introduce people to the idea of making virtual art. The physical design of the exhibit will be an immersive installation employing sound and video projection to simulate the experience of being inside one of the immersive art environments that I create in Second Life. The Museum is currently accepting applications for a Technical Designer Internship for this exhibit: http://www.mos.org/visitor_info/about_the_museum/internships&d=4367. The designer will research the technology and equipment best suited to realize the artist's vision, culminating in a technical design for the project.

The picture above shows the latest SL mock-up of the design for the exhibit's visitor-interaction area. The kiosk in the center is an easy interactive - it allows the visitor to select various colored underpaintings for an upper layer containing a black-and-transparent digital drawing comprised of lines and tones.

The kiosk on the left provides the visitor with graphic elements to assemble into a finished digital collage, introducing the aesthetic decision-making process.

The most difficult interactive on the right will allow the visitor to experiment with a digital drawing program and with a virtual reality environment, using Open Sim local.

The backdrop to the kiosks is a video of Alizarin's SL immersive art, "The Maze," and it is framed by panels displaying two of her digital collages. The mock-up of this proposed visitor-interaction area can be found in Second Life at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/205/175/1201

The overall proposed exhibit, “Digital Art – Martha Jane Bradford,” may also include some or all of the following: a display of framed digital drawings with wall text explaining various aspects of creating digital drawings and collages, framed SL photos of Alizarin's immersive art, LCD screen presentations, videos of virtual art displays in Alizarin's SL studio, pod casts, video casts, and live demonstrations. An introduction to virtual reality via Open Sim is also being considered.

About the Cahners ComputerPlace: "Glimpse the Future; Encounter Cool Stuff; Engage Computers, Robots, Communications; Inspire Active Learning; Talk Tech with People." Here teachers, students, and visitors explore many aspects of computer science, technology, engineering and math via personal hands-on learning experiences. The exhibit space receives over 350,000 visits annually. A brief video of the visitor-interaction area can be seen below: Links:
DIGITAL ART: Martha Jane Bradford Web Site: http://www.marthavista.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/
MJB Blog: http://marthajanebradford.blogspot.com/
VIRTUAL ART: Alizarin Goldflake, Second Life avatar of Martha Jane Bradford Atelier Alizarin (Second Life studio): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/222/189/35
AG Blog: http://alizaringoldflake.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alizaringoldflake/

YOUTUBE VIDEOS:
Acquarella: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-lo6JosN0M
Anza-Borrego Oak: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s_KRMi55v8
Metempsyche's Garden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfQGuNXWvLo
The Maze: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEa9rtEiINE
Atelier Alizarin Studio Tour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDjrLmPpopA
The Mysterious Forest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Xv_pAf0Qc
Museum of Science Project Concept: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93YYMJANpZs

New Video Up on Youtube!

"The Mysterious Forest" documents my contribution to the Interactive Collaboration of the Caerleon Artists Collective. Artistide Despres was the project leader, and the CAC is hosted in Second Life by Georg Janick/Gary Zabel of UMass, Boston. I did the filming, and Cobalt Zeplin/Alfred M. Ajami did the editing and sound remixing. The film features soror Nishi, along with Cobalt, Viridian Nightfire, and myself.


The scenery is derived from my digital drawing "Anza Borrego Oak," which can be found on my RL web site at http://www.marthavista.com/DigiDrawHoriz1.htm (scroll down to the bottom row of images).

PARTY to celebrate my NEW SKY STUDIO

I will host a party celebrating my new sky studio on Saturday, Saturday, March 20, 3 pm PDT.

The studio features 6 square galleries for Immersive Art best suited to midnight and two oblong galleries for work best seen in daylight. Each major build has its own dedicated space, but because of the way the doorways between galleries are offset from each other, glimpses of other art invite exploration. Although the studio is now consolidated on one floor, it actually consists of many more square meters.

Immersive Art is the featured genre, but many builds are flanked by the RL drawings that were their inspiration (available in RL at http://www.marthavista.com). A case in point," Acquarella" is surrounded by The Big Pixels drawings recently shown at PiRats.

In the center of the new sky studio is an atrium with an elaborate grillwork dome. The visitor area, with seating, champagne, candles, flowers, and teleporters, is situated below. The gorgeous tropical plantings are courtesy of Juanita DeHaro's WATER,PONDS, RIVERS, WATERFALLS in Svidler.

The land music, classical guitar and flamenco as always, is provided by an iRadio Tunie HUD, available from Zenvendof Zeno, and goes really well with the salsa animation in the dance HUD.

FREE bouquet of lupines to celebrate the first day of spring!

"A Conversation with Artist Alizarin Goldflake" by Nazz Lane

A really super interview of me by Nazz Lane hit cyberspace yesterday: see http://laneslist.blogspot.com/2010/02/conversation-with-artist-alizarin.html

We toured my newly redesigned sky studio (come look!! http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/205/183/301) and talked about the art. Nazz has developed consummate skills as an interviewer, and although our conversation flowed naturally and spontaneously, I feel the interview thoroughly covered the all important aspects of my virtual art.

This was Nazz's 299th post on his blog "Lane's List: Nazz Lane's List of the ordinary and extra-ordinary people and places in the metaverse we call SL." He is a prolific prose artist, writing for many SL media and the author of a novel in-progress about Second Life titled "Borders of our lives."  I am eagerly awaiting the next chapter!

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Links:

DIGITAL ART: Martha Jane Bradford
Web Site: http://www.marthavista.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/
MJB Blog: http://marthajanebradford.blogspot.com/

VIRTUAL ART: Alizarin Goldflake
Second Life avatar of Martha Jane Bradford
Atelier Alizarin (Second Life studio): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/222/189/35
Blog: http://alizaringoldflake.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alizaringoldflake/

YOUTUBE VIDEOS:
Studio Tour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDjrLmPpopA

"Metemspyche's Garden:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfQGuNXWvLo

"The Maze:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEa9rtEiINE

Marthavista News (RL)

Available in Second Life, my latest hanging scroll, "Hermione," has now been published in Real Life, too, and since Marthavista is at long last transactional you can buy it online! Click here to purchase: http://www.marthavista.com/dayfornightshow.htm

About Hermione: from January 2008 to the present I have been working in a direction that is entirely new for me, constructing digital collages out of sections of my digital drawings using a creative approach I discovered in Second Life. The method is similar to process art in that the final image is not envisioned at the outset but emerges as a result of assembling, layering, and composing visual elements.

The physical presentation of the collages was inspired by Japanese art, specifically paintings which are displayed as hanging scrolls called kakejiku. The collages are printed in separate panels on Epson canvas with an Epson 4000 ink jet printer. The panels are varnished and then glued together to complete the image. The wall hanging is constructed with a pockets for hanging rods, and the finished art is meant tobe displayed unframed.

The digital drawings that are the source material for the wall hangings are drawn just like traditional charcoals, lithographs, or pastels except that I use digital tools, including a software program called Corel Painter 10 and a Wacom digitizing tablet and stylus. I create a file of the right size and resolution to produce the final image desired and select a paper texture, a brush-tool such as “Charcoal” or “Flat Pen,” and a color. As I draw, the tablet and stylus electronically translate the motions of my hand into virtual brush, pencil, or pen strokes which I can see on my monitor real-time. I do small, limited editions of the finished drawings using archival inks on fine art rag paper. On the splash screen of my web site (see the links below), there is a downloadable PDF that explains in detail how to do a digital drawing.

Links:

DIGITAL ART: Martha Jane Bradford

Web Site: http://www.marthavista.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/ search "Martha Jane Bradford"
MJB Blog: http://marthajanebradford.blogspot.com/

VIRTUAL ART: Alizarin Goldflake
Second Life avatar of Martha Jane Bradford

Atelier Alizarin (Second Life studio): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/222/189/35
Blog: http://alizaringoldflake.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alizaringoldflake/

YOUTUBE VIDEOS:
Studio Tour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDjrLmPpopA

"Metemspyche's Garden:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfQGuNXWvLo

"The Maze:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEa9rtEiINE

The "Day For Night" Show at the Art Conservatory

A show of hanging scrolls and new digital drawings by Alizarin Goldflake will open on Saturday, January 23, at 3 pm PST in The Art Conservatory.

slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Gowers/139/185/72

This is a show of many Firsts. It is the Grand Opening of The Art Conservatory at Sapphos Commons, featuring RobertSteven Smythe (of Artemisia fame) as the curator. All of Alizarin's digital drawings are seen in Second Life for the first time. And also for the first time, all of the work inside the Conservatory will be avaible in Real Life at http://wwwmarthavista.com/dayfornightshow.htm

Centerpiece of the digital drawing installation on the second floor, the "Day for Night Series" consists of scripted images that change their time of day before the viewer's eyes. These four variations on a an image are of a summer cottage overlooking a wildflower meadow, with a glimpse of the ocean in the distance. They come from a RL series of digital monoprints in which the black & white drawing is constant throughout the two dozen prints, while the color is unique to each individual print. The four scripted drawings are accompanied by a selection of four new non-scripted images.

Alizarin's hanging scrolls are on display downstairs (also outside in the park as wind-interactive banners). These scrolls represent an RL direction that is recent for the artist and uses a creative approach she discovered in Second Life. The physical presentation of the collages was inspired by Japanese art, specifically paintings which are displayed as hanging scrolls called kakejiku.

Lastly, Alizarin's popular "Metempsyche's Garden" graces the pond outside where boaters can mingle with the giant white particle drawings blowing in the SL wind.  Exit from the other door and you will come across the artist's "Sunrise Sunset."

Links:

DIGITAL ART: Martha Jane Bradford
Web Site: http://www.marthavista.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/search "Martha Jane Bradford"

VIRTUAL ART: Alizarin Goldflake, Second Life avatar of Martha Jane Bradford
Atelier Alizarin (Second Life studio): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/222/189/35
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alizaringoldflake/

YOUTUBE VIDEOS:
Studio Tour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDjrLmPpopA

"Metemspyche's Garden:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfQGuNXWvLo

"The Maze:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEa9rtEiINE

Acquarella Story Contest Winner

"The Princess Who Would Never Take a Bath" by Laurel Leavitt

Once there was a Princess who would never take a bath.

“Please,” said the Queen.

“No,” said the Princess.

“You can have bubbles,” offered the King.

“No thanks,” said the Princess.

“She is filthy,” whispered the servants.

So, the King called in his wisemen and said, “ Please think up a plan.”

The wisemen hired a carpenter to build a fine aquarium, with jewel sprinkled sand and plants with lacy leaves. The royal chemist poured in water from the clearest, purest well, and ordered fish in all the rainbow colors. Then the Royal Wizard cast a magic spell upon the Princess, so that when the Queen said, “Time for a bath,” the Princess turned into a tiny mermaid, and the Queen picked her up and plopped her into the aquarium. “Whee,” said the princess, as she dove and splashed and swam. But, when the Queen said, “Time to get out now,” the princess said, “No!”

“Please,” said the Queen.

"No, never," said the Princess.

“You can have cocoa,” offered the King

“No thanks,” said the princess.

“She will drown,” sighed the servants.

So the King and Queen called in the Wizard and said “Send us in, too.” And the Wizard cast a magic spell and plopped their tiny bodies in the water and they dove and splashed and swam.

“Time to get out now,” cried the servants.

“No, it's beautiful here,” exclaimed the Queen.

“Come home right this minute,” called the cooks.

“No, it's peaceful here,” shouted the King.

“They will starve,” warned the Wisemen.

But the royal cooks cooked food for them and ground it up and dried it and sprinkled it in the water where the royal family waited.

“How about roast beef? said the King.

“Send us peaches,” begged the queen.

“ I want chocolate,” said the princess.

And one young kitchen helper, whose name was Acquarella, heard the Princess ask for chocolate and threw in a whole candy bar which crushed to death the King and Queen and Princess.

"Oh no," said the wisemen.

"Alas," said the wizard.

"I'm sorry," cried the kitchen helper.

But the aquarium was built so sturdily that even after all these years, you can see a piece of the chocolate bar and hear the voices saying “Pleeeeease” and “Noooo.”