I will hold a
reception for "The Niagara River," my most recent immersive art
installation, on Sunday, November 25, 2012, 2-3 pm PDT, at Atelier Alizarin on Alizarine
Lakes. The reception is open to the
public, and everyone is invited to view the art, ask questions if they want,
mix with old friends and make some new.
There will be a gorgeous freebie from the build for male and female avis
alike. The wine-and-cheese reception
will be patterned on RL art openings, ie., art, finger food, wine, and fun
chat.
The
installation has been a long time coming.
The image that moves along the walls of the formal dining room is based
on a photograph that I took eons ago. It
had a mysterious staying power but I could never quite figure out how to turn
it into a drawing until I evolved my new style, The Big Pixel drawings.
(http://www.marthavista.com/big-pixel.html). Just as I was finishing the RL drawing,
someone gave me a book of Kay Ryan poems, and the poem "The Niagara
River" seemed to say in words what "Dark Pool" says in
imagery. Virtual reality is the ideal environment
for bringing words and images together environmentally, and so the installation
was launched. Many thanks to Auburne
LittleBoots for helping me to sync the scripts that move the image along the
walls so smoothly.
Because the
poem uses a dining room melded with a river as a metaphor for the passage of
time, life, or maybe the constant stream of consciouness, my installation has a
sound environment that mixes the sound of rushing water with steady stream of
people talking. The people have long departed
from the room, from life, but their voices linger like ghosts and their names
float in hover text. There are hints of
a back story, too - an overturned chair and goblet, a chair that emits a sullen
black fog ... Unfortunately the poem had
to be covered with a napkin because of copyright violation worries but there is
a url loader out in front of the installation that takes the visitor to a web
site where the full text can be read.
Making the
rubrum bouquets, the table legs, and the chairs was a great adventure in
Blender. The crystal sculpties were done
with Rokuro and the candelabrum with a SL tool called the Prim Generator. Most of the pieces that make up the installation
wear textures created with Corel Painter and my digitzing tablet and stylus. A
digital artist in Real Life, I also used additional software in the creation of
the work: Photoshop (textures), Blender
(sculpties), and Audacity (sound). I
relied heavily as well on my six years experience with virtual tools, including
prim editing, texturing, and script modification.
The build is
6 x 13 x 30 meters and 1240 lovingly shaped and textured
prims. Because of the prim count, I
don't expect anyone to actually buy the art work, but I would like to make it
known that I do custom installations in case the build inspires someone.
I am a digital artist in Real Life, and I used the following RL software in the creation of the work: Corel Painter (digital drawing/textures), Photoshop (textures), Blender (sculpties), and Audacity (sound). I also relied heavily on my experience with virtual tools, including prim editing, texturing, and script modification.
Links:
DIGITAL ART:
Martha Jane Bradford
Web Site:
http://www.marthavista.comLinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/
MJB Blog: http://marthajanebradford.blogspot.com/
VIRTUAL ART:
Alizarin Goldflake (Metaverse avatar of Martha Jane Bradford)
Atelier
Alizarin: http://places.inworldz.com/Alizarine%20Lakes/195/216/1002/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: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=8hhO2Rf88uM (Chinese narration)
Metemspyche's
Garden:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/2/GfQGuNXWvLoRequiem for
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
The Winter Bear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMYSYJNkm1E&list=QL&playnext=1