Wednesday, October 13, 2010

"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

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

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

Sunday, June 27, 2010

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/

Friday, May 7, 2010

"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

Thursday, April 22, 2010

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

Monday, April 12, 2010

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

Thursday, April 1, 2010

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.
=============================================
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