A Different Light - Opened!

Jaid at the opening of "A Different Light"

Wow, what an adrenalin rush. I love show openings.

Yesterday, at the Cannery Gallery, Vint Falken and I opened a new show called "A Different Light". What you will see there is but a fraction of the awesome art that was submitted. We wanted to show you a different view of Second Life.

Imagine that the world is a rabbit. A Great Magician pulls the rabbit out of a hat now and then, and the rabbit sees the world. Now, imagine you are a flea on the rabbit. You live in the deepest part of the hairs of the rabbit, close to the skin where it is warm. You don't need to see the universe that is beyond the rabbit, that you can never reach and have no interest in. It is comfortable where you are.

Now, imagine that you are an adventurous flea. You want to see the universe on those rare occasions when the Magician pulls the rabbit out of the hat. You climb up the rabbit hairs and wait there, poised, waiting for a bit of the universe to be revealed to you. *

The concept behind the show is this: There are many different types of people in Second Life. Some people are into being "furry" or mechs; some are into re-experiencing their childhood; some are into slavery; some are into making new friends. Do I want to do some of those things, experience what it is like to be adored or spurned because of my appearance? No. I have a lovely avatar for a reason. However, imagine what it would be like to be a child again .... you see a firefly for the 10th time and you are filled with wonder. It is at that moment that you see the universe that the Great Magician is presenting for us.

So, take off your comfortable skin and come wander down the paths. Come see the universe through someone else's eyes.

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* Note: Special thanks to Jostein Gaarder for his outstanding book of juvenile fiction: Sophie's World, originally published in Norwegian in 1991.

Cannery gets ready for next show

This is going to be an AWESOME show!

As you may know, Vint Falken and I are the curators for a Second Life photography art show called "A Different Light". We've been accepting submissions for a few weeks, and last night we went through the submissions. So many people submitted such outstanding work, it made it VERY difficult to decide. It took us hours longer than I expected. In the end, we chose 10 pictures for each theme, and 10 pictures from each featured artists.

The featured artists are:

• Andromega Volare
• Isolde Flamand
• Kimberly Mirabeau
• Marianne McCann
• Mylena Aquitaine

The artists participating in the themes are:

• Codebastard Redgrave
• GM Nikolaidis
• Jazss Saiman
• Kim Dench
• Loki Popinjay
• Luna Zolnir
• Raul Crimson
• Ryker Beck
• Shoshana Epsilon
• Stephen Venkman
• Vint Falken

I can't tell you which pieces were chosen. You'll have to come to the show to see them. But, with a list like this, it's going to be a show to remember!

RL Art Sold!

WOOT!

I just returned from a very pleasant weekend at a small convention called "Darkover Grand Council". This convention is held near Baltimore, MD. I'd been trying to get in touch with the convention organizers to see if I could show my pieces from Flickr. I brought the art even though I didn't hear anything. They let me show them and amazingly, two of the pieces sold! (See pictures below.)

I learned a couple of things. This may not work in your neighborhood, but give it a try. Before you tey to sell any of your own art, you should go to a local convention and see how this works in your area. Here's what I learned.

1. Frame your pieces, or at least mat them. Try to do it yourself, because you are unlikely to recoup your costs if you have Kinkos do it.
2. Wrap them in bubble wrap or other packing material. It's nice if you can give the purchaser the packing material.
   
3. Sign all pieces on the front, either right or left side. (I signed using my avatar name.)
   
4. Name the pieces. "Snapshot_001" won't get you any points.
   
5. Figure out how many copies of this piece you are planning on making. Keep the number low. (I should have had mine at 10.) Number them, ie, 1/10. I was advised to put the number on the opposite side of the signature.
6. Figure out how much you will sell each piece for. You may need to wait until you get there to determine the price, to see how much other pieces are selling for, but you need to know how much you need to make.
   
7. Bring a list with the titles of each piece.
   
8. Each art show is different -- some require advance registration, some accept walk-in artists. Some will send everything to auction, even if it only has one bid. Some shows will wait until there are 3 or even 5 bids on it.
9. Keep track of your pieces. Which ones sold? If, for instance, you say you will sell 10 copies of this piece, and you sell 1/10 (#1 out of a set of 10 that you plan to create), then you need to keep track of that number, so you never sell #1 again!

All in all, I had a wonderful time. I got lots of encouragement and suggestions. I'm hooked. I will definitely do this again.