Sunday, February 17, 2008

Oyster Bay Sculpture Garden to shutter its doors

Sad news for Second Life's art world...

As art venues go, Oyster Bay, which celebrated its first year in existence this past January 11th - a major milestone in itself, considering that the average length of time people own a specific property in Second Life is two months - has been simply first rate. It was here that I discovered many artists, including Starax Statosky, Cheen Pitney, and elros Tuominen.

Its founder and owner, Morris Vig, has maintained a lively environment in celebration of the arts, including the much acclaimed "ArtTalks," vibrant gallery concerts, and a Balloon Festival, as well as dedicated shows of pivotal importance, such as "Hidden Starax!,” “14 Days, 14 Sculptures,” and the “Black Tie and Blues” Machinima premiere.

Morris made the announcement on his Second Arts blog just now, stating that "It is with no small degree of sadness that I am announcing the forthcoming closing of Oyster Bay Sculpture Garden and Aquarium." He went on to explain that "I haven't been able to give it the attention it deserves," given the time he has had to allocate to his Real Life position which he assumed in August of last year.

Morris will continue to blog and is considering a number of ideas for what to do with the half-sim estate he owns and that the Gallery now sits on. While we are breathing a sigh of relief to learn that Morris will continue finding and sharing the best of the arts in our metaverse with us, we cannot but join the many artists who will surely morn this important loss to our community.

3 comments:

Camilla said...

I cried when he sent the message out to the group. And then I went to Oyster Bay one last time. Much had already been taken away, but I snapped photographs like crazy, and spent a small fortune purchasing my favorite sculptures, now that they will no longer be there for me to go and visit. I will enjoy creating my own small sculpture garden, especially because many of the pieces I bought were made by Morris. It will be my own little piece of Oyster Bay. And I will be sure to register it with the Virtual Parks and Recreation Service, so that others can enjoy it too.

Anonymous said...

It was an awesome run and you have to respect someone who would rather not do something half way. I will miss it but life is change and with it will come the next round of amazing things, at least Morris hasn't escaped us totally yet...

Anonymous said...

Oyster Bay will live in legend.