Content creation in the service of LOVE - Gwen Carillon's sphere for "Breath"

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, I created a group in Flickr called NPIRL <3 - Content creation in the service of LOVE, and invited Flickrites to share their photographs and stories about content creation in the service of love... especially if it has a Not Possible IRL twist to it. Here was the first one I published. Even though we have over a hundred members now, contributions have been few and far between... Happily, I keep stumbling upon stories that fit in their own way.

Sometimes, by taking a moment to nurture yourself, you plant a seed that spreads and is cultivated by others. Such was the case of Gwen Carillon's "Breath" sculpture. Gwen owns and fills Elements in Design, Elemental Muse Jewelry and Dreamscapes Gallery of Art with celestial creations that often strike me as the sort of things one might find in heaven. Teleport directly from here.

I like to read the notecards that Gwen adds to each item she places for sale. They say a lot about her thinking as she crafted the piece. Gwen describes Breath as follows:

"Imagine a wisp of air... ethereal, insubstantial and fleeting. Imagine glass... fragile and crystalline. When life is challenging, we can sometimes feel disconnected from those we love and even from the world around us. We feel fragile... as insubstantial as breath. So fragile that we could blow away if we don't make a concerted effort to hang on to ourselves."



It seems that I am not the only one to read her notecards. Gwen reports that she often receives responses to them. Here is one by Moonglow Bouchard who kindly agreed to allow its publication.



Hello Gwen,

I was wandering in your shop and found this note which inspired the following. I thought I'd share. Hope you don't mind.

Moonglow (Bouchard)

And yet, breath is life
Without this seemingly insubstantial thing
there would be no other valuables
that could not be held in the hand:

ideas
thoughts
feelings
love

for without love there is no breath

Even as we love those around us
we must also love ourselves
For without love of self
we cannot truly
love another
So we breath
And help others
do the same

It's alright Ma, I'm only NPIRL'ing

This notice issued in-world to the NPIRL group on August 31, 2007:

REZZABLE!
If you aren't familiar with it yet, here's the crash course on
Rezzable Productions:
* An entertainment company developing 2 million square meters of sim space
* Founder and owner is Jim Himoff, known in SL as RightasRain Rimbaud
* Rezzable is currently hiring builders/content creators
* By now you've likely been to three Rezzable sims: Greenies, Toxic and the Cannery

NPIRL COMMUNITY STUFF
* Burning Life - You in? If so, we want to know. Please contact Bettina Tizzy.
* A NPIRL Social?
Several of you have expressed an interest in meeting each other and networking. Let me know if this sounds like something you'd like to do? I wouldn't even contemplate doing a monthly event until we had one successful session under our belts.

THIS WEEK'S FEATURES

Let's DANCE!

MOVE IT!
Easy Babcock, creator of the first-rate motion-captured (working with RL pro-dancers) Sine Wave danceloops, just joined NPIRL and so becomes our first animator member. We have urged him to make us some NPIRL fantasy loops... fingers crossed :) Easy tells us that he hopes to collaborate with other leading creators to integrate new animations into quality builds in the not-too-distant-future.
Sine Wave Island

MUSIC: Can it ever be considered NPIRL?
Aldomanutio Abruzzo,composer of the etheral/supernal tracks that have accompanied many of our favorite builds (Blink-Juria Yoshikawa; Flowerball - Douglas Story and Desdemona Enfield; Full Immersion - DanCoyote Antonelli) doesn't think so. Aldo, I beg to differ :P To me, your sounds convey every sort of color and shade and emotion one might expect in an otherwordly environment.

DISCO GONE GREENIE
Zero G is the new disco at the Greenies site (from the Rezzable peeps and built by NPIRL'ers LittleToe Bartlett and Pavig Lok). Events on Monday nights only for the time being. Greenies doesn't allow direct tp's, so you have to go to the main site, then take a teleport or the bottle rocket - Little think's the rocket is especially fun - up to the Mothership.
Greenies Home Rezzable

SPACEY DANCING
* We've mentioned Inspire Space Park before... Earth Primbee's wildly popular - and deservedly so - spacey frolic.
Inspire Space Park
* The Galaxy Dome (Spaceport Bravo) is an offbeat, whimsical space globe that is part of the International Spaceflight Museum.
Galaxy Dome Music Venue

IN THE CLOUDS...
To my friends it is no secret. If I am hiding, I'm likely to be found whirling at the Particle Lab's Cloud Chateau, happily lost in IM's or simply blissing out. As dancing venues go, the Cloud Chateau is NPIRL in the extreme, but keep in mind that it is strictly BYOC (bring your own chimera). Jopsy Pendragon may be swamped in both of his lives, but no matter how often I visit, there are always new, luscious particle surprises.
The Cloud Chateau

FANTASY FURNITURE and JEWELRY
"Second Life is not meant to replace Real Life. It isn't an imitation of Real Life. Second Life stands alone on it's own merit as a separate dimension, rich in dreams and beauty." So said Gwen Carillon, as she championed the NPIRL concept on her blog.
If you are looking to furnish a fantasy build, Gwen's heavenly Elements in Design store is a dependable source. I am proud to own several of her creations.
Elements in Design

VIRTUAL Reality's Daddy
Jaron Lanier, the founder of VPL back in 1984 - the first company to market VR products - and also the man who popularized the phrase "virtual reality," opened an SL account in January 2004 but never went on to develop his presence here. Is he playing WoW instead?

WELCOME new NPIRL members (in order of appearance):
Aldomanutio Abruzzo
Sugar Seville
Gwen Carillon
DanCoyote Antonelli
Easy Babcock
Masami Kuramoto
Eladon Galsworthy
Adam Ramona