Secondlie™

Jurin Juran suggested I might want to check out the Twittering generated by a certain Secondlie... I looked. And looked again a bit later. And now I can't stop looking and giggling.

Happy weekend, everyone.

A talismanic journey at The Cannery opens with Melodious Source

Her icon on Flickr is an eyeball. Her photography stream has been viewed nearly a 100,000 times... and she's developed quite a following - nearly 1,400 contacts - so she must to be doing something right.


Rise Above by Melodious Source

While most of her photography falls in the Fantasy genre, Melodious Source doesn't like to be classified, and to promote that freedom, just when you think you have figured her out, she does something completely different.


Melodious' cyborg girl

Her main protagonists are nearly always women, and they are intrepid. One would imagine that they don't walk... but swagger... or fly.

The air shimmers around them. They are larger than life.


Seeking Divinity by Melodious Source

I love a quote that Melodious posted on her Flickr profile page by a certain Douglas Everett: "There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other." I was surprised, by the way, to learn that this insightful pearl comes from a retired Canadian senator. Go Canada!

At any rate, her work continues to enchant and inspire an adoring and ever-growing audience. Much of it is erotica and rather steamy, and all is imaginative, and infused by her infectious personality - which comes across with each new image - and spirited remarks.

Her show, "The Source," which opens tomorrow, marks the debut of a new gallery space at Rezzable Production's The Cannery that is unabashedly mystical. Drawing from astrological and magical lore, the secrets there are plentiful, and even the special key to unlock their charms isn't enough… and isn't explained… so you are compelled to explore on a visceral level.

Your journey begins with the purchase of a heart for the modest price of $100L. Without this heart - which you must wear - you cannot proceed or access any of the gallery rooms. A teleport away, you find yourself standing on what is surely the largest sword ever created.



Walk towards the tip of sword where Melodious' eye awaits you.



Inside, the flash of her camera consumes you...



... and you begin to fall.




... and that's where your journey really begins.



I won't spoil your experience by revealing more, but know this: touch torches... touch doors, and linger. Teleport directly from here.

Notably, Rezzable Productions encouraged Melodious to invite several guest artists to participate in the show. They include:

Phinn Boffin
DeeDee Deepdene
Shoshana Epsilon
Vint Falken
Flugel Flasheart
Tyfanny Flintoff
Maitreya Graves
Carmilla Mirabeau
Edward Mokeev
MasterDave Newman
Heroine Nouvel & Pestilence
CodeBastard Redgrave
RightAsRain Rimbaud
Collin Savon
Daequix Scarborough
Cienega Soon
Akira Seymour
Hio Taringa
Marquez Tone
Stephen Venkman

The new gallery space at The Cannery was created by many talented artists: Monn Laval, Andrek Lowell, Kaeli Candour, Rob Balder, Betlog Hax, Vint Falken and Foolish Frost.

Where SeaDrykes go to dance and dream - and a dream source, too

I'm not sure why, but every time I have a chat with Kazuhiro Aridian, we end up talking about dreams.

While Kazuhiro is known throughout the grid for creating flawless and over-the-top creature avatars, I'm happy to report that Kaz is now exploring the realm of sculpture.


Click to see large

Beginning with the delicate and leafy aquatic Seadrkye I shared with you one month ago, Kaz has merged the exquisitely sculpted and textured avatars with art, to much success. You can see this sculpture for a very limited time by teleporting directly from here, but best go soon!


"The Seadrykes dance around a glowing orb of light, mirroring each other as the strange glow emits bubbles around them"

It was this discovery that prompted yet another conversation that took us into now familiar territory.

Can we hope to see more of your creatures incorporated into large-scale sculptures? And do you daydream about these creatures?

Kazuhiro Aridian: Heck yes, to both! Sadly, they're not part of my nightly dreamings, but they certainly make up much of my daydreaming. Also, I'm going to be making full colour watercolour and ink illustrations for each creature and selling prints alongside the creatures, when I get them done : D



Kazuhiro Aridian: I have a separate dreamscape... it is an exaggeration of reality, and where I lived as a kid. My road becomes a placid river... Two small hills at the dead end of my road become large sand dunes, and beyond the dunes is a large river, which is a creek in Real Life, and beneath it lays the skeleton of a small airplane.

You are serious? This is your night dreamscape?

Kazuhiro Aridian: It sort of propells my daydreams, but I don't get to see these creatures within my childhood dreamscape, though there is a dinosaur reserve if you follow the river far enough...

This discussion got me to thinking about the sources of our dreams, and how much they inspire content creation. A little Googling later, I discovered this unusual and fascinating website: The World Dream Bank. Get thee dreaming, creators!

You can own this sculpture or any of Kazuhiro's primordial beasts by stopping by here.

Fashion that would make any engineer proud

Is steampunk NPIRL or isn't it? That is a question that has surfaced many times over the past few months amongst the members of the working group Not Possible IRL. As an example, Inigo Dench practically gave a dissertation on this topic here, way back in August and just a few weeks after the group was formed.

I'd say that skin, clothing, accessories (and vehicles, you will soon learn) creator Pandora Wrigglesworth (rez: 10/25/2007), has laid the question to rest. In her dream-weaving hands, steampunk - that celebration of an Victorian era that never took place - can most definitely be NPIRL.

Take her Clockwork Automaton Lady skin, available in many metals and colors. Here, she has thoughtfully included adjustable leather straps (surely for those days when too much chocolate has added extra pounds), hidden all the cogs, and given the Lady an extra springy waistline. While Pandora - modeling the skin herself - is petite, gals of any size or girth are sure to charm whilst galavanting au naturel or fully garbed.

In Pandora's Clockwork Brain, steampunk brain surgeons must have a degree in engineering, and buy all their supplies at the hardware store. Clockmakers, too, do a little moonlighting on the side to boost their Linden finances during periods of economic recession.



Men and women alike appreciate the smart thinking behind (literally) her Topter hat which, in flight-mode, triggers springs that open the doors to allow for helpful propellers. Admittedly, the hat does jangle the nerves, but perhaps V2.0 will do a better job of suppressing the accompanying commotion.


Not all steampunk design is about cogs and wheels. It often involves all manner of hidden compartments and trapdoors and, on the other side of the spectrum, the evidence - via exposure - of how things work.

Corseted ladies understand best how important it is to be able to get-in-there and scratch, or perhaps make needed adjustments, and they were surely the inspiration for this layer that can be worn over skin or clothing. Per Pandora, it is perfect "for when you want to show people that, while you may be soft and warm on the outside, you are still cold as clockwork on the inside."

Perhaps the most useful invention in Pandora's arsenal of goodies is the very surprising yet eminently practical gown shown below. "Here I am in my Horseless Gown, inside the Hall of Mirrors at Chateau de Versailles (teleport directly from here)," said Pandora. She added,"This gown is my most recent vehicle creation, a merging of the French pannier gown and the California "Woodie" roadster. I'm using low gear for indoor driving." Of course, this raises all sorts of questions regarding wardrobe registration and proper governance, but society will just have to find a way to keep up with all of the new scientific developments this steampunk fashionista is introducing.


"Do you pass on the left or the right in Rococo-era France?" asks the ever-polite Pandora Wrigglesworth

You may peruse and acquire these lovelies at her shop, Curio Obscura, by teleporting directly from here. All photography by Pandora Wrigglesworth.

Chakryn Forest up for auction

Photo by Wellington Bahram

I hope you will forgive me for using this forum to share a personal item with you. One year ago, Andrek Lowell and I began the concept work for Chakryn Forest. Today, the Chakryn that sits at Dreamworld SE is actually in its third version, with many modifications and improvements.

A good friend has offered me a void sim, and Andrek Lowell has agreed to build me a new forest, and so it appears it is time to move on, which makes both Andrek and me a little bit sad, as Chakryn has come to mean a great deal to both of us. You can see many beautiful photographs of Chakryn Forest taken by Second Lifers, here. You can visit it by teleporting directly from here.

Chakryn is too special to destroy if it can be preserved, and for this reason, I have decided to put Chakryn up for silent auction. Here is the information:

* 19,456 sq m
* 4,453 prims
* Dreamworld SE sim, owned by Count Burks
* Count Burks is a trustworthy sim owner.

Final sale will include:
* The land
* The forest
* Treehouse
* Grotto
* * One extra copy of both the forest and the treehouse, no mod, no trans, no copy.

Final Sale will not include:
* Any furniture or art
* The flying red hawk
* The name "Chakryn Forest"

Starting price: $250 US Dlls.
Auction ends: Sunday, April 20 at 12 Noon SLT
Submit bids and questions to me via email at Bettinatizzy@gmail.com

Managing information in Second Life - Treating IMs like email

Never have I wished for more time. I could use another 100 hours for every day and still not do, or see, or talk with all the people I long to spend time with. Add to this the immediacy of Second Life where, in five minutes, 10 urgent IMs might come in... and it's a wonder we aren't all lunatics.

Robert Scoble and thousands of other social network darlings thrive on the constant noise and ricocheting off Twitter, Seesmic, and all those other APIs. Robert Scoble... wow. He astounds me. That Scobleizing machine of his follows 20,375 people on Twitter alone! Even me! And I don't have one thing to say on Twitter of any consequence whatsover. By the way, I heartily recommend that you not follow me on Twitter. I am mostly a silent wallflower there, and an infrequent visitor.


Is that time or my brain melting away? Photo of Salvador Dali's Persistence of Memory courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art, New York

I've tried every approach I can think of to manage incoming information from within Second Life better, including setting myself to Busy for days on end, begging for notecards and emails only, or just ignoring IMs altogether. There have been several times I've actually been afraid to log in, the information load has been so heavy. This doesn't mean that I don't want to hear from people. I most DEFINITELY do. It's just that I like to have real conversations with you... full sentences, complete thoughts... and giving that one person or group my undivided attention. It's just the way my mind works!

Then on Saturday, it dawned on me. I'm going to treat IMs just as I would email. I will love getting them, I will read them all, and I will respond to them, but in my own good time. I hope people will understand and forgive me my limitations.

Do you have a better way of managing all this? If so, please let me know! How? LOL. How about an email to bettinatizzy@gmail.com, or a comment here?

Folks love four Yip

There are scores of ways to gauge people's reactions to just about everything in Second Life: builds, group notices, blogposts, emails, IMs, and so on. For my money, the response to four Yip's "Search" show that I blogged about on Saturday: "four Yip's improbable tableaux + you," has been fun. Looks like people are just having a romp over there!

I thought I'd share some of the great pics that have been coming in, capturing people's experiences and feedback. There's Skye Donardson's dreamy "Girl with Clouds in Her Eyes"...


Per Skye: "One of the items you can pick up at this very fun, interactive exhibit are these gorgeous eyes, with their built in clouds. I'm rather enamoured with these...don't know if I'll make them my everyday wear, but they are really lovely."

Then Vivienne Cassavetes' avatar is simply the perfect height for many of the exhibits there. Take a look at these three pics...


Charlie Chaplin!


Where's Vivienne?!


Vivienne in the clouds

OMG, you haven't been to four Yip's show yet? What are you waiting for??

To visit this exhibit, teleport directly from here and then, importantly, follow the coordinates of the landmark. The TP is forced to a central area of the island.

A postcard from Brooklyn

If you haven't heard of Brooklyn is Watching, you might want to start by reading this first.

On Saturday, I spent a very pleasant hour catching up with Jay Newt (aka Jay Van Buren) of the Real Life art gallery in Brooklyn, NY, Jack the Pelican Presents. His Brooklyn is Watching project only just got underway a few weeks ago and, like a stick of dynamite, it has exploded onto the Second Life art scene. I invited Jay to share what has transpired there with us, and soon after received this. - Bettina

by Jay Newt

Brooklyn is Watching has now been up for 5 of its scheduled 52 (at least) weeks and the response has been greater than even my ridiculously grandiose dreams. Our blog is getting more traffic all the time and so is our sim, and in the physical gallery in Brooklyn, playing with the installation has become a favorite pass time of the crowds at the various openings and receptions that happen every couple weeks.


Hip art fans playing with the BIW installation during an opening at Jack the Pelican Presents

Last time we had a crowd waiting to take turns at the keyboard, while others cheered them on and asked Second Life artist Cheen Pitney to make them a virtual beer.... which he did! Pretty much every time I spend any time at the gallery I meet a new person who has never seen Second Life or only heard about it vaguely and who gets their mind completely blown by the quality and variety of the work that they see on the BIW sim.


Teardrops in the Rain by elros Tuominen

In some ways this project is a Noob-Mind-Blowing-Machine, which is good for anyone in Second Life, since every radicalized NYC art-fan who leaves the gallery buzzing about Second Life just raises the world's profile that much more.

As for the professional Second Life crowd, we may get the NYC Metaverse Meet Up to have one of their next meetings at the gallery so the Real Life local profile of the project is about to explode. We also got a lot of exposure at Virtual Worlds 2008 because of the enthusiasm of the Lindens who put our project up on the screen at their booth.

The sim filled up within days (largely thanks to NPIRL's original blogpost I'm sure) and has had a steady stream of new art for the last 5 weeks. People are starting to figure out that we record our podcasts on Wednesdays, and that the gallery gets the most traffic on Saturday and Sunday, so they're rezzing new things then, and we're getting some good dialogue going on about the art that we praise or mock on the podcast.


"Mixed Opposites" by Juria Yoshikawa photographed with dot/bot Monet Destiny

Podcast 3 was a disaster, and was only saved from being a disaster by the fact that Kat2 Kit (a tiny panda in SL, and Brooklyn-based artist and photographer who has joined the project and saved our bacon several times) recorded a really interesting interview (in panda voice) with PatriciaAnne Daviau, an artist who made a 'tortured prim' tiny-tiny city at BIW. Podcast 1, 2, 4 and 5 were pretty strong I feel, even though we've had lots of technical problems.

I've been learning how to be a talk show host in front of everyone - trying to control the collision of egos and the crazy mixture of people who know alot about art but little about Second Life, people that know alot about Second Life but little about art and of course, a lot of people who know alot about both. Don's been bringing in a steady stream of fine art luminaries and we've also included Second Life art-stars Strawberry Holiday and DanCoyote Antonelli on our panels, as well. The conversations have uncovered some really interesting areas of disagreement and areas that we could, and will have whole shows about in the future.


Nebulosus Severine's Bunnykinball

We're trying actively to get an audio recording and editing sponsor or partner and a streaming video sponsor so that we can improve the audio quality of our podcast and also get a video stream of the gallery piped back into Second Life to "complete the circle" --- I would love to make it so people in Second Life can see the folks in Brooklyn who's minds they are blowing. We're also looking for help on our blog so anyone who is interested in writing about art should contact us at watchable@brooklyniswatching.com.


Selavy Oh's capture of DanCoyote Antonelli's sky art

One so-far-untapped possibility is of a performance in the BIW sim for the audience at the gallery -- anyone that's interested in doing something could let us know ahead of time so we can promote it around the neighborhood, or just do something the next time JTPP is having an opening and surprise us. The openings are always announced on the Jack the Pelican website.

Basically, this is a great time to be watching Brooklyn and we can't wait to see what insanity the next 47 weeks will bring us!

The one, the only, Sabine Stonebender

October 6, 2008 update: On July 16th, Sabine Stonebender's Zero Point and shop were inadvertently destroyed. Sabine has been hard at work rebuilding Zero Point and her permanent store is now open for business (teleport directly from here).


The extraordinary Sabine Stonebender. Photograph post-processing by KadeKlate Karson

In the constellation of artists within Second Life, she is royalty, and I have no doubt that art historians in the future will document her work in textbooks - or whatever the format might be - because Sabine has pioneered an entirely new approach - a movement in and of itself - and has thoughtfully laid down the foundation for many artists in virtual worlds to come.

So much has been written about her already, but we will never finish examining this woman's work. There is the SLART piece, Amalthea Blanc's review and video, the SL Cool story, and of course, the SL News coverage. Jurin Juran frequently features her work both at her Blackwater Gallery and on her blog.

April 14 update: In the interest of longevity and for the record, and because some new material came in - namely a couple of great pics of Sabine's Real Life art works, and quotes from both Torley Linden and DanCoyote Antonelli - I decided to republish with these additions.



To see the greatest concentration of her work, as well as her store, visit Zero Point (teleport directly from here).

I always feel like I am stealing a little beauty from the metaverse whenever I take Sabine Stonebender's (rez: 2/2/2005) time for one thing or another. I imagine that she might be mixing a new palette of those jewel colors and shiny things, and whipping all into a froth of exhuberant particles that dance around her whenever she appears.

So, I stole a little beauty from the metaverse... a few hours of this gifted content creator's time, and here is what I discovered.



What is your Real Life background and where are you located?

Sabine Stonebender: I am a studio artist by training with a BA of Fine Arts - Studio Arts - Jewelry and Metalsmithing. I got into the arts to be a professional at it. I'm in Texas, and graduated from the University of Houston in 1997.


Sabine's "Griffon" in Real Life

Jewelry and metalsmithing... doesn't sound very 3D - as in digital - to me. How on earth did you end up in Second Life?

Sabine Stonebender: More than you might think. Jewelry is very sculptural in nature. Digital graphics fascinated me ever since seeing the first pixel blocks of Pong. I learned to use Poser on my own, as a hobby, which led me to Second Life. When I ran a web hunt looking for ways to extend Poser, Second Life popped up due to its animation file connection.

What did you think when you got here and what was your reaction?

Sabine Stonebender: A bit puzzled, but I liked the fact that I could make things and keep them or even sell them. The first weeks were rather boring, though, as my comp barely could run Second Life. The public sandboxes were where it really got going.

Did you work alongside anyone interesting there?

Sabine Stonebender: I would meet all sorts of builders making wonderful stuff. Folks like Torley and Jesrad Seraph. One who really inspired me alot was Jessica Qin. She's an all-original and has a brilliant mind.


A very early photograph of Jessica Qin, who had this to say about Sabine: "The wonderful thing about Sabine is that she's always inventing and experimenting and innovating and attempting to do truly original things that no one else has done before. She's a true Original."

Unlike most creators of interactive art, you are also involved in creating a "journey" of sorts for the person experiencing it, via your tunnels, the roller coaster, and your transport systems.

Sabine Stonebender: I like to think of life as a journey with all that implies, so it seemed logical to bring that mentality here. We change as our travels broaden our experiences. It is my hope that, in some small way, I can change folks a little as they interact with my work.


Message upon arrival to the Station Control: WARNING!! DANGEROUS MAGNETIC FIELDS BEYOND THIS POINT!! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!! USE RESCUE TELEPORT IF YOU ARE FLUNG BEYOND THE STATION

Your work involves a great deal of scripting, which is so distant from Metalsmithing!

Sabine Stonebender: I use a lot of very simple scripts for much of what you see. Only the recent work has become script intensive.




What is Vomit Comet and how did that come to be? It is a Second Life classic and novel even to this day.

Sabine Stonebender: That was a toy I built back in 2005... one of my early big works, which was a real learning experience. It is now a means to really throw a viewer into the heart of the storm. That level at Zero Point is sensory overload, plain and simple.




Incidentally and per Wikipedia, Vomit Comet is a nickname for any airplane that briefly provides a nearly weightless environment in which to train astronauts, conduct research, and film motion pictures. In Sabine's case and in her words, Vomit Comet is "a rocket sled-type propulsion ride, and the chair fires up a sticky camera for a bit better view of what's going on." You can take that ride on the top level of Zero Point, ground zero for Sabine's showcase of her work.

Your colors! No other artist in Second Life even comes close to touching your intense and intensely beautiful palette. Tell me about your sense of color and how it evolved?

Sabine Stonebender: Part of it stems from my love of color in my Real Life work, as I am a stonecutter. I cut raw minerals into gems and bring out the color. A stone has a range of colors unlike many things in painting and graphics. Among the stones that I work with: Tigers Eye, labrodorite, opal, sodalite, obsidian. Stones have special fx built in. Tigers Eye is what they call "chatoyant," - the so called cat's eye effect.


Tigers Eye photograph by Photolitherland


Kinetic art at Zero Point


Obsidian, as photographed by Mila


I'd venture to say that sometimes Sabine improves on nature


This photograph of an opal taken by Chris Ralph .


Sabine's opalesque effects... "Opal is special as it is a spectrum and has amazing depths"

Sabine Stonebender: Labrodorite has its own unique effect to reflect light back as color. No two alike. The fractal effect is partly the surface and partly from the internal refraction. My first texture was labrodorite. This is a prime example of some of my fave colors.


Sabine painted a prim to demonstrate her labrodorite texture

Sabine Stonebender: Some of the colors I work with also came from ceramics. I nearly have a minor in that. I loved glazing.

I have heard jewelers wax eloquently about the forests that appear inside emeralds. Are all your colors inspired by nature?

Sabine Stonebender: Not all are natural. I also played with graphics programs and was drawn to the bold and brightest of the colors... things that nearly glowed. What really set me alight was back in old Second Life, we had light as a material. To hold a block of light was fascinating. In the edit menu, there are object material properties: wood, stone, metal, rubber, etc. Light used to be on that list.

Do you miss it? Now we have glow... is that a good replacement?

Sabine Stonebender: They replaced it with glow recently, so I don't miss it so much, but before glow, yes, I missed it. My horn was from that era. Much of that old content was broken.


An earlier version of Sabine's avatar

It was not lit for a while? How long ago did it disappear, more or less?

Sabine Stonebender: Yah, I had to settle for Fullbright. Must have been around the summer of 2006 when they broke the old lighting engine. We had a period of almost a year with no local lighting.

Have you made jewelry here?

Sabine Stonebender: I don't make jewelry in Second Life. I acquired a taste for large-scale sculpture. I have a 500lbs steel dragon in my Real Life backyard.


Hex, Sabine's dragon in Real Life, weighs 500lbs!



How soon after you rezzed did you begin to build large? Was it an epiphany of sorts?

Sabine Stonebender: Probably 6 months, as that's how long it took me to really get a clue. Second Life was small then, too. It was more of a slow progression. I'd learn a skill, build on it, and so forth.



Two builds, "Big Foot" and the "150 Ton Hammer," by Sabine dating back to the fall of 2005

What are the most important considerations, in your opinion, in creating an installation, and... is there a prim you like to reach for most when you start?

Sabine Stonebender: The primary consideration is "What does it make me feel?" And Function is what I use most. As a jeweler, form and function go hand-in-hand. Useable and beautiful... but in Second Life, I could also go for pure form.

Do you test how avatars interact with your art, and do you still work with Poser?

Sabine Stonebender: (smiles) I put my own work through the wringer with my avie. Poser, not as much. The current version is rather annoying to work in and I've little time for it.


Sabine Stonebender on her throne at Zero Point, as captured by NPIRL Flickrite, Luna Zolnir


Detail of one of the dragon heads from that throne

What tools do you use, software, etc.?

Sabine Stonebender: I'm an open source junkie. GIMP 2.4, Irfanview, Sculpty Paint, PloppSL, and any free graphics or modeling tool I can lay my paws on.

Any advice for people who are just getting started in this area?

Sabine Stonebender: Find forums, and do a lot of experimenting with the editing menus. I would poke at every filter, plugin, etc., just to know what it was. Nothing beats hands-on empirical know-how. Gimp was a trial by fire.

You are renown for your textures, and I am thrilled to own several of them... how much work is involved and did it hurt to put some of them up for sale?



Sabine Stonebender: It really varies. I use a lot of photo elements as well as pure digital rendering. Both can be slow or fast depending on the detail. As for sale, some I do hate to let go, but many I am eager to share, as I know they can be useful. I used to teach classes here.

Your particles are unlike any others in Second Life, and I especially enjoyed how you used them in the Godzilla build for Burning Life 2007, and in your teleporter. When you teleport from one place to another, you "arrive" in a storm of particles.


Godzirra! at Burning Life 2007

Sabine Stonebender: Oh, my flight tail. The default of me has the real tail. My particles use a lot of textures I make myself. One of the reasons they have a certain look is that I am a transparent texture junkie. Overlays are a wonderful use of Second Life. Layers are fascinating, especially in motion.

"Sabine Stonebender has attained mastery over animated textures. Seems simple enough: you drop a script in, and tweak a few parameters. But beyond this, when you assemble prims in various geometric alignments, you can create powerful, fluid sculptures which are a feast for your eyes, and bordering on optical illusions. Through Zero Point, a skyward installation not unlike The Crystal Maze, colors and motion run rampant, culminating in visual delights to be enjoyed by all visitors." - Torley Linden


"Eye Window" - An earlier work by Sabine

What considerations came into play in the creation of Zero Point?

Sabine Stonebender: One thing about Second Life that I've learned is that rails aren't really needed. We all fly. Many things we use in Real Life are bad user interface here. Thus the open format of the Sky Gallery.

What do you call that gorgeous red tower?


This photograph was taken in early February. The build has changed since then

Sabine Stonebender: Oooh lol, that's part of an experiment that's not open to the public yet. That zone is new and will be replaced soon with the final one. This is a proof of concept.



How soon do you expect to finish it? I wonder if I might publish the photos I've taken prior to your opening it up.

Sabine Stonebender: Sighs... when I can make the time, honestly. I don't mind. I get ripped off on concepts a lot, so there is little I can do other than present my current vision while it is current.



Want to talk about that?

Sabine Stonebender: Only insofar as we live in a cut-and-paste society now. Far easier to copy, than create new. Sometimes, some concepts will diverge, and some I've tossed to the wind, hoping they would be used.

DanCoyote Antonelli calls you a true original and considers you to be completely unique.

Sabine Stonebender: I do make a point of not being too derivative whenever possible. I am a student of art and art history, so I know when I am being a slave to it.

Do you collaborate at all?

Sabine Stonebender: Yes, DC (DanCoyote Antonelli) was one of my early collabs. I got him turned onto the notion of the cascade attachments, as the first ones were my work for the first ZeroG SkyDancer shows. I did the costumes. I liked his concept and tried to push it further in my own way. It was a lot of fun.

"I discovered Sabine's work in a sandbox. It was her immersive worm experience that you walked into the mouth and then went through the belly through to the other end. It was then I knew I had to befriend this person. I sent an IM and did just that. Sabine is a profound inspiration to me and a loyal and dedicated friend. Sabine is undoubtedly the genuine article, the real thing and a humble, helpful good natured, serious artist. She is my favorite artist in Second Life and personifies all the best aspects of the Second Life community. This is an amazing talent and we are lucky to have this person working in Second Life." - DanCoyote Antonelli



The textured megaprims worn by the dancers in this video by Gary Hazlitt are what Sabine calls "cascade" attachments

Anyone you'd like to collaborate with whom you haven't?

Sabine Stonebender: Mmms, that's a tough one. I've looked up to many folks but often due to how different their work was from my own. Seifert (Surface) was an early inspiration, but our methods are way too different. Seifert used scripts early on for prim manipulation, while I was never that good at them, so went for brute hand-built, sometimes with similar results, but not unlike many of Seifert's early creations.

Author's note: Since conducting this interview, Sabine collaborated in a build exercise with elros Tuominen.


Entrance to Zero Point

If you could bring one person in world who is not here today, to your knowledge, who would that be and why?

Sabine Stonebender: I admit, I'd like to meet folks like Boris Vallejo or Olivia de Berardinis, but I doubt they would find it here as fun as I do. They have fantasy worlds of their own.

This gold texture at Zero Point's Sky Gallery is extraordinary.



Sabine Stonebender: It is something of an anomaly. They never culled its size: 2048 x 1024... a rare high res texture.

How'd that happen? Just a bug?

Sabine Stonebender: Really don't know. Ask Linden Lab :3... but I'd rather it stayed high res.

Oh yes! We won't share with them (note to Linden Lab: Don't you touch it!). What about your avatar, and its evolution?

Sabine Stonebender: My face was made on my third day in Second Life. My Poser experience made that easy. I already knew UV mapping, but didn't finish the body till a year later, though. I hate seam fixing. Pure laziness, too.


The earliest version of Sabine's avatar

A question, mostly for my own edification? You don't use animations to walk and stand. I notice that a lot of oldbies don't. Why?

Sabine Stonebender: AO's, as a rule, are bandwidth hogs and the early ones were cumbersome and hugely laggy. I found them annoying. I do wear them on rare occasions, but never for long.

There is one default standing animation that drives me nuts. I imagine I'm a lag disaster and should trim that, since I wear so many huds.

Sabine Stonebender: (smiles) Oh, so am I, but that's my tail. It's also a multitool.


Sabine Stonebender: Blazer Neko tail -star call: Scanning for AGENTS within 96 meters. [13:45] Blazer Neko tail -star call: Scan: [1] Detected Bettina Tizzy (cb84betxa-60aa-4ba7-85c7-a9999c12345) at coordinates (107,67) at a distance of 2.38 meters and an altitude of 502.28 meters.

Very detailed...

Sabine Stonebender: It's far more than just a bell or a particle effect. A super scripter wrote the set that powers it: Karsten Rutelage, maker of the game Greedy Greedy and numerous other things. Only I have it.

Everything about you is one-of-a-kind.

Sabine Stonebender: Yes, I'm a unikitty. Sabine is an old idea, was more equine back then. I am very catlike in my personal habits, but I have a need to help folks and heal to some degree. Technically, Sabine is also both male and female, as I have a very dual nature.


Photograph post-processing by NPIRL Flickrite Suzanne Graves

Looking ahead, what would you like to see happen with art in virtual worlds?

Sabine Stonebender: I'd like to see digital work gain recognition as fine art, in its own right. One reason I try to be original is, if it can stand on its own, then the naysayers can't condemn it as software fabrications. Many consider it nothing more than filters and logarithmic effects.



Do you see a change in that direction lately?

Sabine Stonebender: Yes, many others here have taken up the same banner. DanCoyote Antonelli was one I preached of this to, and he has really pushed it far, and I do get preachy about it. I feel very strongly about that idea... that and the fact that art can and should involve the audience. Immersive art, in essence, becomes performance art, with the viewer performing a part.

The interaction requires a mind. Without the mind, it is static. While static art has its place, it rarely involves the viewer except as a distant observer. Second Life offers a dynamic that can't be replicated in Real Life. I want folks to ride art, climb into it, merge with it even. In many ways, builders here are what the magicians of old were proposed to be. We can bend the world to our will on so many levels. In Real Life, not even close.