Article
by Neuron Bandit

The definition of ‘Art’ is in itself is a rather complex, personal and debatable issue. My personal reflection of the word in its simplest of terms would be…

‘Art is the expression of thought, emotion, opinion and observation, by stimulating one or more of the five senses in order to communicate these experiences to another.’

We have five senses in which to interpret our environment and communicate with each other. We can express ourselves in many ways including music / singing, writing / poetry, imagery / video, dance and sculpture.

There are many ways to create a picture, or to compose music, even the choice of words in our writing, expresses the mood, personality and education of the author.

Ok so where am I going with this?

Second life is a virtual, digital reality that runs in parallel with our everyday lives.
This is a great platform to meet, socialise and express ourselves with people that in all likelihood we would never have the opportunity to befriend. A consequence of this flexible system, it brings a great many people closer together. Closing the boundaries set in place by physical constraints, we can meet people from all nations within a few virtual footsteps, and maybe a TP ;)

This system (being internet hosted) maintains a separation from reality and creates some very important changes to the way we communicate to each other. We only have two of our senses within the realms of our sl. ‘Voice chat’ is now a popular tool to communicate, however this is a relatively new feature and many residents still choose not to use it including myself. My point being it is one thing to read discussions in your chat bar, but quite another to sense the tone in which it was said. This highlights that our communication options are limited from our everyday existence and sl citizens have adapted to accommodate these limitations.

Second life stimulates the creative sparks / motivations within us, whether in our imaginations, the objects we build / texture or the avatars we shape and dress. We are from conception expressing ourselves by designing our appearance and the very environment that we live in.
More so than in our real lives, having been given the power by God (Lindens), to have a full body make over, (change species in some cases) Fly down to the nearest B&Q, buy bits to make your house, TP back to your land, instantly erect your new home, just in time for your ‘best in neko’ disco party at 8pm ;)
Situations that simply couldn’t exist in our reality are readily created, further increasing artistic potential.

I am an artist myself, and I look around sl appreciating an environment saturated with creative and artistic self expression.
Stop for a few moments and think about what you are experiencing. Everything has taken thought, consideration and time to bring it into existence.
The construction of a building or the texture applied to its walls, it says something about the creator, or their intention for presenting it this way.

Here are two contrasting ways that residents have chosen to present their locations, both creating different atmospheres and for very different purposes.

An aerial photograph of Svarga shows off the majestic structure that dominates high up, on this beautiful nature reserve.


This shot from the crack den contrasts that of Svarga in atmosphere and mood, not quite my holiday preference; having said this beauty is not the purpose of this location.

We cannot even take the natural for granted, landscapes, trees, grasses, lakes and skies are all creations from our fellow residents.

The Lindens created the canvas and supplied us the tools to paint our picture. Many of us have our own small piece of the larger picture, those places we call home. It is here we personalise our piece of the jigsaw. We design the homes we’ve dreamt of, then decorate and furnish; making them our comfortable space :) Just like the real world we all have varying likes and dislikes and so the final painting continues to expand.

Creativity is such a fundamental part of our sl, that without it there would be no second life to live.

For us to use it we must first build it!
For us to enjoy it we must texture and script it!
Only then can it be appreciated!

The key that unlocks the gates to the vast, rich content flowing over the grid is in the minds and imaginations of those of us that call it our home.

We have a very mixed and varied population in Second Life. You can choose to be whatever you want. The handsome rugged guy, the girl next door, the sun sleek and oiled beach babe, neko, furry, goth, cyber punk. One community that has a slightly lower media presence is that of the tiny.

The main centre for tiny orientated events is the Raglan Shire sims and in charge of these islands is Zayn Till. With the forthcoming Art Walk on the Shire sims I grabbed Zayn quickly for a chat about the tiny area and Art Walk.


Trinity Dechou: Why did create a cluster of tiny orientated islands?

Zayn Till: I had purchased 4 sims in august of 2006 from a friend (Jenna Fairfairplay) with the intent of renting out land to folks to be able to pursue their Vision within Second Life in a safe environment. 4 sims became 6 and then I kind of realized that it wasn’t enough to simply rent out sims. I wanted to actually do something with them and have a community.

I had kind of always had a thing for tinys (was a bunny in another chat program 13 years back - Worlds Chat) and we had an opportunity to invite Wynx and Nora who were looking for land at the time to move onto one of our sims.


They agreed and we moved the Raglan Shire sim next to Heron Shire and Athen Shire & started to grow as a tiny themed community. This went well.. the community grew quick.. and Raglan became a very happy creative place. More sims were attached and soon we'll have 8 dedicated sims comprising the Raglan Sim Cluster. With tons of different locales ranging from forested to Old World Wharf to Tropical to Sci Fi /Space themed, there’s plenty of places for folks of all types and sizes to hang out and explore... live in at the 2 residential sims or shop at the various commercial areas about the sims.. add in all the fun activities and events we put on and WHAM. Its a neat place for folks to congregate and be a part of :D

Trinity Dechou: What's the main aim of these sims?

Zayn Till: To have a large enough place with lots of locales for folks to explore and enjoy so that the community can do just about anything they like there. Participate in activities, play games, learn at the various classes we have from time to time.. all of it. Raglan and the cluster is here for anyone to come and feel welcome at. The community itself is very friendly and free of drama. a rarity in SL :D

Trinity Dechou: When did you, and why did you start the art walk?


Zayn Till: The 1st Raglan Shire Artwalk was held shortly after it became a tiny themed sim. I think.. June of 2007.

The Idea came from where I live in Real life... Seattle Washington.. I live in an artists loft building in downtown Seattle. Every month they have a Artwalk here. I love the idea. While I’m not a visual arts artists, I am a musician and have always had appreciation for the Arts.. I thought the Artwalk concept would be AWESOME in conjunction with Second Life so BAM!! I organized the 1st Artwalk, we had about 20 artists show their works on Raglan Shire, everyone enjoyed it so WHAM! We had another in October of 2007! We had about 25 artists that time and it was another great turnout. This time around for the 3rd Artwalk we have 70+ Artists and the Artwalk is spread out over 3 locations on 3 of the Raglan Sims so its very exciting :)

Trinity Dechou: What kind of feedback have you had in the past about the art walk?

Zayn Till: Nothing but positive feedback! IT’S ART! People take art for granted most of the time, but when you actually put it in front of their face and go "LOOK!!! ART!!" they tend to have a positive reaction and take interest in it again.. who knows maybe even get inspired enough to stop taking it for granted or even pursue it. People by nature are creative, most just forget this and bury it down trying to pursue mundane things like money and material stuff. But every so often, if you put ART out for ppl to see.. .. they'll have a positive reaction.. even if they don’t like what they see, it will make them think.. and thinking is always a good first step in the creative process :D

Trinity Dechou: Any future plans to develop the sims or the art walk?

Zayn Till: Ya sure.... i guess... hopefully more people will continue to get involved so the next one can be even bigger :)

I must say having lived within the shire region of sims for a long time the tiny community certainly know how to party! I have always found them to be very friendly and as helpful as possible, with a real sense of ‘community’ I must say I personally find tinys friendlier than most.

The artwalk runs from 29th May to the 1st of June. You don’t have to be tiny to take part in the Art Walk and you also don’t have to be tiny to go and view just heed the advice of Zayn if you are not tiny and “watch where you step”