Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Light Thoughts 2


In the past few months, RL and SL events seemed to be taking me away from scheduling, exploring and writing about my SL adventures. To get back to my old schedule, I went through all my favorite tricks for finding new sims to explore. One of these tricks is the World Map, found in the viewer and also at secondlife.com. I remembered that, only a few days earlier, I had been looking at the map and made a mental note to visit a sim that caught my eye. Returning to the area of the map, I learned that the sim is one of the LEA sims . Based on past experiences at LEA sims, this would have been enough to keep me from going, but my intuition was telling me I would find something good, this time. The problem was, every time I visited a LEA sim, in the past, as an artist/designer, I always found myself asking how much this artist had to pay LL, to get them to promote his excuse for an art project in the Destination Guide. It sounds harsh, but I hold all products up to the same standards. If it requires advertisement, instead of word-of-mouth, I probably won't buy it. On the other hand, the inner voice of my intuition has always given good advice. Given that the sim in question was near several other "interesting" looking sims, I felt sure I would find a good adventure and promptly headed down to check out several of the sims. Art should communicate the thoughts of the artist. The first sim I visited had me wondering if it's artist was thinking at all, so I flew over to the next sim. That sim showed a bit more thought, but was also under construction. With a lot more work, it could be worth a return visit. From this sim, I could clearly see the next. It was brightly lit and just a short walk, so I strolled over for a look.


This sim is LEA 20 and was host to "Light Thoughts 2", by Mario2 Helstein. Within seconds, I knew this was the place that was calling me. I cannot even begin to describe this project, until I explain that NONE of the pictures, shown here, do it justice, because a major part of the art is moving light and textures, playing on and incorporated into the solid sculptures on the sim. To any observer, this exhibit of lights and sculptures will be a wonderful adventure. To a seasoned Designer, Artist, Builder, there is an inner beauty that shines for them. This Artist, Mario2 Helstein, is an adept in the sciences of Geometry, architectural strength and chromatics, and even a fair amount of Psychology. I found his sculptures somehow fascinating, but it took a couple of days, looking at the photos, to discover why. Bless his PXL (Pneumatic Xtal Lattice) heart. He builds with triangles. His triangles have holes in the middle. 


I will confess, I don't know, exactly what a LEA sim is or how they work. I assume LEA means "Linden Endowed Artist", since they are temporary and have art exhibits on them. What I did discover is, some times they can impress and inspire even a professional artist. The point is, don't take  the Destination Guide or this writer's word for where the fun is. If you hear of an interesting sim, go see it for yourself. Remember, the word YOU has U right in the middle of it.

Sha

++++more pics++++





Monday, March 14, 2016

Exhibit Part 2

More illustration, from the PXL Archives




















Points up octahedron assembly

Importing soil via barge

Building with pre-fab sub-assemblies

Stage for concerts



Memorial to building with stone

PXL illustrations Exhibit

I have pointed out that the idea for Pneumatic Xtal Lattice began in the late 60's. During the 50 years since, I have made several generations of prototypes, which proved very successful. Over the last 20 years, I have also made many illustrations of structures made with this technique. I recently found a large collection of these illustrations, on a flash drive, and make them available here, for those making new pictures for the PXL photo contest.



Notes on this estimate the structure weighs about 109 pounds and displaces 10 tons


236 lb., floats 17 tons

That's me, in a bubble, with a PXL structure

Island sections are spaced to allow light through to sea life

Large sphere structure

Delivering a farm section

Ready for planting

Farm with fresh water pond

Farm with fresh and sea water areas

Farming clusters



A neighborhood












2 floors

Mixed building elements








For more illustration, go to "Exhibit Part 2"