Treeline - Official Launch

The real life Treeline project will be officially launched at the Bunya Dreaming Festival at Baroon Pocket Dam in Queensland, Australia on January 30th. This is a low tech event without computer access, but Virtual Treeline has provided several printed brochures to be handed out at the festival.
Bunya Dreaming is an small festival celebrating the connections indigenous people from this area of Queensland have with the Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii). Festival organiser Beverly Hand says:
The Bunya tree was so special to our people that there were laws that precluded people harming it in any way.
The festival shows that the tree is more than just an icon, it generates understanding of Aboriginal culture, provides a forum for networking and information sharing, and strengthens community partnerships.
The Virtual Treeline brochures outline the project and show images of work from some of artists who have shown at our gallery in second Life, including RAG Randt, Alizarin Goldflake, Em Larsson, Araminta Kroitschov, Bocan Undercroft and Soror Nishi.
A separate brochure is dedicated to images and information about Araucaria, the work of Chilean artist Anyunie Daviau, which is currently featured at the Treeline ground level.http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/80/214/22
Anyunie's work (above) is about a tree from the same genus as the Bunya Pine, which is of special significance to the indigenous people in Chile. What a great link from across the oceans to the local indigenous population through the Bunya Dreaming Festival.

Treeline2 - Opening

Our second exhibition in Second Life opened today. Thank you to everyone who attended, it was great to see so many people enjoying the artworks and talking about trees. The small installations by Araminta Kroitschov (above) which are scattered through the sand dunes were a great hit. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/59/226/703


The photogrpahic work of Em Larsson and Jadyn Firehawk and pastels by Lynda Robinson in the sky galleries were also admired.

At ground level Anyunie Daviau's giant book (above) and Em Larsson's photography captured everyone's imagination.http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/80/214/22
The exhibition will continue until mid February. I will be showing images and blogging about each of the artists over the next few weeks and there are some more images of the opening on the Flickr site.

Opening Tomorrow - TREELINE 2

Virtual Treeline opens its second exhibition in Second Life tomorrow Thursday January 21st at 2 pm PST.
Featured on the ground level are works by Anyunie Daviau (above) and Em larsson (below). At Sky gallery level are Lynda Robinson, Em Larsson, Jadyn Firehawk and Araminta Kroitschov. Please join us to celebrate these wonderful works.

Alizarin Goldflake - Virtual Treeline Artist

Alizarin Goldflake is showing some of her digital drawings at the Virtual Treeline Sky Gallery as part of the opening show.
Alizarin is one of those artists whose work doesn't jump up and grab you by the throat, it is more likely to stealthily steal into your heart and stay with you as a pleasant echo for a long time. I have been a fan for a long time and have watched her become one of Second Life's most respected and sought after artists.

The amazing thing about much of Alizarin's work is that it is not photography that has been manipulated. The haunting, grainy look of her images comes from the way she painstakingly builds them through drawing directly onto a graphics tablet. Once we know this the nature of her skill and dedication becomes apparent and the understanding that she is creating something truly unique.

Also at the Sky Gallery is one of Alizarin's small personal immersive environments. They always remind me of a snow globe- a magical and unexpected treat when you walk inside and the world is transformed.

These 3D environments are made up from painstaking manipulation of Alizarin's digital drawings so they fit seamlessly and wonderfully onto the 3D object and create the illusion of being in a place.

Most of Alizarin's work is about natural places. She says, about the trees in her work:
"I have been a landscape artist all of my life. Mostly I paint and draw the "thin places," the spots where the spirit world touches the ordinary world. Trees are always present in the thin places; in fact I think they create them. Apart from the foundation of the planet, the earth, air, and water, trees are the most beautiful things in the world. They create a sense of peace, richness, shelter, shade, mystery. They are the architects of mood. What could marry the spiritual plane to the concrete better than an entity that makes food out of sunlight?"

Soror Nishi at Pirats

One of my favourite maker of trees, Soror Nishi, is currently showing a small environment at Pirats.
Soror's work is always full of colour, with beautiful hand-drawn textures and a great sense of style and design. She is one of the few talented virtual plant and landscape makers who have not been beguiled by the desire to recreate. Instead, Soror's landscapes and ecosystems are always refreshingly and surprisingly NOT attempting to be the real world. They are some other reality, and yet we are instantly at home, not wondering why that tree has square white foliage, or an orange trunk, just knowing this is a place we want to be. Such is the nature of our recognition of the visual message, and Soror's skill in creating an entirely fictitious but entirely believable environment.

I've blogged before about Soror's work now on show at Virtual Treeline, so if you have enjoyed that don't miss this work at Pirats.
As is often the case in Second Life galleries, it is difficult to get a clear shot of Soror's installation without the imposition of some other work or architecture, but there are more images on the Virtual Treeline Flickr site.

RAG Randt-Virtual Treeline Artist

RAG Randt's work usually has a touch of whimsy with a serious message. I smile every time I see one of his pieces. He has a wry sense of humour and a very finely balanced and well honed sense of graphic design.








For the first Virtual Treeline exhibition RAG (Illustrator/Designer from the USA) shows a series of visual messages that link human desires and activities with the natural world, through the use of trees as easily recognised visual symbols.
His small 3D installation hidden at the end of a pathway in the sand dunes is a delight for all the senses. On can almost hear the jungle animals celebrating their colourful fall setting.....and what's that smell?

RAG says:
"Trees are a major symbol for me. My concepts tend to be humorous visual statements broadly interpreting a given topic. I have found trees to be wonderfully rich and flexible in symbolism whether I am making a statement about Hope, Networking, Communication, Finances and many other ideas. As trees are a vital part of the earth's ecosystem, they are also a vital part of my visual problem solving vocabulary."



RAG also says in his profile information:

The global environment is a subject I care deeply about and I would like to leave the world a better place.

Can art make a difference?

Virtual Treeline Artist - Asmita Duranjaya

We are pleased to have German artist Asmita Duranjaya as one of the first to exhibit at Treeline. Asmita's three versions of her 'urban trees' show her skill with capturing the essence of trees against the background of human activity. The very lovely textures take on new life and meaning in the three different versions- all of which touch some moment of memory in us.
Asmita says:
Since my childhood trees have been a main subject of painting, drawing and taking photos. Trees are, for me, a universal symbol, for life, for stability and fragrance at the same time, for beauty and character, esp. when they are old. Trees have something protecting, nurturing, because they produce our oxygen and are a source for regenerating energy. lastly, trees are a cultural and spiritual symbol for the cycle of life and death. There is much more, that can be told on trees, but there is not enough space here and it will be done at another time...

More of Asmita's work and her comments on Virtual Treeline can be found on her blog at:http://giridevi.blogspot.com/

Virtual Treeline Artist - Sheba Blitz

Australian Artist Sheba Blitz is one of the artists exhibiting in the first exhibition at the Treeline Sky Gallery in Second Life. Sheba's says of trees:
"Trees produce oxygen - oxygen gives us life "
It might be a short statement, but it tells us a lot about why trees are important to us.

In this image Juanita Deharo ponders on Sheba's giant revolving disk of precious rainforest plants.

FUSCHIA NIGHTFIRE - TREELINE ARTIST

FUSCHIA NIGHTFIRE - TREELINE ARTIST DECEMBER 2009/JANUARY 2010
Fuschia Nightfire (known in real life as Nina Camplin) is a mural artist specialising in trompe l'oeil. She is interested in challenging the viewer's perception of space and creating 'fake' realities. Fuschia is using Second Life as an alternative medium for creating art and exploring ways of making illusions.
She lives in Dorset on the South Coast of the UK, and many of her paintings feature the sea and heathland.

Fuschia says of ther painting 'Lightning Strikes Thrice'. The 3 trees shown in this painting were struck by lightning and died many years ago, because they are so open to the elements they have become decimated and have hardened into an almost fossilised state, therefore are almost impossible to chop down. To me, the fact that they have evolved into a material that is almost as strong as concrete gives them a sculptural form, both aesthetically and in substance. I find them extremely beautiful and have painted them several times from different viewpoints.



You can see more of Fuschia's work at the Treeline Sky Gallery until mid January or her own gallery in Second Life
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Coral%20Cove/132/188/42
or on her website at:http://www.ninacamplin.co.uk/