Magical Mystery Tour

Well, I have been on quite the adventure for the past several hours. I have traveled all over the  world of Second Life looking for art galleries and collection. I have been assigned the task of creating a tour so that others wanting to find beautiful art in Second Life can easily navigate their way around using the note card I have created. This has been quite the tour, I have found some awesome places for you all try out, so have fun and enjoy this magical tour of the Second Life world of art.

11 Gallery Stops:

Steinfadt Fall 2012 SL Art Gallery Tour

This tour takes you to a variety of art galleries and displays in second life. Some are Real Life works and some are Second LIfe created. Many of the items can be purchased to use in your own SL world. Have fun and see some awesome creations.

1.  The Spiral Art Gallery 
In this gallery there are many works of art. Some are sculptures and some are paintings. Many of the works are in motion creating beautiful images.

2.  ARC: Art Revolution Culture
The second stop on our gallery tour takes you to an island that has several buildings housing different types of digital art. Some are photographs and some are digitally created. As you walk around the island there is many sculptures on the grounds and the grounds themselves are a digital work of art.

3.  Zunzun Art Cuba - Gallery
Be careful when you land here, I have landed in the fountain every time I have visited. But the surrounding court yard is filled with Cuban cultural art in a tropical island setting. I could stay here and relax looking at all the beauty for quite awhile.


4. The RediVivus Art Gallery
The gallery of fantasy art and decorations. Set on a colorful beach. When you enter the building you are met with bright colored paintings and a variety of other styles of art. Many of these can be purchased to use in your own SL world.

5. Sisse Singha Gallery
This is a huge gallery and very professional looking. The artist preferred medium is water color. I personally am in awe of anyone who can work with watercolors. These are beautiful works. Enjoy your time wandering in this gallery, There is also a hall of works from other artists, very bright and colorful.

6. The Blackwater Sculpture Art Gallery

This is an awesome outdoor gallery with hundreds of static and moving sculpture pieces. Some very cool stuff here.

7. The Silliest Kitty Gallery of Abstract Art
This is a gallery of original digital artwork created by an SL artist called the Silliest Kitty.  This gallery looks small until you find the spiral staircase and you realize that there are multiple floors. Beautiful digital creations.

8.  Dreamscapes Art Gallery
This is what I think of as the least interesting of the tour but it is interesting. Almost everything here is for sale for the creation of your SL world. You can buy almost everything here including the rugs on the floor. There is some beautiful stuff here and it is fun to walk around and see what has been created but it is not as uniques as the other galleries that house original works.

9. Spanish Village Art Center
This is a village that houses several different buildings of art work. It ranges from paintings to sculpture and I  believe I even saw some furniture and pottery. So much to see here, the buildings are all stucco with tile roofs and the streets are paved with multi-colored brick.

10.  Campus d'Art - Heart of the Canal District
This location has many galleries and a museum. It takes awhile to find everything but well worth the time exploring.

11.  Alpha Asteri Second Life's Largest art Gallery
This location has a huge amount of art in the galleries and on the grounds. But be careful as landed in the ocean one time and on the side of a cliff the another time. I got stuck in the rocks and had to teleport out. If you can get there it is great. This is why I have included it as site #11.

I hope you find this tour as awe inspiring and inspirational as I did. I had a lot of fun touring around in the Second Life art world.

Quest #5 World Tour

I should have jet lag from all the places I have visited today. Started out in Germany at a cathedral, not as much to see as I thought there might be as a large portion was under construction but what was complete was pretty cool. I then transported to St. Louis, MO and wandered around the arch, never did find if there was a way to get inside and I missed the boat tour both times I landed there.

 I forgot to take photos the first time I landed so I had to go back. I get so involved with the tours and looking around and remembering how to get into places and such I forget to take the photos.

This photo is from Vasser college. Many, many cool buildings but the castle was my favorite. I took the tour around the island but it took a long time so I stood up and fell face first on the ground from about 10 feet in the air, cracked me up, good thing you don't die in such situations. My mini-me is as graceful as the real me. I tried to visit the Great Wall of China but it would not let me go.
It was fun to visit parts of the world that I will most likely never see in reality, I thing that is one big advantage of programs like Second Life.
I am getting much better at finding my way around, I don't land in odd worlds and have no idea how I got there and I can always find my home to Dr. Z's.

Quest #4 If Only...

Here is my original me. Just basic, average looking. Pretty much true to life. I started to play with the options for looks, so many options it was hard to just choose where to start. I was also trying to do this at school to see how this would run on our system. Not something I would try again unless I had all day. This would not be something that could be done with the current set up we have for wireless and there is not really an option for direct connection for students. Back to my adventure in recreating my ME. I had fun and A LOT of laughs as I changed my shape, color and size. My next move was to change to a rocker girl look. She is pretty awesome, wish my hair would do something like that for real. Put on my T from Dr. Z's.

 I didn't think this was really all that was intended for this quest so i started playing with my hair, clothing, body shape, color and what ever else I could change. It was quite a humorous adventure. I didn't end up changing my look all that much in the end but at one point I did have some pretty funky looks.

I don't currently work with students that are old enough to play in SecondLife although many of them would love this place. You can be who ever you want to be and have some fun creating that avatar. In the video that we watched before working to change our appearance they stated that some people spend hours and hours personalizing their avatar. I can see how that could happen. I spent about two hours playing with this and could have gone on but at some point you just have to stop.
I am not the best navigator in this virtual world but I am getting better. Still not my favorite thing to do but I do see how it could be a fantastic learning tool for some students.

Cruisin' through my Quest

I am doing a little better in second life as I just finished quest #3. Not sure where quest 2 went but this was next in line.  I still have some issues with running into walls and getting stuck in doorways but I am getting better. I am not sure if it is a computer thing or if the problem lies between the keyboard and the chair but it is kind of fun to play in this world. I am a little more at ease when I know that no one else is watching, I can look stupid running into walls and no one but me knows. Although I have been know to walk into walls in the real world so I think maybe this is just a character trait. Sorry no pictures, I got so wrapped up in reading all the signs and doing the activities I forgot to try and get pictures to share here. I am a little bit slow in learning this kind of thing but I will get there, I just take the scenic route.

Backwards Learning in Second Life

I have been having some issues with Second Life and my computer not wanting to play nice together but last night I did manage to join my EIT group for most of our evening gathering. Now tonight I am beginning my journey through the GameLab tours to learn how to find may way around in this new world. The first Quest of my tour in virtual reality has been very helpful, I feel like I have a little better handle on the control panels and should be able to find my way much easier.
For anyone out there who has not experience a virtual world Second Life is a fun experience although a little frustrating at times when you are first beginning. My advice would be to hang in there an keep trying because there is some awesome things to experience in the virtual world of Second Life.