Read about the Art santuary grand opening in the EVENTS section, I was able to interview the ingenious pair Raspirit Heron & WieBenik Beaumont both before and after the event:
BD:How did you two get together in SL?
RH: I have wondered about that many times - and concluded that it was the same way a lot of things seem to happen in SL; by 'magic':) Seriously, I remember it as a complete coincidence, or as some call it, synchronicity. I happened to plop down into a sandbox, with only one question in my mind: How do I get my paintings into SL? The very first person I met was WieBenik, and he said he would know how. This was in early March - 07.It didn't take very long to realize that we shared more than one synchronicity. Ideas were exchanged with an ease I had never known in a team situation, -- and I've known a few, -- and certainly never known in the context of my own art, which had always been a 'one-and-only' kind of process and vision.
WB: Rather simple and not at all romantic. I was trying out scripts at the PI sandbox. Raspirit arrived and asked, if I could work with textures. As always I answered, yes, not knowing that this was a start of a never ending story.
BD:What prompted you to create the Art Sanctuary and how long has it taken to get to this stage?
RH: My very first childhood experience with a painted image was magical - one of being transported into another space and time, another dimension; the artists' imagination. This experience is what made me want to become a painter; to try to create a similar kind of experience for others. And so when people who experience my paintings respond with joy and pleasure, of course I look for ways to make it ever more visible, and give it ever more dimension. 'Art Sanctuary' was something that had played in my mind for some time in RL. I made a painting a while back which I called 'Sanctuary', and I realized this was very much a sort of 'emotional self-portrait' related to how I felt about painting and writing, a place to visualize dreams. After initially being started in the skies above Hardangerfjord, Art Sanctuary rapidly evolved into a shared vision between WieBenIk and me.
WB: It was a dream of Raspirit Heron. I wanted to add SL dimensions and possibilities to her artwork, to give a new perspective, and surely not following the RL way of exposing art in Galleries. When we organised our first SL exhibitions we encountered the same limitations as in a RL, our ideas and visions were sent to a dark dungeon, thus we needed a skybox, only 300 prims, then 600 prims. Why not 900, 1200, 1500? We needed an island, the Art Sanctuary site was born, only a few months later.
BD:What are your backgrounds, and what drew you into SL?
RH: My education is Bachelor and Master in Fine Arts at Pratt Institute (New York) with specialization in Art History, which I love. I work as an artist and combine it with teaching. I've also worked in musical performance, and I love the combinations that SL allows between artistic expressions. When I first encountered SL I was rather stunned actually; By this sense of déjà vu: I knew this place! I recognized it.And I knew this was where my paintings were going next. After that I spent 3 weeks exploring ... hours every day ... looking, just looking ... not speaking to a single person/avatar. I was mesmerized. The creativity I saw was in the creation of the whole 'world' ... place after place ... a virtual space being made, created. I saw it as a creative arena, but also an educational one. It was when I found the virtual version of my RL home (Hardangerfjord, Norway) that I was stirred into action:). I met the owner, an avid art supporter, Rain Coalcliff. And then I met WieBenIk.
WB: I'm a RL project manager for large-scale, multi-national industrial and logistics projects. I've no art education. When I was young, I composed books with Flemish painters, -- I didn't know Raspirit! -- and I played a lot with Lego. Sometimes I name SL the adults' Lego.
BD:How do you decide what work goes into the Sanctuary?
Both: We discuss together themes, buildings and the landscapes to be created. Raspirit selects the work to be used in the different places. It was one of WieBenik's dreams to use paintings converted into buildings as exhibition rooms. This is the big difference with the Van Gogh site; we use the paintings to show the art in it.
BD: Do you ever have disagreements about which work goes where?
Both: Sure, we have disagreements! Certainly the first weeks we met each other, sometimes it seemed frustrating. Later on we continue to make reference to a "meeting" at the Bryggen music festival place, Raspirit was repeating and repeating her vision, always matching with WieBenik's, but we've to use the same language, we've to share the same emotions and feelings.
BD:Whose idea was it for the Seahorse Chariot, and why?
RH: It was definitely WieBenik's idea. He wanted to guide the visitors through the site. During his sandbox period he tried to build a roller coaster. We found the "Guided Tour" system and decided to buy it. WieBenik developed the vehicle because we wanted to use the Seahorse as our symbol.
BD:What are your plans for the future of the sanctuary?
Both: Live performances like Enniv Zarf's concert at the Art Sanctuary opening is something we would like to have more of, also extend it to other expressions, such as dance and poetry reading. After the opening we asked Enniv, if he had recorded the music. We want to add music to our "Mood Dynamic Frame" to create a multi-dimensional, multi-media environment. The "Mood Dynamic Frame" has already all the functions to allow music in combinations of paintings. High on the priority list is to extent the artwork with animations. The invitation to the Art Sanctuary opening shows already an example what's happening when "paintings" or textures come to life. Also we would like to open the Art Sanctuary to help starting-up new artists.
BD: Who or what would you say influences you in your work?
RH:At this point WieBenIk is influencing me in a most inspiring way; we have exchanges that bring about ideas and thoughts in new and unexpected ways - and very positively so! This is essential for 'team work'. WieBenIk adds a structure and a conceptual thinking I completely relate to, and this brings about another level of expression!
WB: Raspirit artwork influences me a lot. It's the drive to build the Art Sanctuary, to realize this environment. I try to understand all what I see and experience. All these experiences I try to re-use in my daily life. I try to find cross-relations between events.
BD:What event has had the biggest impact on you? A) In SL
Both: The meeting in the PI sandbox, the start of a never ending story, and the opening of the Art Sanctuary isle in SL, the result of many months of intensive dedication, was being received so positively by people from all corners of the world.
B) In RL
RH: Becoming the 'crow-mama' of a wounded baby-crow last year, the result of which making me choose my SL name 'Raspirit'. - And a near death experience several years back. Both of these events stirred on a renewed dedication to my artwork.
WB: I'm already 54, thus many events had a very important impact on me. They're all rather straight forward, e.g., the birth of my 2 sons.
BD:If you could own just one piece of RL art, what would it be and why?
RH: I don't know if it's possible to choose one -- Raphael's 'Madonnas' not one, several, - BUT, if I have to, I would choose 'The Woman With the Unicorn'http://www.exittoart.nl/framesetmain.htm?http://www.exittoart.nl/gallery1.htm?http://www.exittoart.nl/rafael/rafael09.htm
WB: I love the paintings of the Flemish painters as Van Eyck. I will be happy to have at least a copy of one of the paintings!
BD:What do you think the future of art in SL will be?
RH: Will be, or should be, or could be? I see very clearly what it could be. It is a more than fantastic place to express yourself visually, where multi-disciplines can thrive, -- visual, literary, musical, theatre, and dance. It is a place where the imagination can truly 'take off', dreams become reality.SL accommodates an even closer association, interrelation, and exchange between cultures. It's all up to the artists - and the people who love and need to experience art - what art in SL will be. The potential is enormous! The Art Sanctuary Opening live concert said it all about THAT part of SL.....what a treat! What an amazing thing, to sit in Norway and listen to a beautiful piano concert played in California - with perfect sound quality - and we can make a performance together, him playing improvisations to the images I change by a click....
WB: This is also my opinion. SL gives new possibilities to art, to combine it with other art expressions, to give it new dimensions, e.g. by using animations, building. The big benefit of SL is that it's easy to combine all these expressions without a lot of money, with fewer constraints. BD:Favourite place in SL? (apart from the sanctuary)
RH: The Sistine Chapel and 'Starry Night' - the van Gogh site.
WB: I can mention a long list with favourite places, but I've to mention one. I want to "nominate" the SL sandboxes. Now I've a lot of work at the Art Sanctuary. I've to admit that I'm missing the sandboxes, a place to share ideas, to encounter other people, sharing problems, discussing solutions. They're the core of the SL creation process.
BD:Favourite place in RL?
RH: A rocky shore on the fjord I live on.
WB: My home. A few years I travelled a lot. I appreciated coming home.
BD:Favourite thing about SL?
Both: To be able to make visual dreams appear.
BD:Least favourite thing about SL
Both: SL is not more a game, we need rules, guidelines. We see more and more people with bad visions, using mafia practices in SL. we can accept gambling, we can accept the sex industry, but we can not accept people deceiving other people!
BD: Well, thank you both for your time and I am sure that the Sanctuary will be the great success it deserves to be.
From the pen of Baron DeSantis
