The Original Hoot Suite
Hoot Suite Art Gallery began in 2020 in a Linden Home in Bellisseria, Second Life.
It was a small place, but a lot happened there. Artists from across Second Life filled the walls, musicians played at exhibition openings, and friends and visitors came together for parties, conversation, and whatever else we happened to get up to.
Looking back, some of my favorite memories aren’t only of the art, but of the people who filled the place.
This archive looks back at the Second Life artists who exhibited at Hoot Suite, the musicians who played there, and some of the gatherings that became part of its story.
Hoot Suite in the Early Days
Not long after Hoot Suite began, Inara Pey visited during Awesome Fallen’s exhibition and wrote about the little Bellisseria gallery for Living in a Modemworld.
Read: Inara Pey — A Boutique Gallery Visit in Bellisseria
Hoot Suite Today
The original Hoot Suite eventually closed, but that wasn’t the end of its story. Today, Hoot Suite Art Gallery has a new home in West Martinet, Bellisseria, where it has become a gallery and shop for my own photography, digital collage and creations from Owl Dragonash Studio.
Rear about the current Hoot Suite Art Gallery →
Visit the current Hoot Suite Art Gallery →
Featured Artists & Exhibits 2020 – 2021
Eylinea Seabird @ Hoot Suite
October – November 2021
Eylinea’s work brought something playful to Hoot Suite — that lightness of being that makes you smile.
Her exhibition celebration featured music by Adwehe.
Owl Dragonash — Owl’s Photos
September 1 – October 1, 2021
For a change, I put my own work on the walls of Hoot Suite, sharing a collection of my Second Life photography in the gallery I’d created for other artists.
Inara Pey stopped by the exhibition and later featured my Photos on Living in a Modemworld.
CK — Ceakay Ballyhoo @ Hoot Suite
BluShock Space Adventures
May 24 – June 19, 2021
CK was one of the builders behind the BluShock worlds, and BluShock Space Adventures offered a look at the places the BluShock Coalition had created and explored.
The Coalition lived on a huge asteroid capable of folding space, allowing them to travel just about anywhere — in any universe. The exhibition brought some of those adventures and imagined worlds into Hoot Suite.
We celebrated CK’s exhibition on June 1, 2021, with live music by Joe Paravane.
Explore more:
[Ceakay Ballyhoo on Flickr]
[Through Owl’s Eye — Ceakay Ballyhoo]
[Inara Pey — CK’s Space Adventures in Second Life]
Inara Pey
One if by Land, Two if by Water
April 18 – May 15, 2021
Inara Pey brought her Second Life photography to Hoot Suite with One if by Land, Two if by Water, a title inspired by Longfellow’s Paul Revere’s Ride.
We celebrated the exhibition on April 28, 2021, with live music by Winston Ackland.
Read more:
Through Owl’s Eye — Inara Pey: A Virtual Wonder!
Living in a Modemworld — Inara’s own writing about the exhibition
Caly Applewhyte
March 15 – April 10, 2021
Caly Applewhyte brought her distinctive Second Life photography to Hoot Suite for the March exhibition. At the time, I described her work as adding “class and style” to the gallery.
We celebrated Caly’s exhibition on March 24, 2021, with Aminius Writer performing live, followed by an after-party with DJ Krys Calamity.
Explore Caly Applewhyte’s photography on Flickr
Blues Rocker @ Hoot Suite Art Gallery
The Many Shades of Blues
February – March 6, 2021
Blues Rocker brought The Many Shades of Blues to Hoot Suite, a photography exhibition exploring his distinctive view of Second Life through shades of blue.
Inara Pey visited the exhibition and wrote about Blues’ photography and the show at Hoot Suite.
Explore more:
Through Owl’s Eye — Blues Rocker
Inara Pey — Blues Rocker at Hoot Suite in Second Life
Blues Rocker on Flickr
Michiel Bechir
December 13, 2020 – January 10, 2021
Michiel Bechir brought his Second Life photography to Hoot Suite for a winter exhibition that carried us from the holiday season into the new year.
We celebrated the exhibition on December 22, 2020, with live music by Lexus Melodie, followed by DJ Uli Jansma.
Explore more:
Meet Michiel Bechir at Cloud Galleries
Cloud Galleries Artist Spotlight: Michiel Bechir
Michiel Bechir on Flickr
Trinity Yazimoto
Around the World with My Lil’ Friends
November 8 – December 6, 2020
Trinity Yazimoto filled Hoot Suite with the wonderfully playful Around the World with My Lil’ Friends, following her beloved BoOgErS Bears and other little friends on adventures around Second Life.
We celebrated Trinity’s exhibition on November 18, 2020, with GoSpeed Rasere DJing through Kona Radio.
Inara Pey later visited Hoot Suite and wrote about the exhibition, including the little three-dimensional scenes Trinity created around the gallery to carry the photographs into the space itself.
Read more:
Through Owl’s Eye — Experience the Delight of Second Life with Trinity Yazimoto and Her Lil Friends
Inara Pey — Around the World with Trinity Yazimoto and Friends
GoSpeed Rasere — Author Reading
November 24, 2020
Later that month, Hoot Suite welcomed GoSpeed Rasere, writing as R. Jacques, for an author event featuring her You Need stories.
And somehow I got recruited to read one of GoSpeed’s short stories aloud for her. 😄
Three raffle winners also received the complete You Need ebook collection.
Explore more:
R. Jacques on Amazon
GoSpeed Rasere on Flickr
Gidgy Adagio
October 4 – November 1, 2020
Gidgy Adagio brought her magical, fantasy-filled photography to Hoot Suite for the October exhibition. Her work invited visitors into the imaginative world she created in Second Life, including her beautiful Savor Serenity region.
At the time, I described Gidgy’s work as “beautiful” and “magical” — and that still seems like the right way to remember this exhibition.
Explore more:
Through Owl’s Eye — Gidgy Adagio: Magic & Fantasy
Gidgy Adagio on Flickr
Skip Staheli
Body Positivity!
August 30 – September 27, 2020
One of my longtime favorite Second Life photographers, Skip Staheli, brought Body Positivity! to Hoot Suite with a wonderfully generous exhibition.
Skip created 10 new pieces especially for the show and offered all ten as gifts to visitors, alongside around 30 pieces of his older and newer work exploring the theme of body positivity.
We celebrated the opening on September 2, 2020, with live music by The Vinnie Show.
A Hoot Suite memory:
Later that month, I wrote a little more about Skip and his photography. He shared the story on Flickr with a response I’ve never forgotten — thank you Skip!
Explore more:
- Through Owl’s Eye —Skip Staheli Exhibits “Body Positivity“
- Through Owl’s Eye — PhotoStudio Purple Cows — Skip Staheli
- Skip Staheli — Invitation Hoot Suite Art Gallery
Mareea Farrasco — Painting the Summer
July 26 – August 23, 2020
Mareea Farrasco brought summer to the walls of Hoot Suite with Painting the Summer, a collection of gently post-processed Second Life photography filled with beaches, grassy landscapes, coastal walks and quiet summer moments.
We celebrated the exhibition on July 27, 2020, with live music by Winston Ackland.
Inara Pey visited soon afterward and featured Painting the Summer on Living in a Modemworld, describing Mareea’s light touch with post-processing and Hoot Suite as a cozy setting for the exhibition. Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld
Explore more:
Through Owl’s Eye — Mareea Farrasco Exhibits
Inara Pey — Painting the Summer in Second Life
Mareea Farrasco on Flickr
Suzen Juel
June 21 – July 19, 2020
Suzen Juel brought her bold, bright and expressive art to Hoot Suite, work that could move from wild and quirky to wonderfully intense.
Suzen’s creativity has never stopped at visual art. She’s also a longtime Second Life musician and blues performer, something I was every bit as enthusiastic about as the artwork hanging on the Hoot Suite walls.
Explore more:
Through Owl’s Eye — Suzen Juel
Suzen Juel on Flickr
CioTToLiNa Xue
May 17 – June 14, 2020
CioTToLiNa Xue brought her wonderfully imaginative work to Hoot Suite in May 2020. Her art could be emotional, vibrant, humorous and sometimes wonderfully strange — including pieces like Heart Robot, Propaganda and Robot Monster.
CioTToLiNa wasn’t new to me. I’d first encountered her work at the LEA installation IMPRESSIONS in 2015, and in 2016 I invited her to exhibit with Thea Maimen at The Living Room, the gallery and performance space Daallee and I shared for a year.
By the time she came to Hoot Suite, it was wonderful to see how her work had continued to evolve.
Explore more:
Through Owl’s Eye — Experience incredible art by the talented CioTToLiNa Xue
Owl Dragonash — CioTToLiNa Xue at Hoot Suite on Flickr
Inara Pey — Thea and CioTToLiNa at The Living Room (2016)
The Originals
May 6, 2020
Hoot Suite wasn’t only about art. The Originals brought four Second Life musicians together for two hours of nothing but their own original music, with each performer playing a half-hour set.
The Vinnie Show, Zorch Boomhauer, Winston Ackland and Whirli Placebo played while we gathered outside the little gallery around the fire.
Awesome Fallen
Visions
April 13 – May 11, 2020
Awesome Fallen brought her surreal, dreamlike photography to Hoot Suite with Visions. Her images felt like glimpses into another world — moments, places, dreams and ideas that left enough untold for the viewer to imagine the rest of the story.
At the time, I wrote that looking at Awesome’s art made me feel as though I’d “fallen through the looking glass.” Even her darker pieces made me want to fill in the story beyond the image.
A month later, as the exhibition was coming to an end, I still described her work pretty simply: “intense and wild!”
Explore more:
Through Owl’s Eye — Awesome Fallen “Visions” @ Hoot Suite Art Gallery
Through Owl’s Eye — Awesome Fallen Shares Her Work in Bellisseria
Awesome Fallen on Flickr
Earth Day Celebration
April 22, 2020
Hoot Suite celebrated Earth Day with two very different hours of music while Awesome Fallen’s Visions exhibition filled the gallery.
Joe Paravane started the morning with completely live acoustic music — folk, rock, Delta and ragtime along with his own original songs. Then DJ Doc Rast took over with what I called his “wild mixes,” ranging from house, club and EDM to dance music and oldies.
It was another of those days when Hoot Suite spilled beyond the walls of the little gallery and became a place to simply gather, listen to music and spend some time together.
Explore more:
Through Owl’s Eye — Earth Day Celebration at Hoot Suite Art Gallery!
Earth Day at Hoot Suite — photographs from friends on Flickr
Joe Paravane
DJ Doc Rast
Bamboo Barnes
The Opening Exhibition
March – April 6, 2020
Hoot Suite began with Bamboo Barnes.
Her intensely colorful, emotionally charged work filled the little gallery for its first four weeks. I loved Bamboo’s wild use of color and wrote at the time that you could “feel the vibration” in her work.
Living with it for those four weeks made an impression on me, too. When the exhibition closed, I wrote, “I feel like my mind has been washed in living color.”
I was also very happy to add Bamboo’s Fairy Glitch to my own collection.
We celebrated the exhibition on March 25, 2020, with live music by Winston Ackland.
Explore more:
Through Owl’s Eye — Bamboo Barnes Exhibit Opens Hoot Suite Art Gallery
Through Owl’s Eye — Bamboo Barnes at Hoot Suite Coming to a Close
Through Owl’s Eye — What is Next for Bamboo Barnes in Second Life?
Bamboo Barnes on Flickr