A Mini History
By Red Randt
The Crescent Moon museum is the longest continuously running museum in Second Life. Often called the first, Tayzia Abattoir began the museum three months after she arrived, in August 2004 on her land in the Crescent sim.
As she said in a 2005 interview with the SL Herald, "I wanted to do something in SL that was different, and to display the talents of other SL members. There are so many amazing artists here."
For this mini history Tayzia recalled the two pieces that really decided her on devoting what land she had to the prims of others; Starax Statosky’s ‘Sand in Your Face’ and ‘Flat Pain’ by Launa Fauna.
[pic Sand in Your Face]
[PIC Flat Pain mix]
The building housing the art was built by her first SL friend Simmy Lomax.
http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/pic.aspx?id=7324&sort=Pictures.PictureID+desc&Search=crescent+moon
By 2005 Tayzia needed more room, and approached Mae Best owner of Montmartre about getting more space. Montmartre was part of a chain of estates making up Oceana, the first continent in Second Life made up solely of estates (including with FairChang Island, Moopf Murray’s Numbakulla, and The Future).
Initially no agreement was made, but months later Mae contacted Tayzia and the museum was moved there. Montmartre had been planned as an art sim, and was HQ as well of the Montmartre Artists Guild, with educational events, a sandbox, etc.
That year the Crescent was voted best museum in SL, in a poll held by the Metaverse Messenger [they no longer hold these].
By now there were many resident art galleries displaying their owners works, but still the Crescent was unique.
Random Calliope writing about those days recalled in his blog: “According to my travels up to that time it was the ONLY museum in SL that was actually a museum showing works by someone other than the owner.”
Random’s discovery of the Crescent then was the beginning of a lasting association; Tayzia as curator consistently displays Calliope’s unmatched creations, and the creator has too been inspired by, and created along side, the museum’s evolution.
To give an idea of what point in SL this was, Random describes how in those early days he hadn’t really seen his work worn, other than on the mannequin he designs it on! In June 2005, SL celebrated it’s second anniversary, in September reached the 50,000 account mark, and version 1.7 was in preview.
As 2005 passed, the Crescent Moon Museum of Montmartre took a leap forward to what it is today, by conjunction.
Random Calliope began a project on his land in Olive sim, building a grand ballroom; not a club, but a place to socialize and dance- a vision befitting the spirit of his latest jewelry set, the Gatsby; the set became a gift for those who attended the space’s premiere. He built into the grand ballroom a jewelry quest called the Mata Hari.
http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/pic.aspx?id=34654
At roughly the same time, Montmartre went up for sale. Mae Best suggested Tayzia contact fellow Oceana collaborators Garth Fairlight and Pituca Chang.
The Crescent then, as now, as always, has run not for profit, and those exhibiting do not sell their work on the site. But the expenses of keeping land that can display such high numbers of prims are added to, by the cost of collecting the creations to display. As curator, Tayzia has hunted down all she can find that offers itself as art, and discovered too much that didn’t know it was - the creations of talented primsters that didn’t know the kind of thing they did was appreciated by others in Second Life.
By the time the museum was settled in Montmartre, her collection was large enough to begin rotating the display bi weekly, as done today. By fall of 2006, Tayzia’s inventory was large enough to cause her to crash if she tried opening it!
With the Crescent’s move to the West side of Taber, Random donated his ballroom to the space and the museum became the grand hall, holding dances regularly.
In January 2006, the site was shifted East and Random refurbished the ballroom to fit in with the style of the Tudor Village.
2006 was the biggest year of change on the grid; LL reached their goal of one million accounts by mid-October. The weekly stipend for premium accounts was cut, and the number of accounts per last name was increased from 150 to a massive 1000 person per given name. It was amazing to see 8k people logged in at once that fall, but on December 29 a record 20,000 people were logged in at once!
More museums and galleries too appeared. Sasun Steinbeck’s kiosk system organized listings of the Resident Original Art Galleries into a format that could be updated by remote, and gave the art world a great boost, creating some record of it too: in April of 2006, the month Starax Statosky abandoned his account, Sasun’s listing No.4.5 of galleries shows about 45 spots. Today the listings is in three parts, with nearly 200 spots.
And of the first museum in SL? Tayzia claims it wasn’t the Crescent Moon, but one by Ceres Prototype; though it is long since gone, Ceres continues actively in SL.
Galleries can be as much a business as any other in Second Life, or as much a passion, still! Gallery openings can be as gala affairs as any club. And the attempt to create beautiful things, too, has gained a competitive edge, as Art in SL is most definitely now a scene. More people today are expressing themselves and experiencing the creative process- and all the difficulties of it- through Prims.
The Crescent continues to show the wide range of all types of vision which can be worked through a Prim. It has featured the most popular artists and expert prim-twisters of Second Life.
In 2006, Tayzia became curator as well of NMC’s Aho Museum, making her (at least on Oct 14th, the day the Aho was opened) simultaneously curator of the oldest and newest museums in SL.
After Starax left, Tayzia arranged a retrospective honoring him on new NMC land, coinciding with the opening of the Aho. While not exactly grim, the event did have the air of a memorial service, and Ravenelle Zugzwang gave an address (Later rumor was Starax tried to find the show, but as it ran only that weekend, he missed it).
Tayzia also runs the solo art shows NMC puts on in a sim set aside for them. As volunteer in the second SL Relay for Life in 2006, she returned in 2007 as general manager.
The fist collaborative show between The Crescent’s curator and another gallery was the ‘Hidden Starax!’ exhibit, installed at Oyster Bay Sculpture Gardens in Oyster/Shepherd sims, a temporary show that ran from July to August this year, gathered from Tayzia‘s personal collection.
In August 2007, Garth Fairlight and Pituca Chang (today both given name FairChang) decided to sell the Taber land and move the Taber Village wholly to one of their islands. The Crescent would go with them, and FairChang Village becomes the new home for both.
The opening is set for the weekend of September 21st. Saturday there is planned live music by Enniv Zarf, and Anakin Gallacher. During this evening, Random Calliope plans to make the Gatsby available. On Sunday will be two Ode Butterfly Hunts, where those who catch the right butterfly find jewelry by Random.
Orignal CRESTCENT Museum pic
