>>PREVIEW
CALGARY TATTOO AND ARTS FESTIVAL
September 2 to 4
Round Up Centre
You know that tatty you've been thinking about getting? Not the raging bull covering your left breast with your pierced nipple as the bull's ringed nose, but the other one, that intricately detailed sleeve down your right arm. With the 2006 instalment of the Calgary Tattoo and Arts Festival happening at the Round Up Centre from September 2 to 4, now is as good a time as any to go under the needle.
The tattooing and piercing community will be out in full strength to check out this year’s 140-odd global artists converging on the city to talk shop and showcase their inking skills. The show, which has grown to be the largest of its kind in North America, has a lineup that includes some of the industry’s most talented tattooists making their first appearance in Calgary.
"Kat – that’s all anyone cares about. Kat Von D being at the show," laughs Festival mastermind Steve Peace about the famous 24-year-old tattoo artist from TLC’s reality TV show, Miami Ink. "She’s doing two tattoo displays on Saturday and two on Sunday, but she’s booked and she has a waiting list of 200. I get five e-mails and five calls a day from people who want to get tattoos from her – it’s crazy."
It’s shows like this, along with a broader cultural acceptance of tattoos as a legit art form, that have both the young and old lining up for ink in numbers never before seen. While it used to be about the rose on the ankle for women and the armband for guys, it's now about custom work. Peace says it's about sitting down with a client and picking their brain, seeing what their interests are, so that they get something they're going to be into forever, not just the short term.
"Artists take their work seriously because to them it’s a lifestyle," he says. "They get to see their works displayed on living people, and that is the most rewarding thing to a tattoo artist."
Peace says that while traditionally only the purists had large, bold pieces done, times have changed.
"You see people coming in for their very first tattoo and they’re getting their entire arm or entire sleeve done," he says. "Girls are coming in for their first time and walking out with a massive tattoo."
He says a tattoo festival is the ideal place for a bare-skinned virgin. They can see what kind of tattoo artists they have working right in the city, and how they rate among some of the best in the world.
"It’s less intimidating for a lot of people who worry about walking into a tattoo shop and getting hounded," he says. "People will be walking around completely inked, but you don't have to get tattooed. You can see the show, see artists work, and just hang out for the day."
This show also provides local artists with education on new technologies and trends taking place in the world of tattooing. Seminar titles range from "Blood Borne Pathogens," covering microbiology, immunization and sterilization to "The Mysteries of Color," discussing skin types, pigmentation, and brighter colour techniques.
Peace started the Calgary show in 2004 when he heard rumours that someone else – not involved in the local tattoo industry – had plans to start a similar show.
"I figured if it’s going to be done, it better be done right," he says. "So we moved full force ahead on it. I don’t consider Calgary a conservative city. I don’t see that side. There’s more than oil and gas here."
Peace definitely has the credentials and wherewithal for the job. As owner of Immaculate Concept and Strange World, he’s got lots of experience both handling the gun and running businesses. This year’s show hasn’t even been begun and Peace is already planning for 2007.
"Next year we’re going to be one of the biggest in the world," he says. "We’re going double at 100,000 square feet – it’s going to be absolutely huge." |
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