Henna artist Larissa Reinders knows how to mix things up. The earth mother is injecting a bit of nature into the Calgary Tattoo and Arts Festival this weekend at the Round-up Centre.
While hundreds of leather-clad bikers and punk kids check out the latest tattoos, Reinders and two pals will be adding some feminine serenity to the ruckus.
A self-proclaimed hippie, Reinders, 36, sees her art as a tattoo on the soul as well as the skin — though not permanent.
“I always give a piece of myself to the people I paint,” she says. “Lots of times I see a design for people before they sit down. I have had people burst into tears when they see my work. It is so beautiful to be connected to that.”
Reinders got “henna-d” for the first time during a Stampede breakfast in Woodbine in 2003. Immediately afterwards she went home and hit a bunch of henna websites, got herself some paste and within three months had started her own business — Dragonfly Designs Henna.
“I fell in love with the art form — it was magic. I started practising on my thighs and my feet and then on my husband Andre’s feet. He was always wearing socks at first, but now he shows off my work. It just took off from there.”
Henna is a plant grown in Africa and South Asia that is dried and ground and then worked into a paste for dying the hair, skin and fingernails. It has been used for thousands of years to apply symbols and abstract designs to hands and feet in particular, usually as part of a celebration.
Reinders uses natural ingredients including lemon juice, lavender and dextrose (a sugar) in her paste. “I was pregnant with my son Alex when I first got into henna. I didn’t want to be injecting loads of chemicals into my body to look beautiful. I even started using it to colour my hair. I’m naturally a sandy blonde, but I had always wanted to try a red.”
While Reinders lived in Calgary, (she recently moved to Fredericton with her family) she did weddings, festivals and mother blessings, in which the tummies of eight-month pregnant women are painted.
At first, some Hindu clients were apprehensive, feeling compelled to stick to artists within their own cultures and traditions. Reinders, who graduated from the University of Guelph with a biology degree was unfazed, “A lot of people associate henna with only Indian or Hindu cultures — but that is just a lack of education. Henna is associated with more than 60 cultures and religions. Historically, it comes from Persia, but no country owns it, and no culture owns it. I do a lot of Buddhist symbols — but when it comes to religion I am everything and nothing all at once.” It didn’t take long for women of all nationalities to warm to Reinders, who received seven calls from brides wanting to book her as she left Calgary for Fredericton.
However, not all of Reinders’ work has been as traditional. “I did a breast once at a holt Renfrew mixer,” she says. “One woman had had a few martinis and she asked me to do her breast. I ended up putting her boyfriend’s name on it.”
The stay-at-home mom is still perplexed by her talent. “I can’t draw anything else at all, but this comes naturally. I get my inspiration from the borders of letterheads or tapestries or design books. My style is Indian and Arabic and Indo-fusion. I have no idea where the skills came from.”
The Calgary Tattoo and Arts Festival runs September 1 to 3. Reinders will be joined by Colleen Garland of Medicine Hat and Holly Monster from Toronto — the Merry Maids of Mehndi.