Alberta Bound Tattoo Arts Festival is underway at the Shaw Conference Centre until Sunday (Photo by Terry Gent)
Tattoo culture from around the world has exploded into Edmonton’s Shaw Conference Centre, and there’s no exaggeration in the “around the world” part. I met artists tonight from Yamanashi, Japan; Ibiza and Madrid, Spain; Detroit, Michigan and Lockport, Illinois; and from cities all over Canada. They’ve come out in force for the Alberta Bound Tattoo & Arts Festival, which has taken over the Shaw for three colourful days.
Part trade show, part retail experience, and part giant artist-filled tattoo shop, the festival has just about everything you could want that relates to tattoos. Nearly every booth you walk past has at least one artist bent over a human canvas, but there are also clothing stores, curiosity shops, flash and tattoo supply stores, hand-made tattoo equipment, pin-up stickers, custom hot rods, personalized zombie portraits, and even a complimentary ink station, where the artists on scene can try out new colours and new brands that have been donated by the companies that make them.
Edmonton tattoo artists make a huge showing too, one that tattooed Edmontonians can be proud of. I honestly had no idea there were so many shops in our city, and that’s speaking as a tattooed person myself! Familiar names like Raptor, Urge, Strange City and Ritualistics are all there, but there are also newer shops and even established shops from other cities that have moved to Edmonton to set up business here, such as D&M from Fort McMurray.
Bear's Skin Art Booth (Photo by Terry Gent)
At the Bear’s Skin Art booth, five tattoo chairs sit under the largest banner at the festival, and all of them are occupied. Jordan, one of Bear’s staffers, tells us that right when the show opened at two o’clock, they booked solidly through until the end of the show on Sunday. For some eager festival-goers, it’s a way to beat the long wait you can have for an appointment with one of these talented artists. For others, it’s a chance to have a bit more work done on an existing piece, and let the crowds see what their artist has already created for them.
Photo by Terry Gent
If you’re a tattooed person yourself, artists and attendees alike will stop you to look at your tattoos, read them, and ask what they represent. As you’re surrounded by the buzz of tattoo guns, you can end up in the middle of fascinating, spontaneous conversations with people who tell you their tattoo experiences, show you their own favourite tattoos, and recommend the very best artists. At the Raptor Tattoo booth, one worker takes a moment to tease me about my first ever tattoo, which took about ten minutes, but it’s all good-natured and fun.
Lucky Diamond Rich (Photo by Terry Gent)
There’s a lot more to take in than just the tattoo shop environment, though, with entertainment and events running all weekend. Every day of the festival there are tattoo competitions, and at judging time prizes are awarded to the best tattoos by a prestigious group of artists – these convention awards come with serious bragging rights, too. Other entertainment includes the one and only Guinea Pig, and Lucky Diamond Rich, the most tattooed man in the world, who is truly a sight to behold – and mighty cute, too, in his shiny and dapper suit. And don’t forget the over-the-top, in your face Industry Dodgeball tournament on Saturday at 7 p.m.
If you’re worried about finding a sitter, don’t be! The festival is entirely kid friendly. Exhibitors have displayed non-nude and mostly non-graphic images, and have covered up body parts that you might not want the young’uns to see, and a face-painting booth (arms, chests, and legs too!) can give them some realistic-looking tattoos of their own. Alberta Bound is also giving a tattoo-themed colouring book to each of the first 500 kids through the door, and the daily colouring contest gives them the chance to win a $100 Toys’R'Us gift certificate!
Local Artist Seven Beckham working on a patron at the Alberta Bound Tattoo Arts Festival (photo by Terry Gent)
There really is something for everyone at the Alberta Bound Tattoo & Arts festival, running at the Shaw Conference Centre from noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday.
hmm… informative.