Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "all american tattoo festival"

Get inked at the All-American Tattoo Festival

2010-06-18T03:57:10Z

Looking for a little push to get a tattoo? Now's the time to work up your courage, because tattoo artists from all over the world will be inking it up at Sacramento’s All-American Tattoo Festival at the Sacramento Convention Center this weekend.

Hosted by Forever Tattoo and held in the Sacramento Convention Center, the festival celebrates tattoos and the people who love them. Forever Tattoo’s Eiland Hogan said his gang of artists have been to tattoo festivals all over the world, including London, Asia and Greece. The crew decided they wanted something in Sacramento that would operate on an international scale.

“A lot of tattoo conventions are going on in California, but none of them are on an international scale,” Hogan said. “We provide a place where you can come and get a world-renowned tattoo.”

While the festival attracts many tattoo artists from all over California, it also draws artists from Nevada, New York, Hawaii, Florida, and Texas. The festival’s international artists this year hail from Spain, Germany and New Zealand.

“It’s a world scale of what can be done with tattoos,” Hogan said.

Over 100 artists will be on hand to lend their own unique style to human canvases who are looking for something a little different. Hogan hopes to have an attendance of at least 6,000 for this year's festival, coincidentally held on the weekend of Father's day.

The event will also feature a tattoo contests, including Best Leg, Best Sleeve,Best Color, and Best Back tattoos. Some competitions, like the Best Large tattoo, will be divided into men's and women's categories. Each day will end with the best tattoo of the day. Tattoo artists will also showcase some of their own tattoo inspired artwork with over 100 paintings and drawings. This year's live show features the daredevil duo of Tyler Fyre and Thrill Kill Jill, providing a daring Coney Island-style sideshow attraction, complete with sword-swallowing, escape artistry, glass-eating and flame-spitting.

Legacy Tattoo’s Sean Jackson started with the festival five or six years ago as a part of the tattoo artist community in the Sacramento area.

“The festival is a great event, an absolute positive outlet for a lot of the better tattooers in Sacramento, the States and overseas,” Jackson said. “It’s a very positive thing, especially for bringing business into Sacramento.”

Jackson has been tattooing for over 11 years now and enjoys the creative outlet it provides.

“I never know what I’m going to draw until the last second," he said. "I usually pull a really cool rabbit out of my hat. It’s like bringing art to life.”

The All-American Tattoo Festival opens Friday from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m and will continue on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., where the celebrations will close with the Best of Show tattoo competition. Fyre will perform his thrill show all three nights.

Tickets will be available all weekend at the Convention Center box office. Prices are $20 per day or $40 for the entire weekend, including admission to the after-hours party. Children 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult and are given free admission.

For more information, including a full schedule of events, please visit the festival website.

Images:

1 & 2: Outside Forever Tattoo
3: Artist Chris Danley works on a tattoo
4: A tattoo enthusiast shows off his full back tattoo
5: Brent Patton works on a design
6 & 7: Tattoo art by Jackson
8: Traditional skull with candle by Branden McAfee
9: Praying hands by Mark Matthews

Who attends tattoo festivals, why?

2009-06-22T07:02:40Z

The second day of the eighth annual All American Tattoo festival brought a much larger crowd to the Convention Center Saturday than on its opening night, Friday.

Attendees had various reasons for checking out the tattoos and tattooed.

Justin Maulit came with his wife and 16-month-old daughter to finish part of their wedding vows.

“I’m here to get tattooed. It’s for our wedding. Me and my wife are getting matching ones. It’s a lady and a skull, and it says, ‘Til Death Do Us Part.’” She always wanted to get one, and we had [our daughter] and she couldn’t get one for the past two years, so now she’s getting hers done. [We brought our daughter] just as an experience, I’m pretty sure she’s going to get some later on down the line, and every year we’ve brought her.”

Justin Nixon came with his best friend: his 9-year-old son, Tanner Nixon.

“For six years I’ve been coming out here. It’s a cool environment…There’s a lot of good artists here, and there’s all kinds of different art. Not just body art, there’s paintings…it’s just a neat experience. [I brought my son] because that’s my best friend. We do everything together.”

Tanner said he plans to get a tattoo of Jesus Christ with thorns around his head. "[I want] the same one my dad’s going to get.”

Carl Puchalski (shown in photos 3, 6, and 10) a 55-year-old state worker, came to get more work done on his front-and-back piece, which has been a work in progress for the past nine to 10 years. Puchalski has been getting worked on by Bill from Liberty Art & Ink.

Puchalski won first place at this year's festival for best male large tattoo. He admits to wearing long sleeve shirts to work at his state job and gets an occasional reaction from co-workers. "I do because I started rolling my cuffs up, so they can see that I’ve got this [but] no one knows about the body yet."

Tanya Tallent also made the festival a family affair, bringing along her five 5-year-old son Nathan.

“Some friends of mine and I were considering getting tattoos, and we wanted to explore the different styles of artwork … They ended up not being able to come," Tallent said. "I came with my family instead. I thought [my son] would just get a kick out of the art. He asked me just a little while ago if he could get one, and I said not until he’s 18.”

Alex Briones (shown on left in photo 1) came to the festival with members of his organization, Vietnam Vets Motorcycle Club and the Legacy Vets.

“We promote issues dealing with veterans. We don’t want people to forget our POWs and MIAs," Briones said. "We come here to just check it out, be seen and have fun.”

*Author's Note: All photos courtesy of Jonathan Mendick

Street Style: Monette Flores

2009-06-22T01:32:39Z

Monette Flores, 27

Childcare worker
Elk Grove resident

Outside the All American Tattoo Festival, Monette Flores shows off her style, which she says is called "just plain me." Influenced by Suicide Girls, an online community celebrating alternative beauty and culture, Flores likes to dress in a style that is "crazy and colorful."

She accessorizes herself with a "Living Dead Dolls" T-shirt, purple zebra-print pants, rhinestone-encrusted leather boots, a Kool-Aid purse, pink hair dye, pink glasses and pink body jewelry.

"I got the rings as gifts," she said of her 10 colorful finger accessories. She has been collecting them since grade school.

Flores scours thrift stores for vintage styles, but she also occasionally shops at Hot Topic. She gets pierced at various tattoo conventions and likes to purchase her jewelry at Sub Q, located at 1715 I St.

She admires U.K. style more than U.S. style, but says that one American celebrity who influences her style is Marilyn Manson.

Sac Convention Center gets inked

2009-06-21T03:58:48Z

Guns and needles took over the Sacramento Convention Center Friday.

Tattoo guns and needles, that is. The first day of the eighth annual Forever Tattoo’s All American Tattoo Festival kicked off the weekend with the best of the best in the ink industry, tattoo contests and circus-style side performer George the Giant.

Sponsored by Tatt life, Tattoo Energy and Budweiser, the festival gave ink fans the chance to peruse and purchase the work of more than 80 tattoo artists from not only the United States but as far as Sweden (Living All Tattoo), Greece (Nico Tattoo) and Italy (Cherry Tattoo).

“I usually go to the festivals in San Francisco, but this is the first year I’ve gone to one [in Sacramento]," festival-goer Zachary Bacon said. "They have a lot of great artists and I’m really impressed."

Some festival-goers had blank flesh canvases and others had mere inches of available space to tattoo. A few artists offered “festival” specials, knocking anywhere from $20 to $40 off their prices, and some charged several hundred dollars to customers, who more than willing to pay for their expertise.

Newly tattooed festival-goers have the opportunity to enter their pieces into contests, which will continue throughout the weekend. Friday’s contests included best sleeve and leg tattoos, and the recipients of the coffin-themed plaques (and bragging rights) were Samantha Schue and Matthew Kleinhauas (pictured).

The evening’s main attraction, besides fresh ink, was George the Giant, a stunt performer who starred in the movie Big Fish and was on “America’s Got Talent.” George stunned his captive audience by swallowing a sword, hammering a nail through his nose and inviting an audience member to walk on his face, which was resting sideways on a pile of broken glass.

In the center of all the action, an art showing that will remain through Sunday lined the aisle leading up to the stage. The tattoo-themed paintings were created by various local artists whowill be inking throughout the festival, including Sacramento’s American Graffiti and Folsom City Ink.

Tattoos weren’t the only things being hawked, however. Livermore’s Charlotte’s Web sold tattoo-inspired clothing and Belzel Books set up a tattoo book nook. Tattoo aftercare companies took the opportunity to boasts their products as well, with companies like Tattoo Genie and Tattoo Goo claiming faster and better healing.

Hells Angels Sacramento, whose many members are tattoo collectors, set up shop to sell their gear and promote their organization. Passion Parties representatives handed out free samples of their intimate party favors, and Nos energy drink supplied boosts to the crowd.

Tattoo fans of all ages roamed the convention center until the doors closed at 11 p.m., many preparing to return the next day and get inked.

The All American Tattoo Festival will continue through Sunday, June 21 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 at the box office, located in front of the Sacramento Convention Center.

For Saturday and Sunday's schedule, click here

All photos taken by Jonathan Mendick

All American Tattoo Festival this weekend

2009-06-18T05:31:08Z

Tattoo artists from across the country and around the world will join local tattoo artists in offering their inking services to Sacramento for the eighth year in a row at the annual All American Tattoo Festival this weekend. The festival begins Friday and will continue through Sunday at the Sacramento Convention Center.

The festival is organized in a joint effort between local promoter Alan Mahon and the owners of Sacramento's Forever Tattoo. Attendees can view over 100 art pieces, submissions of mainly paintings and drawings from the artists that won't include tattoo designs, on any of the three days of the festival, in addition to getting tattooed by world-renowned artists.

“Fifty to 60 percent of tattoo artists should not be tattooing anybody,” Mahon said. He explained that the festival provides tattoo-goers the opportunity to get a “better than average tattoo” by expert artists they normally don’t have access to, since many of them are overbooked or live in other parts of the country or the world.

Contests will be held each day for best tattoo pieces, in addition to special appearances by renowned sideshow art performer George the Giant. The festival will also host the worldwide debut of Shige, a book based on the life and work of world-renowned Japanese tattoo artist Shigenorii Wasaki. Both Wasaki and Horitaka, the author, will be tattooing at this year's festival.

Artists from local tattoo shops like American Graffiti, Modern Body Custom Tattoo, Monster Ink, Legacy and River City Tattoo will be stationed at the festival, in addition to the artists from Forever Tattoo.

Anyone wanting to get inked by unfamiliar or foreign artists can choose from a wide selection of tattooers from the West Coast, Texas, Missouri, Florida, New York, Japan, Germany, Spain and Italy.

Brent Patten, an organizer of the festival and co-owner of Forever Tattoo, pointed out that the festival offers more options than just needles. Attendees can get tattooed with the Japanese hand-painted method Tebori using a brass wand, or with a Tahitian method using a "tapping" stick.

"You get to see all these people from all around the world," Patten said. "You read about them in books, [and to] maybe get tattooed by them is really cool."

For several local artists, participating in this year's festival will be a first-time experience.

Steve Shippey, who has been tattooing for five years and specializes in horror realism, portrait and cartoon-inspired pieces, will tattoo for the first time at the festival along with Ronnie Grizard, on behalf of Sacramento's Modern Body.

Ten-year tattoo artist Tuan Tran will also participate for the first time on behalf of Monster Ink, a newer two-and-a-half-year old tattoo shop in Sacramento. Tran specializes in Japanese-style tattoos, along with realism and demon-inspired pieces.

Both Shippey and Tran expressed their excitement about the festival and an opportunity to meet other artists from around the world.

If there's anything to not look forward to, it's bargain hunters.

"Sometimes you get people who think that they can walk out with $20 in their pocket and get a three-hour piece for next to nothing," Shippey said.

For more information about tickets, schedule times, the artists and parking, visit this link.

Author's note: All photos courtesy of All American Tattoo festival.