Rosalie Hurr, Author at Things&Ink

August 20, 2015

Inked Palette

UK tattoo blog Inkluded, is collaborating with Deasil art gallery to present an exhibition featuring work by a selection of UK tattoo artists.

Inked Palette will run from 3 – 20 October 2015 at Deasil Art Gallery, 44 Oxford Street, Leamington Spa. Admission is free.

The multimedia exhibition will showcase the work of 15 tattoo artists through different mediums. As well as artworks on traditional materials such as canvas and paper, Inked Palette will see artists utilise customary materials and share their sketches and drawings to offer an insight into their creative process. Tattoo photography will form part of the exhibition, and there will also be exciting installations for members of the public to interact with and explore.

Charlotte Timmons, Modern Body Art

Founder of Inkluded, Beccy Rimmer, is interested in showcasing the mastery behind tattoo art:

At Inkluded, we’re passionate about showcasing and sharing the craft of tattoo art and making information about this thriving industry available to those who may be new to it. This country’s creative tattoo scene is fast-growing and flourishing with talented artists, remarkable artwork and innovative styles – we thought it was time we unveiled the creativity and originality of the UK’s tattoo mastery through this exciting exhibition.

Shaun Williams, Nebula Tattoo

Deasil Art is a new gallery situated in the heart of England, in Leamington Spa, with direct trains to a whole host of major UK cities including Birmingham, Oxford, Manchester, York, London and Reading.

Joanne Baker, Grizzlys Art Tattoo

TATTOO ARTISTS ANNOUNCED SO FAR:

Joanne Baker, Grizzlys Art Tattoo, Coventry
Nicola Cry, Sutton Ink, Birmingham
William Jones, Nebula Tattoo, Burry Port, South Wales
Adam Thomas, Cannock Ink, Cannock
Charlotte Timmons, Modern Body Art, Birmingham
Shaun Von Sleaze, Keep The Faith Social Club, Cardiff
Shaun Williams, Nebula Tattoo, Burry Port, South Wales
Niall Patterson (tattoo photographer), Birmingham

August 19, 2015

Burning Desire: Body Branding

Burning Desires is a short film created by Channel 4 that follows tattoo enthusiast Kerri as she has traditional Viking runes (letters) burned/branded onto her skin. ‘Burning Desires’ sits within a Body Mods C4 shorts series, which also features other forms of body modification including ear pointing and corset piercings.

Kerri chose the designs based on her fascination with Viking travellers and the way that they marked their skin. The runes, representing love and victory, are burned onto her skin with 500C-700C heat.

Watch the video below to see Kerri’s whole scarification experience:

August 18, 2015August 18, 2015

Interview with Tattoo Artist: Caroline Vitelli

Tattoo artist Caroline Vitelli works out of Brut, a private studio in Geneva and creates beautifully dark and illustrative tattoos. We chatted to her about the ancient art of skin sewing and what inspires her…

How long have you been tattooing? I don’t really know, maybe two years, maybe longer. Years ago, I was introduced, by an Inuit, to a ancestral technique of sewing tattoos or skin-stitched tattooing (Watch Colin Dale on Needles and Sins). Skin-sewing tattoos are a type of ‘healing tattoo’ – the tattooer introduces into the skin, by means of a needle, with a thread, which has been greased beforehand and soaked with soot. The thread, pulled by the needle according to the outlines of the drawing, abandons the colouring agent between the flesh and the skin.

After this I began to stitch my own drawings onto skin. I did my left hand this way. But it took a long time of reflection and self questioning. After a few years I started doing tattoos with a machine.

What attracted you to the world of tattoos? The thing is that I am a non-stop doodler, I needed to find a way to use all those drawings.

What inspires you? I am inspired by feral nature, literature, poetry, animals, poisonous plants, people, the light that we can find in the dark. My imagination – like my head – is filled with a thousand little tiny creatures working, running, screaming, all the time, it’s exhausting. But I think that everything that has been done, and my head is full of images or quotes or reference, of course sometimes one can be deeply influenced and doesn’t realise it.

Do you admire any artists, do they influence your work? I admire some creative creatures such as my friend Old Hag (Darby Lagher), her photography is so mesmerising and heartening for me, she captures auras of dreamlike occult and naturalistic worlds. Also, I am always speechless when I listen to Chelsea Wolfe, I’ve been listening to her new album Abyss non stop since last week, and it gives me shivers, every time. Like Rowland S. Howard, SHIVERS.

And, of course, they may influence me, like everything, I am a super sensitive, but I already have a lot to deal with in my head, things that I have to put together on the paper.

Can you tell us about the tattoos on your own body? My first tattoo was an Icelandic magical stave on my right arm, I got it when I was a young teenager. And I still love it.

I have my shoulders and neck done by Happypets in Lausanne, it’s two black swans and an ornamental thistle. I have a drawing by Max Ernst on my back, if you look closely you can see that the skirt of the woman is hiding an older tattoo, I got it done when I was 16.

My hands are constructed like an altar. Both with sewing-technique and machines.
I also adore my big black rose from Alexander Grim, he and his wife Lamia Vox are so interesting and talented. I have a piece on my stomach drawn by Tracey Emin, a snake in my hand tattooed by Paolo Bosson, cats on my legs by Gem Love, trash poked tattoos done by Ingimar. And my latest one is a piece done by Johnny Gloom, I truly adore it.

I have lots more, and I can’t possibly name them all.

What kinds of things do you like to tattoo? I like to tattoo dark things, black stuff, thorns and rusty nails, monsters, animals, flowers, amulets, medieval faces, plants. I like to tattoo my universe. The things that I collect around me.

August 14, 2015

Black Market Tattoos: Charity Day

On Saturday 8th August 2015, Nush Turner and Fiona Lewitt tattoo artists at Black Market Tattoos in Leicester organised a charity tattoo flash day to raise money for LOROS Hospice, a charity local to Leicester who provide free care for terminally ill patients.

Nush explained to Things&Ink the reason behind the flash day:

I set it up because its been one year since we did our last charity event and we’ve been wanting to do one for ages. The reason I chose LOROS was because of my granddad. He’s currently battling prostate cancer. He decided a few months ago to shave his head in aid of LOROS when he started his chemo. Since then everyone has rallied up and he’s raised just over £1000 on his justgiving page. I wanted to show my support by hopefully doubling that figure! He’s quite into tattoos himself having loads of old school military ones, and I tattooed him on the charity day last year, too.

The studio opened from 10am until late and hosted an array of fundraising events with a selection of flash tattoos, a raffle with prizes including tattooing time, tons of art work for sale, jewellery and, of course, some tasty cakes.

The flash on sale was available for walk-ins but many designs had been booked by email prior to the day to avoid disappoint. Many designs still remain available, both Nush and Fiona are still tattooing the flash, as one-off pieces, to continue to raise money, and raffle tickets are still for sale.

In the end Nush did 11 tattoos on Saturday and Fi did nine. The overall total is still being calculated but so far they have reached £1555.

Photos taken by Ellie Mackness

August 13, 2015August 30, 2015

Art Exhibition: Womanstanley 2

Womanstanley 2 is a one-day-only exhibition that celebrates women from the North of England: past, present and future. The brainchild of like-minded artists Sophie New and Roxanne Ball, friends who met at Leeds College of Art and quickly realised that they both wanted to bring the excitement of pop-up, D.I.Y city art exhibitions, to their home.

Womanstanley 2 will take place on 22 August at Warrington Sports Club, Walton Lea Road, Higher Walton, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 6SJ. The event costs £3. For more information on the event and to RSVP please contact womanstanley@gmail.com.

Womanstanley is three years old and so far it has successfully created a platform where creative individuals, living in Warrington and surrounding areas can express themselves, meet like-minded artists and celebrate the talent that is right on the doorstep. It is a space to share creative interests, music and stories with women at the core. Womanstanley started as a legacy to the Women’s Art Revolution and continues to grow as more people become involved, making an exhibition from scratch in a location that is a far cry from a traditional gallery setting.

Investment of Exchange by Sophie New

The exhibitors in Womanstanley 2 have chosen diverse routes, from a royal portrait of Cilla Black by Kim Thackeray, Roxanne Ball’s portrayal of Margery Booth the Wigan ‘Knicker Spy’ to Sarah Harris who gives life to ‘Sylvia the cyst’. A group of five young women from Priestley College who study dance together, join forces to create a piece for camera on Formby Beach.

Work in Progress Cilla Black by Kim Thackeray

Roxanne Ball

Sophie New, a student studying at the Royal College of Art was inspired by an embroidered wedding jacket from Gujarat for one of her core projects. This jacket led her to investigate contemporary ideas surrounding marriage and relationships. Interviews were carried out with the public and she collected personal stories, photographs and embroideries. With this information new images were created and formed fragments of a new piece of clothing, a veil for two people, of any gender, rather than traditionally just for the bride. Sophie New brings this piece from an exhibition at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford and the audience are invited to add their own marriage stories.

Local Warrington town centre group, Dolly’s Sewing School has got involved by making work about the Cockhedge Cotton Mill and members of the Blooming Art group run by exhibiting artist Gail Stubbings are looking into nature / nurture.

Emily Calland

Womanstanley 2 will also see performances from the soulful singer Bella New, ‘industrial estate based four-piece’, Giest, Bathymetry, an Indie band that sound like ‘night time when it’s raining and you’ve forgotten a hat’ and Hello Mabel, a ‘female acoustic twosome featuring members of Roughneck Riot and Fish Bastard.’

On the day there will be drinks available from the lovely bar staff at the Warrington Sports Club and an arts and crafts stall where exhibiting artists will be selling all sorts of items ranging from Rosa Silva’s swimwear, Cat Stroud’s satirical gender identity zine to Michelle Price of Kleinemaus’ handmade pencil cases.

Other artists exhibiting include; Beth Davenport, Cameron Brown, Lotte Anne, Natalie Wardle, Alex Dodgson, Lucy Hurst, Lauren Muir, Alanna Heston, Laura Jane, Rachel Haney, Julia Pantkowska, Saffa Khan Isobel Harrop Liz Hough, Tilly Dagnall, Karly McCaig, Becca Hunter, Mary Dickinson, John Dickinson, Jim Williamson, Gordon Firth, Rebecca Smith, Claire Hill, Melpomene, Abbi Hughes and last but not least Womanstanley’s Social media specialist Hayley Reid.

Womanstanley 2 poster, by Emily Calland