Cleveland Tattoo Arts Festival draws artists from across the country


CLEVELAND, Ohio — There was a lot of skin being exposed despite Sunday’s frigid temperatures, but it was all thanks to the Cleveland Tattoo Arts Festival at the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland.Cleveland was the fifth stop of the annual Villain Arts Tour, organized by Philadelphia-based Villain Arts, which coordinates tattoo festivals and related events around the country. Sunday was the finale of the three-day event, which featured dozens of vendors including people selling artwork, clothes and jewelry, entertainment that included contortionists and a body-suspension performer.Kids even had a chance to get “tattoos” using air brushing.But of course, the show’s stars were the hundreds of tattoo artists from across the country, showing off their ink skills. Throughout the convention center, people bared themselves (partially) on countless tables as the buzzing of tattoo guns filled the air.Vendors carried books filled with designs for attendees to draw inspiration if they had not come with their own ideas.“A statement we hear a lot is that they don’t know what they want,” said Foxy Mama, a brand ambassador for Atlanta-based Urban Inc. “So we are really good at helping people put their ideas together. “We ask a lot of questions, and we’ve been really successful with taking the ‘I don’t know’ to ‘Well, let’s start here.‘ ”Foxy said some of the most popular trends she had been seeing were portraits and pinup-girl styles.Another popular trend, according to Motown Anderson, an artist out of Detroit, is patchwork, which usually features small to medium-sized tattoos arranged close together. Anderson, who has been a tattoo artist for 10 years, said her favorite part about tattoo shows is meeting other artists.“The fact that I could network with other people like myself,” she said. “Networking alone is everything because we take knowledge from each other to make our skills better.”Foxy said her first time in Cleveland was “amazing.”“I’ve met a lot of unique businesses, and I honestly can’t wait for the next show,” she said. “It’s really beautiful to be a part of.”The tour heads to Baltimore, Friday to Sunday, March 7-9.

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