Tattoo you

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This article was published 21/08/2017 (3109 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mike Branconnier was lying on his stomach, prepared for the worst.

After all, the 40-year-old postal worker was stretched out on a table Saturday amid the literal buzz of the first annual Winnipeg Tattoo Convention at the Red River Exhibition Park.

Over 150 booths were occupied with artists from around the world; the bulk of them busy inking up collectors’ thighs, stomachs, arms and, well, whatever.

Branconnier, however, wasn’t messing around. He was in the first hour of getting a traditional back piece — his largest tattoo to date — which he described as an “old school sailor design.”

Tattoo artist Derek Joyce, of Warlock Tattoos in Brandon, was just in the process of inking the outline. It was going to be a five- to six-hour process, just the first stage, so Branconnier was gearing up for some pain — not to mention a bill between $2,500 and $3,000.

“I’m not tough,” he said. “I’m very delicate.”

Not so delicate, however. Branconnier has — at the last count of his two daughters — a total of 53 tattoos. His first was a wizard teddy bear he acquired at the age of 17.

“Pure impulse,” he explained. “I was on mushrooms and wandered into a tattoo shop.”

Rich Handford, who organized the inaugural event, owns Winnipeg’s Kapala Tattoo. He’s been making and collecting tattoos since 1989 and has attended 60 such conventions around the world.

Which made it all the more gratifying for Handford to look out over the convention floor, which was filled with hundreds of ticket buyers milling past booths of artists from Australia, New Zealand, Spain, England, New York and L.A. —not to mention from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island.

“Just look at the place,” said Handford, the owner of Winnipeg’s Kapala Tattoo, from a VIP lounge overseeing the floor.

Handford got his first tattoo at age 15, self-administered. Why? Because he wanted to be different.

But gazing out over the floor below, he acknowledged that, over time, the opposite happened.

“The irony is that by tattooing myself, I became part of a wonderful community. And this event is a culmination of those experiences,” he said.

Handford expected crowds anywhere from 6,000 to 12,000 for the weekend event, which he said is as much an experience for artists as for those looking to ink up.

“We inspire each other to grow as artists and work together to further the evolution of our craft,” he said, a sentiment echoed by several artists interviewed.

Handford said the response to the convention only underlined the growing popularity of tattoos, which stretches across all demographics.

The days of sailors and bikers with (often) rudimentary designs are long gone.

“Today it’s dental hygienist and soccer moms,” he said.

It’s also an ever-evolving craft for artists. In fact, Branconnier said these days it’s just as important for many “collectors” to decide on an artist before a tattoo.

For example, Branconnier will travel to Brandon specifically for Joyce.

“I just give him my money and let him go wild,” the postman said. “These guys are artists. Let them do their thing. Everybody wins.”

In a nearby booth, 27-year-old Jennah Bullaro was in the process of painting a Pokémon character (Meowth) on the thigh of client Sandra Sawatzky.

It will be the fifth tattoo for Sawatzky, 25. “I’ve always thought of it as a beautiful way of expressing myself,” she said.

Bullaro, one of five artists and one body piercer working for Main Street Tattoo Collective, has only been in the business for 18 months.

She wanted to be a cartoonist and entered a university fine arts program, but dropped out because “you can’t get a job with a fine arts degree that isn’t in education.”

Instead, Bullaro, who specializes in anime and Pokémon characters, found a career in tattoos.

“Pokémon pays the bills,” she noted. “Now I get to do it (art) as a job, just in a different way. This is my career now.”

While artists and collectors acknowledged there’s still some stigma attached to tattoos — “People judge you on the colour of your skin, including tattoos” — those attitudes seem more antiquated with every pop star or celebrity who gets a sleeve, Handford said.

“I tattoo nurses, I tattoo teachers, I tattoo principals,” offered Ashley Martin, one of the owners of the Main Street Tattoo Collective, which is four years old. “It’s more and more accepted. Grandmothers are OK with it, parents are OK with it. It’s on TV. It’s part of the culture. You see your idol wearing tattoos and you want them.”

Kurt Wiscombe, a staple of the Winnipeg tattoo community for two decades, recalls the time an 87-year-old woman walked into his shop for her first tattoo — it was the design of a needle-point pattern she liked.

“I’ve always considered a tattoo collector to be a true art collector,” Wiscombe noted. “It’s not bought for an investment. You can’t hide it in the closet. They wear tattoos truly for the love of the art.”

Wiscombe, the owner of Tattoos for the Individual and Skull and Bones art gallery, said the city has been long overdue to host its first convention.

“Winnipeg has always been a tattoo town,” he said. “It’s the perfect city for something like this. People are savvy to great tattoo work. That’s why I stuck around.”

As for Branconnier, he still had a long day ahead on his stomach. Some of the tattoos are whimsical, such as Donald Duck on his right forearm (just above Louis Riel), some are vacation souvenirs, some band logos. And some he just thought looked cool.

“That’s how I treat my skin,” he said. “To tell a story.”

So the collection will continue.

“Nowadays, you have a few tattoos and walk around the pool and you fit right in,” he noted. “Now I’m head-to-toe because not everybody’s doing that. I like the prison work.”

To make you look tough?

“Yes,” he replied, good-naturedly. “To hide the fact that I’m delicate.”

One last thing: Branconnier, who works for Canada Post, has a tattoo on the top of each foot; Newman from Seinfeld on the left and an image of Cheer’s Cliff Clavin on the right.

“The world’s two most famous postmen,” he said.

Well, you have to admit. They tell a pretty good story.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @randyturner15