This past weekend I went to the Toronto Tattoo Convention with a good friend of mine. It was a really good time. We had dinner at Rich Tree Restaurant and headed over to the Hilton on Richmond Street where the convention was taking place. I must say, I didn't really know what to expect. I have never been to a tattoo convention before.

I have been really interested in tattoos as art for quite a few years now. One of the cool things at the convention was The Art Fusion Experiment:

Tattoo, as a cultural practice, goes back thousands of years and has held ritual significance, aesthetic significance and more for cultures. Now the world is experiencing a tattoo mania. At its core are a group of highly skilled, dedicated Tattoo artists who haven't always been willing to acknowledge their own artistry for fear of being too 'establishment'. Two premier tattoo artists set out to change this with the Art Fusion Experiment - a project of collaborative creation on paper and canvas that is a direct outgrowth of collaborative tattoo. Their experiment has unexpected results with thousands of participating artists from over 40 countries and even more fans.

Anyway, as I walked around 1000's of tattooed people, hundreds of tattoo shop displays, skateboard vendors, jewelery vendors, and was offered drugs... and other stuff, etc. and as I chatted with my friends from Cottage 13 (my tattoo shop in Hamilton) who had a booth at the convention, I couldn't help but think about a few things:

• I felt more comfortable and less uptight than I normally do at pastor's conventions. Weird.
• This is the kind of place that followers of Jesus need to be a lot more. I fear we avoid these type of places, and this type of a community far too often, in order to reside/retreat in our safe and comfortable Christian bubble.
  
• Art has significant power when it comes to communicating story. I find myself more and more drawn to tattoo art as story-telling.
  

Well, I forgot to bring my camera to the convention - rookie move. But, below is a picture of my latest tattoo that I am working on... it should be a full sleeve by October. My tattooist, Jen, started at my wrist and is working her way up. I am really happy with it so far.


I also realized that I have never posted a picture of my leg tattoo I had finished in the winter, so here is that as well (both sides of my leg mirror each other, the tattoo is of two Celtic dogs - representing "loyalty" and "friendship" - and two Celtic birds - representing "journeying to new places" and "resurrection"):

Labels: leadership, tattoos