Tuesday, April 25, 2017

My trip to Chicago

What a weekend! I went down to Chicago for a few days which was planned last fall. The reason I went down to Chicago was for the Tattoo Exhibit at The Field Museum. Being a tattoo enthusiast, this was a must see for me. I flew down to the windy city via American Airlines and took the train home (I was going to fly home but it was with United Airlines, the only airline that could make Spirit Airlines look classy). Here is one of the first things I had to do when I got to downtown Chicago:
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I couldn't help myself. LOL!

For a few hours, I spent the morning/afternoon at The Art Institute of Chicago. I got to see Whistler's Mother in person. That was so cool.


I absolutely adore The Art Institute of Chicago. It is so huge. Their collection of artworks is amazing. I especially love going to see the Asian/Southeast Asian exhibition halls as well as the Greek/Byzantine/Etruscan exhibition hall. Don't get me wrong I love MIA but The Art Institute of Chicago is my personal favorite art museum of all time.

While in Chicago, I got to hang with one of my favorite humans for about less than 24 hours. I let her crash overnight in my hotel which was planned a week prior to the trip on a short notice due to some unpleasant circumstances.

After breakfast, my friend went back to my hotel room and I went along my way to The Field Museum. The Tattoo exhibit and the entire museum was so worth the money and journey to Chicago. The tattoo exhibit could have gone further more into details about tattoos but overall I enjoyed it immensely.




I spent four hours walking around the entire museum. By 4:30 in the afternoon, I was exhausted. I went back to my hotel to lay down before heading out for the night for dinner and trip to the Skydeck.



The following day, I went over to the Shedd Aquarium. Much to my displeasure I was surrounded by overly excited school children. I did not last long. I wasn't even there for two hours. They reminded me why I chose not to have children. I do not have the temperament to deal with children on a constant basis. Kudos to the parents who chose to have children and have the patience to deal with them. That said, I did have a good time seeing the fishes and other animals in the aquarium.


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I absolutely loved seeing the sea lampreys. They are pretty hideously looking creatures but so fascinating. I also learned that the Native American community Pacific Northwest relies on lampreys as a food source (thanks to River Monsters tv show).

I definitely ate well on this trip. I finally got to try the famous Al's Italian Beef sandwich (I had mine dipped) and it was delicious.


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Had a wonderful ham and cheese omlette with hashbrowns at the Billy Goat Tavern. I don't have a photo of it posted on IG yet but my favorite was the fish and chips at Elephant and Castle English Pub. Oh gawd! It was delicious! It also helped that it was fresh out of the fryer. While in Chicago, I couldn't help myself to a Dunkin Donut here and there. Chicago sure loves their Dunkin Donuts. LOL!

The trip home almost gave me a heart attack. My train was delayed for about 25 minutes. When Amtrak announced that it was running late. I was silently freaking out that it would be a few hours late but in the end it was only 25 minutes late. Train ride went smooth. I didn't get home until around 11:30 at night. Fortunately I was smart and took Tuesday off to sleep. What a great adventure. I am now thinking ahead for my next trip to Chicago. I am thinking between February and March (either during the damn Super Bowl here in Minneapolis or for the next Villain Arts Tattoo Convention in Chicago so I can get some work from Tine Defiore or Cloey Nathaniels from Black Oak tattoo).

Oh I will be posting more photos on my Instagram page in the coming days/weeks from this trip. I took lots and lots of photos. So you can check in from time to time to see what I have posted.

Monday, April 10, 2017

20 insanely talented tattoo artists you should follow on Instagram

Over the weekend I came across this two year old Buzzfeed article on 27 Insanely Talented Tattoo Artists You Should be Following on Instagram. I decided to create my own list. Yeah some of these artists are good but I can think of several artists are better. I decided to just do 20 instead of 27 just to save me time. Yeah, I'm lazy. LOL! The majority of the artists I am featuring all specializes in black ink/linework/dotwork tattoos. I have to admit I find them more appealing than tattoos with colors however artists like Stephanie Brown and Esther Garcia does some stunning work using colors. I also included a few local tattoo artists from the Twin Cities. Everyone on my list is definitely worth checking out. I hope one day to get some work by the women at Black Oak Tattoo. Heavy emphasis on the word "hope".

01. Kelly Violence


02. Sarah Whitehouse
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03. Jonathan Love
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04. Ryan Murray
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05. Matt Murray
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06. Phil Tworavens


07. Oozy
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08. Pony Reinhardt


09. Alli Shelly


10. A. Junko Osaki
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11. Tine Defiore
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12. Cloey Nathaniel
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13. Nate Vincent Szklarski
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14. Rita Jean Zagars
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15. Rachel Hauer
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16. Stephanie Brown


17. Esther Garcia


18. Jack Ankersen
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19. Slumdog.Tattooer
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20. Han Shinko

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Local Twin Cities Tattoo Artists Worth Checking out

Last night before I went to bed, I was on Facebook (what a big surprise). In my news feed was a post from the south Minneapolis tattoo shop 4Points Body Gallery. One of their artists was offering some new, original art to tattoo on customers. Guess who was interested in one of the pieces? You got it! Me. I ended up putting a small down payment last night on a drawing of a fox with a bow and arrow and making an appointment to go in on Saturday to get it done. The artist I am going to get my new tattoo is Jes Bailey. She works primarily in black line work and pointillism which is just what I am looking for in my next tattoo as well as future tattoos. I went on Jess's IG account today and was really wowed by her work. I am super excited to work with her. This led me to write tonight's blog about local TC tattoo artists people should check out. I am hoping to work with either a couple of them before I run out of space on my body. lol

Emilie Robinson  (Twilight Tattoo)

Alli Shelly (Tailorbird Tattoo)

Nate Vincent Szklarski (Saint Sabrina's)

Heather Kim (Mpls Tattoo Shop - I actually worked with her on my arrow tattoo, really cool ass artist. I wouldn't mind working with her again.)

Bleach Methane (Saint Sabrina's - this is the artist who did my xenomorph tattoo three years ago)

Katie Kroeck (Jackalope Tattoo - Katie is someone I am dying to work with. Love the tattoos she has done over the last couple of years I have been following her on IG.) 

Mo Richard (Jackalope Tattoo - She gave me my No Face tattoo last summer. That was one of my favorite tattoo experiences of all time. The chill, relaxed vibe and the easy going staff made me realize that I really prefer working with women tattoo artists for my skin art. I would love to work with Mo again in the future.)

Jessi Lawson  (Leviticus Tattoo)

Lana Bosak (Mpls Tattoo Shop)

Ryan Mueller aka OPIE (Leviticus Tattoo)

Lindsee Boyer (Bee Ink)

Bradley Trotter (Blackend Tattoo)

Monday, April 3, 2017

Ovarian Psycos

Last night I watched PBS documentary on the WOC brigade Ovarian Psycos. For the most part, I was also watching some of the season finale of The Walking Dead which by no surprise was not very compelling like the entire season. I found the documentary on the Ovarin Psycos far more interesting to watch. So today when I went over to the FB page for the collective, most white viewers were extremely supportive of the group and understood that these women created this space for them to be themselves and to feel space. A sanctuary on wheels (FYI...I really dislike using that term "safe space", it sounds super cheesy to me). Check for your local listings to see when this excellent documentary airs. It is so good. I do wish it was longer. I think there is much more to tell from the women in the brigade. I found the film so fascinating.


Unfortunately I saw there were a few white people who completely misconstrued the group's message and the reason for existence and of course had to make it about themselves or accused the group of being a hate group. First of all, the Ovarian Psycos is NOT a hate group. You can read their herstory and message here on their Facebook page.Until you have been called a derogatory word, be treated poorly and exploited by employers like many people of color are, and physically attacked for the color of your skin, please put a sock in it, white people. Stop trying to marginalize groups like Ovarian Psycos because your ego has been wounded and want to make it about you.

Secondly what is it with some (NOT all mind you) white people whose ego gets easily bruised and tries to scream discrimination or victimization because people especially women of color create an environment for their own peers to feel safe, and not have to put up with racism, misogyny, and other bullshit that they experience from the outside world? White people need to get over themselves and to stop encroaching on other people's territories in which the intentions is for a particular segment of the human population, and obviously try to take credit. Every person of another race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, and physical/mental (dis)ability all deserve their own spaces without others encroaching on it because they feel "left out". Time to check that ego at the door. Is it possible to be a good ally/friend/supporter to groups like Ovarian Psycos, Native Lives Matters, and Black Lives Matters? Absolutely but the front line is not where your place is, let those whose lives has been affected by systematic racism work the front lines. You can support those groups by spreading their message around, online and in real life as well as donating $$$ to the groups.

As a woman of color, my life experience is far different from the women in Ovarian Psycos. I am not going to try to pretend that I am like them. I was born in Vietnam but I was adopted by a white couple My entire life has been surrounded by white people. I haven't been exposed to much racism in my life (thank goodness!). I make a fairly decent living as a single, educated woman. Many women of color can not say. I accept that my life experience is different from other WOC. People in general really needs to understand that every person's life experience is going to be different especially those whose skin color is different and income is just above or below the poverty line. Respect those differences and their right to have spaces they can call their own, and in the end everyone will be happy and will treat each other with respect.