Tuesday, March 31, 2009

The Tattooed Poets Project: Jill Alexander Essbaum's Poetic Feet (and Jessica Piazza's Too!)

UPDATED! See below....


I've decided to launch this special National Poetry Month Tattoosday feature with the wonderful tattooed feet of Jill Alexander Essbaum, author of several collections of poetry, the most recent being Harlot.

Although this month I will be featuring tattoos on poets, not every tattoo is poetic, in the literal sense. Jill's inked feet are.

Jill met me in the Starbucks at 7 Penn Plaza on a cold day in February, prior to a reading at the KGB Bar later that evening.

She was one of the first poets who signed on to this project, and she allowed me the honor of taking a clearer picture of her tattoos, even though they appeared here, on the Best American Poetry blog, back in May 2008.

Although the concept may be alien to many, students and purveyors of the art of poetry know that a line of poetry can be broken down into metered verse that is identifiable based on the stress and intonation of the syllables.

People may have heard that most of Shakespeare's work is composed, for example, in iambic pentameter. What that means is that each line is comprised of five parts, or "feet," and each foot is made up of an iamb, or two syllables, the first of which is unstressed, followed by the stressed sound.

The name "Marie" is an iamb, for example, as the stress falls on the second syllable. "Mary," on the other hand, has the stress on the first syllable, and is identified as a "trochee".

There are other types of poetic fragments, such as dactylls and anapests, but the iambic and trochaic feet are the most common.

So what does this have to do with Jill's feet? When poets study and scan a line of verse, they mark it up, identifying the stress marks with the accents (or longums), and the unstressed syllables with a symbol known as a brevis.


Jill's feet are literally with the symbols denoting them as trochee (left) and iamb (right). Pure brilliance, in my opinion.

Jill and her friend Jessica came up with this idea last year and gave it significant thought.

As most poets (with notable exceptions, of course) are also teachers, they thought it would be a great visual aid when educating students on scansion.

Jill spent a weekend sketching and drawing the marks, not as easy a task as one would imagine. How to make the marks look like poetic symbols, and not stray ink marks, or even worse, scars, was a part of the process.

She and Jessica mulled the placement on the body: should they go on their wrists? Jill, a professed punster, then had the revelation: iambs and trochees are poetic feet, the tattoos should go on their own feet.

Trochee went on the right side, because it is a progressive, forward-moving beat. Iamb went on the left, as it is a heartbeat.

She and Jessica both got inked in June 2008, shortly before the West Chester Poetry Conference. What better setting to show off fresh poetry tattoos?

Each tattoo took only 15 minutes, and Jessica placed her ink on the sides of her feet, as opposed to the tops like Jill.

I want to thank Jill Alexander Essbaum for helping launch this special feature here on Tattoosday. I invite you to head over here to BillyBlog and check out one of Jill's poems, along with links to more of her work.

WAIT! There's more.....

Here's a photo of the feet of Jill's friend Jessica Piazza:


As noted before, it's the same tattoo, just oriented differently on the feet. Jessica added:
I figured, since it was my idea in the first place, I should be up on this if I can. Too bad we couldn't find a way to get tattoos that symbolize rhyme. I'm more of the meter dork than Jill, which is why I wanted these in the first place. (In all fairness, doing it on our feet was her stroke of genius!)
And, as Jill noted in the comment section, the tattooist is Chris Torres.

Head on back over to BillyBlog here to see one of Jessica's poems.

The Tattooed Poet's Project: An Introduction

April is National Poetry Month!

In addition to the "regular" Tattoosday features, every day in April will feature a different poet's tattoo(s).

Poets across America have contributed photos of their tattoos for us to enjoy, with each post linking back to BillyBlog, where one of their poems will be posted on the corresponding day.

Not all the poems are tattoo-related, but many are. Please come back every day in April to see the wide range of poetic tattoos!

Ana Velho, primeira tatuadora do Brasil na convenção de Santos

Ana Velho, primeira tatuadora do Brasil, participará da 1ª TattooGirls, convenção de tatuagens realizada em Santos dedicada às tatuadoras de todo o Brasil.

A tatuadora dirigiu a primeira loja de tattoo moderna na capital carioca. A loja foi aberta em 1980 e situava estratégicamente a galeria da rua Visconde de Pirajá. Ana Velho escreve assim, seu nome na história da tatuagem brasileira. Para conhecerem a tatuadora e seus trabalhos, visite a 1ª TattooGirls. Se tiverem mais informações sobre Ana Velho, por favor, deixem comentários.

Tattoorism: Christina's Fleur-de-lys

For those of you visiting Tattoosday for the first time, I refer to posts based on reader submissions as Tattoorism. That is, tattoos from out of town visiting us here in the blogosphere.

There was a pleasant surprise in my in box this morning:


Skeptics may say, "What's the big deal? It's just a fleur-de-lis!" But we here at Tattoosday don't think that way. Tattoos aren't just designs inked into the flesh, they generally carry significance that transcend the skin and touch the soul.

And I'm always interested when someone I've never met takes the time and energy to send me a photo and elaborate on their tattoo. Christina's tattoo, above, is a case in point.

I'll let Christina explain her one and only tattoo:

"Tom Berg at SoCal Tattoo in San Pedro, CA did my ink. He designed the elaborate tattoo for the main character in the tv show "Prison Break," [see below] among others.

My husband works for the show and knows Tom, so he was able to get an appointment in two weeks instead of the one-year waiting list that he normally has. So we had that going for us, which is good.

People ask me all the time if the 4-inch fleur de lys between my shoulders means that I really really love the [New Orleans] Saints, or the Boy Scouts... Nope. The fleur has been popping up in my life for years. I wore a ring with a fleur on it, identical to a ring that my best friend in high school wore, which we got on my first road trip. That relationship was instrumental in breaking me out of my shell in school. I wore the fleur on a necklace through college. Then, I spent a year living in Florence, Italy. The symbol of the city is the Florentine "gigli," or lily, the Italian version of the fleur de lys.

One of my housemates said something that stuck with me. "Florence doesn't change you, it only makes you more like you are."

For me, my tattoo is a symbol of my journey toward becoming who I am supposed to be, doing what I am supposed to do, living how I am supposed to live. I got it two months after I married the love of my life, my best friend since I was 12."
The Fleur-de-lis (also spelled fleur-de-lys) has appeared on Tattoosday previously here. I'd like to thank Christina for her continued readership and contribution to the blog!

I cannot guarantee that I'll publish every tattoo e-mailed my way, so I don't openly solicit contributions. However, every once in a while, it's a nice change of pace, both for us here at Tattoosday and, I believe, the readers. Thanks again, Christina!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Tatuagem japonesa, "Sabado" em passagem pelo Brasil

De 3 à 14 de Junho o estúdio Iritsu Tattoo Shop receberá o tatuador "Sabado", proprietário do Eccentric Tattoo. Uma grande oportunidade para os fãs brasileiros agendarem um horário para fazerem suas tattoos e conferirem de perto o trabalho de Sabado.

Para agendar seu horário
Endereço: Rua Cardeal Arcoverde, 520, Pinheiros - SP
Telefone: 55 11 38912553
E-mail: tattoo@iritsupiercer.com

Tatuagens de Sabado - Eccentric Tattoo



Para conhecer mais trabalhos do tatuador japonês Sabado, visite o site do estúdio.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Autorizaria seu filho menor de idade a tatuar-se, se ele tivesse entre 16 e 18 anos?

Chegamos ao fim de nossa oitava enquete onde questionamos se os leitores autorizariam seus filhos menores de a idade a tatuarem-se, caso eles tivessem entre 16 e 18 anos.

Somaram-se 2951 votos, para respostas de Sim ou Não. Confira o resultado da enquete e deixe um comentário com sua opinião:

Autorizaria seu filho menor de idade a tatuar-se, se ele tivesse entre 16 e 18 anos?

Sim: 2264 votos (76%)
Não: 687 votos (23%)

Na próxima enquete, saberemos o que não pode faltar em uma convenção de tatuagem. Participe!

1ª TattooGirls, Convenção de tatuadoras em Santos

A cidade de Santos, berço da tatuagem brasileira, sediará a primeira convenção de tatuagem brasileira dedicada às tatuadoras, a 1ª TattooGirls. A idéia do evento é apresentar ao mercado e público brasileiro, o talento das tatuadoras de nosso país. Anna Idza e Danielle Perrone já são presenças garantidas na convenção que pretende reunir grandes tatuadoras de todo o Brasil.

Observações importantes

1. Homens também podem participar do evento, entretanto o estande do tatuador deve haver uma quantidade equivalente ou superior de tatuadoras.
2. Serão destinadas duas categorias aos tatuadores: Melhor Pinup e Mulher Brasileira (criada em homenagem à convenção).
3. Stands de vendas não terão número restrito de tatuadores ou tatuadoras.

Palestras e Workshop

- Palestras de Biossegurança, Prevenção de DST´s, Como reconhecer o cancer de pele e Como administrar estúdios de tatuagem.
- Workshop de desenho com Alexandre Dallier.

Necessário inscrição antecipada para o workshop e paletras.

Atrações

Art Fusion, mostra de curta metragem, palestras, workshops, área multimídia, exposições de fotos, shows, DJs, sorteio de tatuagens e o “Pinup Express”, espaço para as visitantes da convenção receberem maquiagem e produção de cabelo gratuitamente.

Concurso

- Melhor decoração de estande
- Melhor série de desenhos
- Concurso de tatuagens (criadas por tatuadoras participantes)
- Concurso de Melhores Pinups e Mulher Brasileira (criadas por tatuadores participantes)

Outras informações

Data: 16, 17 e 19 de Julho de 2009
Horário: das 14 às 23 Horas
Local: Clube Regatas Saldanha da Gama, Av. Alm Saldanha Gama, número 44, Ponta da Praia - Santos, SP
Entrada: R$ 10,00 Menores de 16 anos acompanhados pelos pais
Telefones: (13) 32221128 - (13) 78053272 NEXTEL 85*3887
Fax:(13) 33021124
Preço do estande: Stand simples - 3x2 R$ 850,00 reservas
E-mails: eventos@rcmdecarvalho.com.br / credenciamento@rcmdecarvalho
Organização: Mallu Santos
Realização: RCM Eventos
Apoio: Tattoo Shopping, SA Tattoo
Site oficial: www.tattoogirls.com.br

Fotos do local


Fredson, tatuador em Aracajú

Fredson é natural de Salvador mas seu estúdio fredson tattoo art's localiza-se em Aracajú, Sergipe. Confira algumas tatuagens realizadas por Fredson.



Telefones:(79)3236-6297 / 3043-6164 - 8818-7180
E-mail: artistfredson@bol.com.br






















Desenhos de caveiras para tattoo com faixas

Na quinta galeria dos desenhos de caveiras, publicamos doze caveiras que em comum têm as faixas em branco. Combine diversas fontes com as caveiras que mais gostar, no site dafont encontram-se criativas opções de fontes, da fonte Pepsi à Cold Night for Alligators que é bastante agressiva. Caveira com punhal, em chamas, com piercing, caveira Rockabilly ou com rosas são alguns exemplos das caveiras publicadas, todas vetorizadas e em preto. Use sua criatividade na escolha das cores para sua caveira. Boas referência também para iniciantes em aerografia.