Category: Blog

Last night we held two events in Civic Space at once. On the main level, we held a Tattoo Sketch Night with Jason Sturgill and Dave Kant, in partnership with Arts Council Windsor & Region and leading up to Windsor is Forever. Upstairs we held All Tomorrow’s Problems, a weekly design night hosted by Dan McCafferty and Veronica Samek. Keep next Monday, March 11th in your calendars because at All Tomorrow’s problems, we’ll be working with letraset.

Our Sketch Night was intended to give those interested in Windsor the time, space, and environment to sketch, think, and discuss what Windsor might look like as a tattoo. We spent most of the night researching Windsor imagery from the past and discussing what is iconic in the present. The designs that were made will be refined and used in a flash set for the Free Tattoo Day we’re hosting on Thursday, March 7th. If you submitted a story to our online form before yesterday, you should be hearing from us shortly!

Once everyone started trickling into the space, we had them grab a set at our big table.

Jason then introduced himself and showed a quick video clip of the project he did in Portland called Art is Forever. This is a loose model for our project Windsor is Forever.

Dave Kant of Advanced Tattoo in Windsor then discusses his role in the project and what visitors will be doing for the evening.

Brainstorming involved quite a lot of discussion last night. Most people bounced ideas off of each other before coming up with an idea.

Participants brought a variety of materials to the event, such as tracing paper, previous sketches, and printouts.

Meanwhile, All Tomorrow’s Problems was starting upstairs.

It was a cozy group, but the conversation was on point and the energy level was high.

About a half hour later, we had to bring another table out for another group who showed up. Thanks to ACWR, we had two folding tables at our disposal.

Dave and Steve, two of the tattoo artists who will be working on Thursday to make these designs a little more permanent, worked fiercely to come up with pages of designs.

Some sat by the window and used the ledge as a drawing surface.

After more than an hour, it was clear that people were connecting with their designs.

A few people brought laptops and used them to do visual research on the fly.

Back upstairs, conversations ensued during Monday night’s All Tomorrow’s Problems (ATP) design night.

Most people brought notebooks to All Tomorrow’s Problems and either referenced past meetings or added new points of discussion.

Jason was equipped with books and his laptop to inspire his designs. He will probably be using a mix of digital and traditional design tools.

One of the most deeply-rooted design ideas was Steve’s rendition of the “feather hat”.

Dave creates a sheet of designs inspired by our economy and details of the past.

Here is a drawing of a local insect done in graphite, the Mayfly.

This participant brought a large locomotive photo to reference for his design.

The rose creeped into a couple of the designs. Most would consider them to be highly symbolic of Windsor.

Lastly, we have a line drawing of an early automobile. It’s no secret that Windsor is an automotive city, so this design might be a popular choice.

Thanks to everyone who came out and had fun contributing to the Windsor design flash set and chatting about Windsor! Keep an eye on our blog for more developments on Windsor is Forever.