July 9th, 2017
To think that the Strathcona Art-Walk began in 1995 with just 35 artists and has grown up to 450 artists today. Back then the owner of The Paint Spot, David Bradley along with Kim Fjordbotten and Tim Nolt had no idea that their crazy idea of having artists displaying their creations on the streets would turn out to be such a successful and much-loved event here on Whyte Avenue every year.
As the last day approached, spectators continued to come out to the event to support their local artists and enjoy yet another sunny beautiful day here in Edmonton. It was wonderful to see how many people came to fill the streets on a Sunday afternoon. And I, once again, parked my bike to a post and made my way in a new direction from the two previous days.
Passing the Old Strathcona Market and heading down Gateway Boulevard towards Whyte Ave, I found Nicole Beaune of Nicole Elizabeth Artwork. Tucked under a canopy, Nicole was busy working away on one of her art projects. What I loved about a lot of Nicole’s artwork was that it looked like they were flash art for tattoos. When I asked her if she was a tattoo artist Nicole replied that she would like to be, but hadn’t yet had the opportunity to apprentice. Her education had been in the Audio Engineering field, and at this time she was working in the service industry. The struggle for new graduates and artists is real. But I think this beautiful young woman will do well in whatever she chooses to pursue. This is Nicole's 3rd year at the Art-Walk. She enjoys creating prints and abstract line drawing. Be sure to have a look at her Instagram page @nicole_elizabethart.
Crossing Whyte Avenue (82nd Ave) and beside the CP Rail where the MKT food & beer market, was a gathering of tents. This little green space acted as a great location to set up some artists and had a nice wide path down the middle making room for people to comfortably walk in and out of the tents. The trees also provided the welcome shade.
The first people that I talked to in this area was Tamara and Ed Bianic who was a father and daughter team. This was Tamara’s 1st year as an artist at the Art-Walk. Tamara is a talented artist who also works as a health foods chef. When she is painting, she enjoys using acrylics to create nature scenes and abstract art. But here is the crazy part; she is a hobbyist tattooist. Tamara has done all the tattoos on her parents and also one on herself. And they are good! But at this time she is sticking with her passion for cooking. You can visit Tamara at her Pinterest account https://www.pinterest.com/tamarlo/
Edward, Tamara’s father is a very talented artist as well. This was his 2nd year at the Art-Walk. He was really happy to have gotten a tent in the area they were now in because he says working on that hot sidewalk can be intense. Ed also likes to work with acrylic paint. He had a beautiful collection of birds and wildlife paintings on display. He also had a couple paintings of pop art to exhibit. He is still a big fan of Alice Cooper and Iron Maiden. This dad had great stories to tell of meeting Alice Cooper three times. When Ed isn’t inspiring his family to unleash their inner artist, he works for the Greater Edmonton Foundation.
Joining the father & daughter duo, was mom Joan Bianic lending her support for the weekend and proudly displaying the tattoos her daughter gave her. Such a nice family!
To connect with Ed, send him a friend request on Facebook” https://www.facebook.com/edward.bianic
A couple of tents down, I discovered the artwork of Eric Black “Black Bull Art”. Eric had a great presentation of his work. He had huge paintings and small paintings and even bowling pins. There was an amazing display of pop art too. Eric once was a tattoo artist but then turned to his passion of painting. When Eric isn’t working on an art project he is a handyman of home renovations and inspiring his kids to take hold of their inner creativity. Eric joined by his lovely wife Rochelle have been coming to the Art-Walk for 5 years. 
I really liked Rochelle; such a great lady. My top straps were malfunctioning and being the good mom, Rochelle did what she could to keep them in place. One of the really nice stories she shared with me was that one of her children had taken a marker and wrote “life” with a heart beside it on her forearm. Rochelle had Eric go over the marker with the permanent ink. That is love! 
You can find out more about Eric Black at his website: BlackBullArt.com or on Instagram @blackbullart
The next tent I went to was another husband and wife team, Robert and Amanda Klein. Their art was really wonderful as well. Being dedicated environmentalists, Robert uses all recycled wood products as his canvases. These pieces can be from cupboard doors, a table, pieces of a house, a fence or whatever he can find. In doing so each piece is unique and not like any other.
Robert Klein is an artist with a dream that does not just begin and end in art. Robert shares his vision, “When I was a mechanic, I was driving half an hour back and forth to home each day, and as I did, I would see all these farmers taking down trees in the fields to make the fields bigger. This really bothered me because I see no purpose on expanding like that. So I got to thinking about how I could slow down the rate of deforestation and my conclusion was to buy the land. But that isn’t something I could afford right now. So I started dreaming about it, what could I do to buy up some of this land and create an animal reserve. I began to think that by owning an environmentally conscious apartment building I could then begin to save up the money to put down on the wild land. I would first buy up old buildings and renovate them and create an environmental living space. And then, instead of the money going to some private company, it would go into the animal reserve and maintain the forest. It is good conscious living. There it is … that is my long term goal.”
You can connect with Robert and Amanda on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrizzlyOak or on Instagram @grizzly_oak
By mid-afternoon, making my way up the avenue was like maneuvering in a dance move between the people who were doing the stop and go cha cha cha. It was hot and busy. Not that I’m complaining because it was great for the artists and local businesses and it wasn't raining. It wasn’t long before I came upon Erika Altragge. Erika was clearly a fun and creative woman. Instead of handing out cards, she had a created a sign people could just take a photo of. Full of tattoos and hospitality, she offered me a seat to join her. This was Erika’s 2nd time participating at the Art-Walk. She defines her work as being somewhat graffiti yet illustrative. Erika hopes to work on children’s books as an illustrator. When she is not busy as an artist, Erika is going to school so that she can work with children and youth care. I truly wish her well. 
You can connect with Erika on Instagram @haus_of_troggle or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erika.eve.31?fref=search
As I continued to walk slowly along the sidewalk, a woman behind her display looked at me, pointing at my top and said, “Is that the way it is supposed to be?” I looked down and realized the strap of my top had completely broken and one of my bra cups was being fully exposed. I announced with a moment of panic that it was not. The woman, Danyella came around and fixed my straps so that I would be able to continue with my day. Bless this lovely lady. Although Danyella did not have any tattoos, I wanted to honor her by including her art display on my blog. But the funny thing was that Danyella is friends with one of the artists that are in my blog post. Thank you so much again for saving me from my wardrobe malfunction!
Danyella likes to use bold colors and make good use of thick and thin line work. She feels that she is still experimenting between romantic and childlike musings. Her favorite so far was the Gone with the Wind painting she did. But you can see that Danyella clearly can paint a lot of different artistic themes. Danyella is at Instagram @danyellasart or at her website: http://danyellaaxani.com/
The last stop I made along the Art-Walk was at the local tattoo shop Envy Tattoo’s & Piercing. Sitting outside the shop at a table displaying some flash art and possibilities were Bri, Kristina, and Ariah. Bri is the co-owner of the shop and mainly deals with the body piercing. Kristina is a tattoo apprentice and by looking at her Instagram @narichan account she is off to a good start.
Ariah has just finished his apprenticeship and is now a Jr. Tattooist. You can find him on Instagram as well @black_crayon_initiate I look forward to interviewing these two.
As I headed back to unlock my bike and head home from yet another great day, I could hear some music coming from the gazebo in the Fringe Park area. I quickly discovered it was a young man by the name of Emmett Michael who was singing and playing the guitar. This young man had quite the talent and hearing him play was the perfect way to end my day at the Annual Strathcona Art-Walk. To hear one of Emmett’s original songs check him out here on YouTube.: Snow by Emmett Michael. You can also find him on Facebook. I’ve got this feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of this young man!
END
This three-part series of Edmonton's Annual Art Walk ~ Artists With Tattoos was written by Patricia Travers. Photographs were also taken by Patricia Travers.
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