Milwaukee lives up to its nickname as the City of Festivals as it draws millions of visitors every year. But the annual Milwaukee Tattoo Arts Festival draws more than 200 artists from around the world for three days of inking and intrigue.
WPR’s Corrinne Hess caught up with a number of the artists and people getting inked at the festival.
The annual Milwaukee Tattoo Arts Festival that draws more than 200 artists from around the world. (Corrinne Hess/WPR)
Michelle Manhart
Michelle Manhart gained fame in 2007 when she posed for Playboy, appearing in and out of her U.S. Air Force uniform and also draped with the American flag. Manhart was reprimanded and demoted for the appearance and later quit the military.
“It’s a funny story. I was in the military for years, of course. (I) went into Playboy, did a lot of TV and film. I just woke up one morning and my husband’s like, ‘What are you doing today?’” Manhart said. “I was like, ‘I’m gonna sell the company and become a tattoo artist.’ And he was like, ‘OK, let’s do it.’”
Before becoming a tattoo artist, Michelle Manhart gained fame in 2007 as a Playboy model. (Corrinne Hess/WPR)
As a full-time tattoo artist in southern Georgia, the Milwaukee Tattoo Arts Festival is one of Manhart’s annual stops. She says the Milwaukee convention is one of her favorites.
“We do it every year unless for some reason, you know, a natural disaster … even that didn’t stop us! We’re still like, ‘Let’s go,’” Manhart said. “The Milwaukee people – don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen some mean people in Wisconsin, right? But inside here… I’ve kept in touch with people over the years that I’ve met and they have so many great ideas. They’re very artistic, but they let us have the freedom.”
Freedom to tattoo customers with Manhart’s signature style of cartoons, portraits and flowers.
Georgia tattoo artist Michelle Manhart’s favorite tattoo of scribbles was drawn by her 3-year-old grandson. (Corrinne Hess/WPR)
Darrell Cleveland
A couple booths over from Manhart is another artist who made the journey to Milwaukee for the convention.
Darrell Cleveland, known as DJ, owns Moving Murals Art Studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He became a tattoo artist after getting his first tattoo.
“I always knew how to draw,” Cleveland said. “I went to get a tattoo one day and the guy didn’t know how to draw. He was like, ‘I can’t do it until you have a picture.’ So I sat there and drew the picture and he tattooed it and I was like, ‘Well, I could have done this.’”
The next day, Cleveland bought a tattoo machine.
“I’m just here (in Milwaukee) to leave my mark on the city,” Cleveland said.
Cleveland’s tattoos are beautiful detailed line work. He offers clients anything from images of Medusa to the Joker to intricate faces of their own children.
“Tattooing is fun,” he said. “But it’s the creation process that is really the fun, you know? Building the tattoo, because it starts with just one line and then by the time it’s done, you got magic.”
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Bray Olafson and Teri Pagratis
Bray Olafson traveled from a few states away to get another tattoo from Holy Trinity Tattoo’s Teri Pagratis, who came from a half a world away.
Olafson, of Fargo, North Dakota, was previously inked by United Kingdom native Pagratis at another tattoo festival in Minnesota.
“I kind of travel wherever they go,” Olafson said of Pagratis’s tattoo company.
The recent death of her dog prompted Olafson to go to Milwaukee, so Pagratis could tattoo a “stairway to heaven” above the tattoo of her beloved pet.
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- Tattoo artist Teri Pagratis of the United Kingdom tattoos Bray Olafson, who traveled from North Dakota to get inked. (Corrinne Hess/WPR)
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- Bray Olafson of North Dakota gets a “stairway to heaven” tattoo in honor of her dog, who recently passed away. Teri Pagratis is the tattoo artist. (Corrinne Hess/WPR)
Tarah Campagna and Matt Sorensen
Tarah Campagna has been getting tattoos from Matt Sorensen of Envious Ink since she met him while visiting her parents in Davenport, Iowa, 10 years ago.
Now the Cudahy, Wisconsin, resident visits Sorensen annually during the Milwaukee Tattoo Arts Festival.
This year, Sorensen designed a Disney tattoo for Campagna’s left thigh.
“I actually told Matt about the idea years ago,” Campagna said. “I’ve always loved ‘The Little Mermaid’ and he came up with the whole concept, and it’s finally coming together.”
The tattoo ended up winning 1st place: Large Color and 3rd place: Best of Show at the convention.
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