Saskatoon Tattoo Expo welcomes more than just skin artists

Artists filled Prairieland Park this weekend as the Saskatoon Tattoo Expo returned for its annual show.

Calgary tattoo artist Tatiana Stanjeck said she couldn’t wait to come back to the expo.

“I went last year for the first time, (and) fell in love with it,” she said. “It’s definitely my favourite convention out of all of them.”

Stanjeck has been working in the tattoo industry for just over five years.

“I started my apprenticeship in 2020, but I’ve been tattooing for three years,” she said.

With all the uncertainty with the on-going trade war with the United States, Stanjeck said she’s glad she doesn’t rely on American supplies.

“Fortunately, 99 per cent of the products that I use are Canada based,” she said.

Kerrie Gavin’s booth inear the front entrance was decked out in pink for breast cancer awareness.

Kerrie Gavin at her Breast Cancer Awareness booth. (Will Mandzuk/650CKOM)

“We’re selling raffle tickets for a basket draw which is worth about $1,500,” she said. “One hundred per cent of that money stays in Saskatchewan for breast cancer research.”

It is a cause that is very close to Gavin’s heart.

“I suffered from breast cancer and I did about two and a half years of chemotherapy,” she said. “I did three surgeries and fought very hard to stay alive … I have seen the changes that fundraising has made from my journey from start to finish.”

Gavin started fundraising in 2020, around the same time she was diagnosed and has raised over $100,000.

Velociraptor made out of scrap metal. (Will Mandzuk/650CKOM)

Elsewhere at the expo visitors are greeted with a metal velociraptor.

Don Schoenfeld at the Work of Arc 306 booth has been taking scrap metal and turning it into animals and other pieces of art for seven years.

“I needed something to do in my retirement,” he said. “I was a welder my entire career, so it’s a short step over to get into this.”

Schoenfeld said he used to get his metal from scrap yards but now gets it from “all over.”

“They (scrap yards) don’t let you go in there anymore. A couple of my buddies have different shops … so they let me dumpster dive,” he said.

“Other people drop stuff off for me, I’ll come home and there’ll be a box of junk on the deck and no note, it’s just there.”

Jackie Smith at Peculiar Poppet buys porcelain dolls from yard sales and thrift stores and then adds 3D printed heads.

“I redo the clothing to give them a new look (too),” said Smith, adding that she had her kids to thank for getting her into it.

“I’ve been doing it for about three years, I have some kids that are hard to buy for,” she said.

“It actually started as a Christmas present and they were really fun to make … a lot of these dolls just get thrown into the bottom bins of yard sales and thrift stores, so I thought this is a nice way to get them appreciated again.”

Smith’s favourite doll at the expo was one the she named Lucy that was in a baby carriage.

The expo runs until the end of Sunday.