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LIVING ART
Joe McGill,
owner of Joe's
Body Art,
outfitted a tattoo
on the arm
of one of his
customers. Each
needle McGill
uses can make
3,000 holes per
minute and fill
them with ink.
The tattoos Joe McGill inks on his customers are almost as interesting as the man himself.
by Anne Weltmer
A man steps in the middle of the lane on Vermont Street just outside of the Lawrence Public Library honors at me getting out of my car, pulls his navy sedan up to the sidewalk and walks across the street into and joins Body Art right behind me. He greets Joe McGill, the owner of the parlor, and the seven other people in the room, then sits in a tall-backed chair with wooden armrests in the corner of the room. He sets children books and starts sketching his nautic head.
Chris Lang, the gravey- hawked man in the corner doodling an image of the Predator, is one of the people whom McGill works on regularly in his parlor. Working with the people is fun sometimes out of the window; but when a job is more than just meet interesting people and drawing on them.
"1 got fascinated with it because it really is a living art. McGill says about why he's been tattooed for more than 25 years "If people die, the art dies. The artwork's work with them."
McGill, originally from Sedan, moved to the Lawrence area when he was 15 years old. He took all the art classes he could
in high school in Perry and one more at the University of Kansas. After partying too hard and failing the class he decided
After that he painted houses to support himself but continued to draw and paint in his sparse time until he met someone who knew how to make a homemade tattoo machine in 1980, its adicting to give and receive tattoos, McGill says, so he tattooed out of his house in the late 1980s and early 1990 until a law was passed that tattoo artists had to be certified.
He wasn't happy about the change and tried to convince the authorities to grandfather him into the new system because he hadn't seen any experience. But he ended up having to certify anyway.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers "Snow (Hey Oh)" plays family from an old black boonboot, but the closest nose to me is the hum of the drill hollowing 24,000 holes per minute into the arm of Travis Baumc, a Haskell National University
McGill's been tattooed professionally since 1994, but opened Jois Body Art at its 12th Street in Vermont. St. three years ago.
"I GOT FASCINATED WITH [TATTOOING] BECAUSE IT REALLY IS A LIVING ART. IF PEOPLE DIE, THE ART DIES. THE ARTWORK'S GOING WITH THEM."
freshman from Cowita,Okla,and filling them in the shape of a lion coming out of fog.
McGill uses eight needles, each with a capacity to make and fill 3,000 holes per minute with ink. He stunts internally at his newest artwork through his headphones. He wears an old leather-Harvard-Davidson short sleeved T-shirt with holes around the pockets.
I'm trying to observe McGill at work and question Baumcob about his new tattoo, but Lang insists that I be the one interviewed first. He asks me the usual get-acquainted questions, and then if I have a tattoo, I don't.
Then Leng opens up about himself, ask him what his first tattoo was, but he says he was young and drunk in China and it wasn't the best idea, even though he was going to get one anyway. He says a 14-year-old boy gave him a rose-and heart design on his forearm, but can't see the original version when I
ask because McGill has reworked it, Lang says.
"Want me to take my shirt off!" he asks after I inquire about his other tattoos. He wants to show the latest parts of his full-back tattoo that he and McGill have been working on in phases, so he takes off his Harley Davidson thermal long-sleeved T-shirt and shows me his thick back.
McGill's quiet demeanor doesn't hide his amusement at Lang's forwardness and he shows his orange chewing gum as he grins. But he does agree with the man, who is a canvas to express oneself.
Lange's back looks like a scene from *Lord of the Rings*: craggy mountains extend from his scapula to his love handles with a like, a castle and figurines on either side. he says it hurt so bad getting the tattoo on his ribs because he did not want it if he planned on doing any more tonight and he said probably not — he just wanted to stop and by.
Lang says McGill has either created or modified every eyetoo on his body, and there are a lot
ang out. Like an old-fashioned barbershop, people drop in just to hang out and talk and 'see who can lie the most.' Lang says
his arms and back are covered in ink. He says that he didn't have master plan when he started studying computer science, a pattern of good and evil emojis.
"My body is a battleground.
I think we all are a spiritual battleground."
"Lang says."
Now he ties to plan his tattoos accordingly. He says he finds out more about himself from them and does them in reaction to big events in his life to be up with an ex-embassador.
Baucom agrees and says he thinks of them as scars. Every time he goes through a traumatic experience, he wants to get a tattoo to remind him that he survived it. The lion emerged from the frog represents passing through all of the obstacles in his life Baucom said. He decided to get it after he had a dream. But the frog's absence after received an acceptance letter to attend Haskell.
While all of this is going on. McGill's 12-year-old
stepdaughter, Halley, is also hanging in at the tattoo parlor with her friend. She fits right in the casual atmosphere with her hooded sweatshirt and jeans on. She calls McGill 'Joe' when she leaves the house, she isn't shy at all. She plays on the computer and answers the phone for McGill while he works. His wife calls to see if he can take Haley to church that night, he says yes. McGills work schedule on Flex. On his weekends, he opens 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. or later.
He "has a pretty low key life for such an old man." Lang said jokingly, McGill is not really old his only 47. He still has a heavy, untimed black beard with two teeth and a pouch of his chin, and a black porcelain hanging out of the back of his den cap.
Gmill says he's not going anywhere. Besides Haley, he has another stepdaughter and a younger sister on plans on laying in Lawrence
— although maybe not in his current location because the room too pricey, to rest for the his tattooing day. He says it's not a physically demanding job but a physical doing it until he "real old."
03. 15.2007 JAYPLAY ←05