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If you want to see imaginative skin art, and maybe get an elaborate tattoo or add to your ink, visit Renaissance Center during a three-day Motor City Tattoo Expo through Sunday evening.
Devotees from around the country are at the event, open to guests for $20 a day or $30 for the weekend. (Kids under 14 are free.)
In addition to arm sleeves and other tats from local salons and nationally prominent artists, vendors offer piercings, clothes and other merchandise. The 21st annual expo includes demonstrations, contests, presentations and entertainment. (A list of featured artists is here.)
It's created by Terry Welker of Brighton, who owns Eternal Tattoo shops in Livonia, Taylor, Clawson and Howell, plus a manufacturer and global supplier in Brighton called Eternal Ink.
Terry Welker: "MTV change tattoo culture."
(Photo by Yog Sothoth)
"I started Eternal Ink in the basement of one of my tattoo studios in 2001," the 65-year-old former Marine and Vietnam war veteran says in an online interview with Yog Sothoth of Detroit.
“My son Jesse was born in 1971 and we work together at the ink warehouse. Jesse is in charge of operations for mixing. He tattooed for 20 years before coming here. . . .
"In 1976, I began tattooing as a self-trained artist at 26 years old. The early days of Eternal, it was a shop in Ypsilanti in 1980 called Crazy Kids Eternal Tattoos. it was at Ford Blvd and Ecorse Road in South Ypsi.
"Then in 1982 I moved the shop to Livonia. My business literally doubled overnight. At this time, there were only three tattoo shops in Metro Detroit. Now there’s over 150. . . . MTV changed tattoo culture. People saw tattoos on rock stars and wanted the same thing for themselves.”
► Location: Detroit Marriott at Renaissance Center (Jefferson Avenue)
► Hours: 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday | Sunday: 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
