Graffiti ~ Public Art ~ Tattoos ~ Joliet, IL

Where I grew up there was not much in the way of creative outlets.  Joliet Illinois is more know for its prisons then its art.  There were plenty of artists, we had to create something to take our minds and hearts out of this depressing county.  With Chicago less than 30 miles away, Joliet was on the outer fringes of the “Chicago-Land Area”.  Basically You could drive south from Chicago on either I55 or I80 until you saw corn fields.  Home of Stateville prison and the Blues Brothers.   So this old steel workers town in the middle of corn fields has inspired some great artists and artwork, not sure to the extent yet, but I’m working on it.

Starting with Tattoo Art(that is really the first time I saw someone pay for art).  My experience started in high school @ Joliet West in 1992, I was 15.  Mark Tomac had got a tattoo from Jesse’s Tattoo, of the gangster with the top hat and a gun, of Bugs Bunny fame.  I was blown away!  How could he do that? Didn’t it hurt? What did his parents think? Wow….  In the years to come Mark received more tattoos from Jesse’s, one I remember on his neck looked painful and the ink was just not sticking in, I would watch the artist dig in a line of black and wipe it away, nothing stayed in the skin! I think Mark from that day thought about how he could have done it better, he could draw and enjoyed it.

Living in Joliet, tattoos seemed to be something of a way to focus the pain elsewhere.  Mark begun tattooing all of our friends, trying to learn his new trade.  I remember the first bad ass tattoo I saw was from this cat “Chucho”, He had tattooed two friends of mine.  John’s piece was a wolf in sheep’s clothes, a farmer chasing it with a pitchfork, around his bicep, it was like a painting.  His girl friend Corey had a pregnant mother with the earth as her belly, again just like a painting, not like any tattoo I had seen.

Ever since this time I have always had great respect for Chucho.  Over the years I have seen his Murals around town, some he has done with this organization Friends of Community Public Art in downtown Joliet.  His murals can be found here Chucho’s Public Art Pieces .  This organization has been painting blank walls all over town, on schools, bridges, tunnels & train stations, turning once dull gray, brick and white walls into beautiful murals that speak volumes.  They also do amazing mosaics all over town.  The great thing about FCPA is that not only are they teaching local youth how to be creative and take pride in there community, but also beautifying and raising cultural awareness with the narratives of the art.

I know that Mark was inspired by Chucho’s work and the two worked together for a while at Mark’s Westside Tattoos.  Today in the same space, Chucho tattoos still, but under a new shop Ace of 4 Hearts.  Mark is in Ft. Lauderdale and is following his passion and creativity, Mark Nicholas Clothing. on Facebook as well as tattooing.

On the subject of graffiti, I am by no means an expert, I definitely am inspired by most and have an eye for good writing (graffiti art pieces).  After high school I went on to play baseball for Moraine Valley Community College, where I met Winston.  He turned me onto to a whole new world of graffiti writers, (along with jazz, hip-hop and vegetarian cooking) from Chicago’s south side. An underground “crew” that would break the law by tagging there name and their crews name on train cars, walls, any piece of wall they could find.   Artistically speaking it was raw, fast and not all that appealing, but there were a few special artists out there creating some beautiful pieces.

Around this same time I would see pieces back home from “Quetzal” but never put two and two together.  Chucho can write!

Westside Tattoos Joliet, Il 2008

You can find more of Chucho’s art on his Myspace Page and his Flickr Images.

These are some of my favorite murals he did in Joliet.

2001 "150th Fire Station" 7’ H x 17’ W

1999 "La Herencia Mexicana" (Mexican Heritage Mural) 10” H x 36’ W

After living in Florida the last 11.5 years, I had an art show last Thanksgiving weekend at Friends of Community Public Art, downtown Joliet.  My friend and comrade Sue Regis blows glass there, in her flameworking studio, Regis Glass Art. It was the fist time I have ever shown my work in Joliet and to my surprise it went very well, my family and friends came out to support us, along with many new friends and it felt great!   We are looking forward to doing it annually.

Success & Art, shows in Joliet ~  wow…   who would of thought?

Joshua Michael Poll is a glass artist and part owner of Zen Glass Studio in St. Petersburg, FL ~ Zen Glass on Facebook.com/ZenGlassStudio.

The BreakDown on facebook ~ email  glassjash@gmail.com

He also is part of a non-profit organization Tampa Artist and Facebook.com/TampaArtist