I dug up a few more Buffalonian tattoos since I first posted this tattoo last week – it turns out that the devotion runs deep and Buffalo skin art comes in all shapes and sizes. A search on the internet turns up plenty of the predictable sports themed tattoos for sure but I was looking for something with a bit more of a real connection to Buffalo – after all, sports teams can fly the coop after the next stadium lease is up. I would love to see someone’s Buffalo Braves tattoo however. I did find some that were quite varied and VERY Buffalonian. So here are a few of the most interesting ink on skin Buffalo masterpieces I came across.
This tattoo depicts the logo and distinctive parapet of the TRICO Plant 1 plant in downtown Buffalo. It belongs to relatively recent transplant Buffalonian by the name of Melanie Shorey. The tattoo makes it clear that Melanie is in favor of saving the massive Buffalo landmark industrial building. She is originally from New Paltz, New York (where she had the tattoo done) and came to Buffalo as an architecture and planning student where she received a BA in Environmental Design and a Master of Urban Planning at the University of Buffalo. She has become involved in Buffalo’s growing preservation movement. Lest you be thinking that Melanie is just another one of those silly obstructionist preservationists who live in nostalgia-land you should know that Melanie says she fell in love with Buffalo and bought a house at the tax auction for $3000 on the lower West Side near downtown. She is currently renovating it. She has been here for 6 years now. Melanie is one of the young talented and energetic people who every city is after.
A Buffalo Rising reader going by the name “soulfulging” linked to his tattoo showing the official Buffalo city seal. The seal is a series of lighting bolts and stars around a circle, which frames a ship entering the Buffalo harbor. Does anyone know the significance of the lighting bolts and stars? Soulfulging says, “While I lived in Cleveland to start my career, I missed Buffalo so much I had a reputable artist in the Ohio City neighborhood at Voodoo Monkey put the city seal on my forearm. That was in 2008.”
I think the next example is a pretty interesting take on the hometown tattoo. It is a postal cancelation stamp. I found this one through a web search which brought me to the blog of a another young woman named Whitney. She states on the blog. “I have a passion for people, photography, my city (which is Buffalo of course), cooking + eating, good food, finding the perfect coat (it’s Buffalo right?) being outside and sing alongs. Whitney has another blog called THIS IS BUFFALO which is stocked with some pretty nice photos and lots of Buffalonia. in the “About” section of this blog Whitney explains:
Like most people who live and work in our city, I’ve been asked to answer the question, “Why Buffalo?”
Why live here? Why buy a house here? Why deal with the weather? Often I wish I could show those who ask a series of moments from my life: a nice dinner with friends or a beautiful day in Delaware Park or the many times my neighborhood feels more like a small village of 100 and not a city. In those moments, I think, “This is Buffalo” and I know why I’m here.
These photos are the closest I could come to capturing and sharing those moments.
This blog is about my life in Buffalo, the people and places I experience. It’s not an advertisement or agenda, nor is it going to represent everyone’s experience. It’s my love letter to the city, made out of pixels. I hope you enjoy it.
I live in Buffalo, New York in a house I bought when I was 23. It’s on the West Side of the city. I’m in my late 20s now. I like to take photos, write, read, eat & drink with my friends, and spend time with my family. I’m a newlywed. I work for the City of Buffalo but that’s not what this blog is about.
I also found the following piece of skin art through a web search. This depiction of Buffalo City Hall graces the leg of a man named Jimi Cowan. He describes himself online in a series of bullet points: “Cascadia, Buffalo, D.M.V., San Antonio, Kinesiology graduate student, purveyor of a peculiar brand of buffoonery, gentleman of leisure.” He posted his tattoo on Tumbler .
Since featuring the unique arm tattoo based on Buffalo’s street pattern last week (see below) we have heard from its owner, Matt Dudek. Matt explains of his tattoo, “…It’s based on a 1930s map of buffalo, before highways blighted our beautiful city, and it was designed by Craig Brown at Historic Tattoo in Portland, OR. I got it as a gift to myself for getting into the city planning program at UNC, and because I’ve been homesick for Buffalo while studying and working away from my hometown. Matt is now a recent graduate of that planning program and is renovating a home in the Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood of Durham NC. He has also started a locally oriented blog called The Urbanist which is well worth a read. Can we get Matt back to Buffalo where he clearly belongs?
Architect ( a real one, not just the armchair type), author of "Buffalo, Architecture in the American Forgotten Land" ( www.blurb.com ), lover of great spaces, hater of sprawl and waste,
advocate for a better way of doing things.