As a performance art piece, EWU senior Nicholas Stewart had other students draw on his leg to be later tattooed.
staff writer
On Nov. 7, EWU senior Nicholas Stewart shocked people with his bold art project.
Stewart is in the art department’s inter-media class taught by art lecturer Jamie Hahn. Stewart’s assignment was a performance art final. Students in the inter-media class were assigned to create an art piece through a performance rather than the traditional pen and paper.
Celeste Crosby, senior at EWU and Stewart’s classmate, did her project by lying on a table with her head hanging over the edge upside down and painting with her hair. Another inter-media student and junior at EWU, Alex Swiader plastered a mold of his face, and used that to make a jello sculpture, which he gave to people to eat.
“It was kind of a taxing kind of uncomfortable things we were doing to ourselves while creating works of art,” said Stewart.
Stewart, however, took that assignment to another level. On Nov. 7, students filed into the Art building to watch Stewart perform his art project. When they walked in they were shocked to find people drawing on Stewart’s leg with sharpies and Stewart tattooing those drawings onto his leg permanently.
EWU senior Jose Garcia was one of those students who drew on Stewart’s leg. “At first my impression was he was just going to do sharpies on his leg, but then when I actually got there he was actually going to tattoo it on there, I was actually pretty shocked.”
Stewart had many critics at first asking him “What if someone drew something bad,” and “Why would you do that?”
“I think that people are going to start thinking about the situation and how it is a more serious situation because it is something that is permanent,” said Stewart. That was the reaction of many students who came to view his art piece, and that was Stewart’s idea. “To show the world what can come from collaboration and trust.”
That was true for Garcia who drew a poké ball on Stewart’s leg.
“I was going to draw something else, … like a lion, something just weird and crazy. … When it came down to it I froze,” said Garcia. “When I actually found out he was going to tattoo it, I changed my mind.”
Stewart had this idea in his mind to tattoo people’s drawings onto his leg for quite some time. Now that Stewart is a senior and will be graduating from the EWU art school after the fall quarter of 2013, he felt like it was time.
“It is kind of a memorial piece to my time here at Eastern,” said Stewart.
The fact that this art piece was a part of so many other people made it more personal to those who were involved. “The art of it really arose when people felt responsible for what they were putting onto his body, … it really challenged their thinking,” said Hahn.
Many students who came in to view Stewart’s art piece did not draw anything on him. Instead, they just observed him tattooing other people’s drawings in awe. “He was making it an experience,” said Hahn.
Stewart also put his own mark on the people who were involved in this art project. “It’s a crazy thing to do,” says Garcia. “This story is going to become legend.”
The EWU inter-media class students will be showcasing their work starting Nov. 13 thru Nov. 25, in the art building. Stewart will also be sharing a finished picture of his tattoo on the Easterner’s Facebook page as soon as it has healed.
