Elgin Public Museum opens exhibit on body art

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A ship sails in this tattoo by Sailor Jerry, the father of old-school tattooing. His work is still revered today. Even a rum was created to keep his art alive. His work will be shown at the Elgin Public Museum. | Submitted

Updated: March 6, 2012 8:09AM

ELGIN — Since the beginning, humans have been drawn to adorning their bodies with tattoos and piercings.

How those practices have been incorporated into American culture is the topic of a traveling exhibit that opened Saturday at the Elgin Public Museum.

The exhibit was developed by the Northern Illinois University’s Museum Studies 2010 Curatorial Practice Class and won an award of excellence from the Illinois Association of Museums.

Elgin’s Top-Notch Tattoo is co-sponsoring the exhibit and will have items on display including an antique tattoo kit, said museum director Peggie Stromberg.

“I am on the board of directors for the Illinois Association of Museums and am on the awards committee” that honored the students at NIU, Stromberg said. “I looked at it and looked at it and thought, ‘This is really interesting; we had never done anything like that.’”

Although the museum has had anthropology exhibits, this was one topic she hadn’t seen covered, Stromberg said. “When it became a traveling exhibit, immediately snared it.”

Personally, Stromberg said, she’s not a fan of tattoos and wouldn’t have one herself.

“But I admire the creativity that some people put into body art and thought it would make an interesting exhibit,” she said. “Some people love them, some people hate them.”

Stromberg reached out to Lucas Clifford of Top-Notch Tattoo in downtown Elgin to co-sponsor the exhibit and speak at its grand opening, which was set for Saturday at the Lords Park museum. The exhibit will remain at the museum through March.

Rather than focus on tattoos in ancient history — mummies thousands of years old have been found with tattoos — the display looks at its more modern history.

“This one is about an American evolution. It is more of the tattoos coming to America,” Stromberg said. Capt. James Cook, the British explorer, saw “a lot of tattooed natives” in the Pacific, and sailors started coming home from those voyages with their own ink and art.

Some Native American cultures also tattooed, including those in the southwest United States. “There are women and girls who have tattoos on their chin,” Stromberg said.

Those coming to see the exhibit should plan to spend an hour to see all of the photos and text, Stromberg said. The Elgin Public Museum is open from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

Stromberg also invited the public to check out the museum’s monthly Family Science Night, a program that has increased in popularity recently. Held the second Friday of the month from September through May, the science nights include hands-on learning stations for children.

The next Family Science Night is set for 6 to 8 p.m. Feb. 10 and will focus on the Ice Age. The cost is $2 per person for museum non-members, and preregistration is not required for this drop-in program.