Tattoo shop hosts Inks and Skylines | Business offers art party fundraisers for local charities

Participants show off their renditions of the Dallas skyline at Body of Art Texarkana. The business, along with ColorHype TXK, is hosting an art party fundraiser called Inks and Skylines on Tuesday, July 28 to benefit Harvest Texarkana's backpack program. (Submitted photo)
Participants show off their renditions of the Dallas skyline at Body of Art Texarkana. The business, along with ColorHype TXK, is hosting an art party fundraiser called Inks and Skylines on Tuesday, July 28 to benefit Harvest Texarkana's backpack program. (Submitted photo)

TEXARKANA, Texas - Tattoo shop Body of Art Texarkana and art business ColorHype TXK have joined forces on a unique fundraiser to create art and help fight hunger.

Body of Art Fundraiser-Inks and Skylines will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, July 28 at the Richmond Road tattoo shop owned by Kara May.

Everyone will create artwork using ink, a vinyl sticker and a wooden board, the finished work representing the recognizable skyline of any of four different cities: Dallas, Seattle, Chicago or New York City.

A portion of the proceeds will be matched by Body of Art to help the backpack program at Harvest Texarkana. Tickets for the art event go on sale Monday.

It's not only a chance to create art, but to also be social in a unique shop that showcases local art, too. Drinks and food for this 21 and up event will also be provided.

"Everybody here at the shop has some sort of artistic background," May said.

May's shop opened in October last year. With a location on Richmond and a membership with the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce, she sees her shop as unique.

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bizpeople - Aubrey Hough

Body of Art is closed on Tuesdays, and May noticed that Shea Phillips' ColorHype TXK was doing events like this at a local bar and restaurant. It struck May as a possibility at her place as an exclusive party with dinner and drinks.

But she also wanted to incorporate a charity aspect. "What we do is, we charge basically the price for the class and Shea takes all of the profits and she donates those, and then I match her profit and donate," May said. This makes for a double donation.

They did this sort of thing twice before the pandemic hit, first benefiting the homeless shelter and then an animal shelter (for three animal adoptions).

"This is going to be our first event since we opened back up," May said. "And we're going to do it for Harvest Texarkana."

As she put it, they wanted to do something to help children after school if they aren't getting as much food as they need, and Harvest has a program to help.

This event is limited somewhat because of the shop size, but May cooks and provides the drinks so she needs to know how many will attend. They typically cap attendance at 30, but with group restrictions in place it will be less than that this time.

Local artists have their art displayed at the tattoo shop, too, with no consignment. If it sells, it sells, but otherwise local art gets to grace the walls there.

The shop has a patio outside with nice furniture, May said, and an open floor plan inside. "We're in a really good spot, we're in a really nice neighborhood. We like being here," the Body of Art owner said, noting they intend to hold these events monthly.

They'd like to bring people in to the shop, even if they don't have a tattoo - hence an event like this.

"We really like being in the middle of the community, and we really being able to be a part of this as a business we're not just a tattoo shop, we're part of something," May said.

(Tickets will be available Monday. Check the Body of Art Texarkana page and the event page on Facebook. Body of Art is located at 3003 Richmond Road. More info: 903-791-8040.)

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