(bright music) - Are you ready for another $20,000, tattoos, and a talented local musician?

On this episode of "The Arts Page," we're back for another year of ART 64, a March Madness-style painting tournament in Wauwatosa with a grand prize of $20,000.

Then see tattoo artists from all across the world here in Milwaukee to showcase their art and their talents.

And hear the ethereal sounds of local cellist Malik Johnson.

"The Arts Page" starts right now.

(bright upbeat music) Welcome to "The Arts Page."

I'm Sandy Maxx.

ART 64, a plain air painting tournament, returned for another year to the village of Wauwatosa.

"The Arts Page" was there to cover the inaugural tournament last year.

It was a rousing success for everyone involved, local businesses, the city of Wauwatosa, and for the artists themselves.

This year brought another field of 64 painters all vying for the grand prize of $20,000.

Last year's champion, Ben Otten of Oconomowoc, he returned to defend his title.

Can he repeat as ART 64 champion or will a newcomer be crowned?

Let's take a look at ART 64 2023.

(upbeat music) On a Friday night in early June, artists gathered from all across the city, state, and country for a unique competitive experience.

This event would push their creative boundaries and test their artistic skills.

Welcome to year two of ART 64.

- Last year's event was extremely well received.

The feedback we received from the people who attended the event and the artists themselves that participated last year was so tremendous, that we knew this had to become an annual event.

- [Sandy] Here are the rules.

The tournament is four rounds over two days.

Each round has a theme and lasts 60 minutes.

Artists compete in head-to-head matchups.

After the round, audience members have half an hour to vote for which painting they like most and who will move on.

Round one, the theme, landscape/streetscape/ On Milwaukee's Molly Snyder was the emcee of the event.

- So artists, are you ready?

Here we go.

Countdown.

10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, paint!

(upbeat music) - [Sandy] We'll kick off round one by visiting last year's ART 64 champion, Ben Otten from Oconomowoc.

Here he is doing one of his signature watercolors.

This is Nathan J. Taylor out of Rockford, Illinois painting a vibrant sunflower field.

This is his first year competing in ART 64.

Another newcomer to this year's festivities is Josh Stout.

Josh is from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Returning for year two of ART 64 is Wisconsin artist Robin Wallenfang.

And here's contemporary artist Kevin Lahvic from Chicago putting the finishing touches on his beautiful landscape.

- 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

It's time to stop painting.

- [Sandy] And with round one over, attendees had half an hour to decide who moves on to Saturday morning and round two.

- [Molly] Number 30, Ben Otten.

- [Sandy] Ben Otten once again is heading to the next round.

- Having done it last year, it actually gave me a little bit more relaxation coming into it just knowing like the style and what's expected and how things go.

That being said, I do feel like there's a little bit of a target painted on the back, so people have been coming up and you know, mentioning, hey, you're last year or you're Ben or something like that.

So yeah, it's a little bit, a little bit more high profile I guess.

- [Molly] Scott, Scotty, Scotte, Scott.

Melina Scotte.

- [Sandy] First year competitor Melina Scotte also made it to round two.

- So tomorrow it's tradition and I'm from Argentina so I'm kind of thinking, I don't know, something with the flag or maybe soccer or maybe also about my roots, that there are Native Americans but from the South Argentina.

So yeah, something about that.

- [Sandy] Friday night and round one is done.

Artists that are moving on have a long day ahead of them, but for one artist, tomorrow may be life changing.

- [Molly] I'm Molly Snyder from On Milwaukee.

(gentle music) - [Sandy] It's Saturday morning and 32 participants remain.

Today, someone is going home $20,000 richer.

It's going to be a long day for these artists.

Three rounds over 10 hours is what lies ahead and the weather was scorching hot.

As they say in golf, moving day.

Round two, the theme, culture.

Ben Otten continues his hot streak, reaching round two of ART 64 for the second consecutive year.

Ben's art is heavily inspired from growing up in lake country.

Kevin Lahvic is looking strong with a magnificent painting.

Kevin's work often takes on the human condition.

- This is Lori Ehlke from Onalaska, Wisconsin.

Lori is an art teacher teaching both children's and adult classes.

Melina Scotte is in her zone.

She's following her game plan and painting a picture that represents her Argentinian heritage.

- [Molly] We're down to 10 seconds now, painters.

So here we go.

Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero.

- [Sandy] Round two is over and 16 more artists are going home.

It is time once again for the audience members to decide who moves on to round three.

- [Molly] Who are moving on to round three.

- Ben Otten is having another great tournament, advancing to round three.

Kevin Lahvic and Lori Ehlke did as well.

However, Melina Scotte did not advance.

Her tournament is over.

She's not going home empty handed though.

All artists got a stipend for each round they participated in.

It's down to 16 artists, two rounds to go in ART 64 2023.

Stay tuned.

Part two of ART 64 and the winner of the grand prize $20,000 is coming up at the end of our show.

The 13th annual Milwaukee Tattoo Arts Festival returns October 6th through the 8th at the Baird Center, formerly the Wisconsin Center in downtown Milwaukee.

Although many people have tattoos, it's often an overlooked art form that people are very passionate about.

Here are highlights from the 2022 Milwaukee Tattoo Arts Festival.

(upbeat music) - Well I've been tattooing for 30 years myself.

I really just love to see how tattooing has blossomed.

People are able to come, they're able to see what can be done with tattooing and how tattooing has really, really formed into really a fine art.

- I just love tattoos.

I love like the different artists and just seeing all the work, this is all fun for me.

I love people and just meeting everyone and seeing like the different things that are going on and what everyone has to offer.

And I wanted to get a tattoo, and I did.

It's just like a hand and then there's diamonds coming out of it.

So I got it mainly because everyone's a work in progress and that's how I see myself as a work in progress.

And the diamonds because I shine and it was just, it was something that I saw on the table and it stood out to me and I was like I want it and I got it.

- My boyfriend is a tattoo artist here, so we're doing a convention.

People are selling artwork, that's really big to us and just meeting like new people, it's just a fun experience.

- The vibe is very pleasant, it's very clean, open space.

It's just a really pleasant vibe today.

(upbeat music) - [Sandy] The artists themselves have really established themselves into different styles, different iconography, different textures and imagery that they really enjoy doing and that they specialize in, really crazy, crazy stuff.

Tattooers themselves are as much of a melting pot as their clientele.

- The definition of art is no definition.

There's not one definition to define it because there's so many different ways it can go.

There's no strict guidelines.

- It's like a piece of art that you collect that goes with you essentially like a collection on your body.

- It allows people to wander their own ways and express themselves in different art pieces.

- Tattooing is a lot more personal, a lot more spiritual to people.

- Seeing people be able to memorialize something that's important to them.

- [Customer] Semicolon and an eighth note for suicide awareness.

- You know, you can never take it away, it's with you permanently, something that you own and that you can express yourself.

Well I got my right hand man tattooed on my right hand.

He was kind of the guy who really broke me in tattooing and helped me.

His name was Philadelphia Eddie.

- People ask me like who's the woman on your arm, who's the woman on your leg?

And I'm like, I don't know, it's some lady we found.

We picked a picture together and we liked her and kind of just flowed with it.

(gentle music) - Tattooing is the only art you can only have for the lifetime of the person.

It's temporary pretty much.

It's not gonna be here forever and it's a good community.

Like it's hard to find a good community of people who enjoy doing the same thing that you do.

So it's good being surrounded by everyone with like the same interests.

- And to connect with that person is what I find passionate about is making at least that one, I know they're gonna love, but know that they're gonna love for the rest of their life.

It's the meaning and inspiration behind it and even the fact like you can look down at a piece you got five years ago and just have that memory of a good time pop back into your head.

I have "Pain is weakness leaving the body."

That's the Marine quote.

I'm not in the Marines but I've had family there.

"Even our darkest moments, we must focus on the light" and I kind of like that because it's kind of hidden within the image, just like is saying the dark moments, you gotta focus on the light, you gotta kind of see through it to understand it.

- My tattoo is like this one here is for my son, this one here is for my cousin who passed away.

Then I got like a lion just because I thought it was a cool thing.

So some things are sentimental and some things just I like the artwork for it and I want to keep it on me forever.

- Have a little heart on my finger here, and then I have a heart right here and I got both of them mainly because I'm an empath, I'm a very emotional person and I wear my heart literally just, it's just out.

And then the rose because I was fostering some kitties a few months ago and I changed her name to Rose and I wanted to have a little reminder because she's gone.

- Here on my head, I got a tattoo for my grandmother that passed away.

She passed away from cancer when I was 10.

All the memories I have of her are just extremely pleasant.

The kind of grandma that let you eat half the Pringles can, incredibly loving.

- I got one tattoo, it was for my dad, and he had passed away so I got a tattoo for him.

- I'm never gonna know everything about tattooing.

You can always get better at it.

You never can like figure it out and be like, I know this right way to do it, there's always a new way to do it.

And working with different people, is different canvases are changing all the time, so it's always challenging.

- From tattoos to tunes, it's time to enjoy an intimate performance by talented cellist Malik Johnson.

You saw Johnson in our April episode of "The Arts Page" in collaboration with the Milwaukee PBS series "Black Nouveau."

Here he is performing his song "Break From the World" from our Milwaukee PBS digital series "Rhythm Cafe MKE."

- This is my favorite type of setting to play in.

I absolutely love intimate concerts.

There's nothing like intimate crowd and the feeling that you get is just so up close and personal.

You can feel all the emotions in the room.

So I absolutely love playing in a place like this.

(cello warming up) This is BFTW, which stands for "Break from the World," take four.

(soft gentle music) (light gentle music continues) (light gentle music continues) (light gentle music continues) (light gentle music continues) (light gentle music continues) (light gentle music continues) (light gentle music continues) (light gentle music continues) "Break from the World," I wrote that during the pandemic.

Obviously everyone was stuck in their house, couldn't really go anywhere.

I wanted to escape reality.

I wanted to just go into my own zone away from literally everyone.

(light gentle music continues) That song is just literally me creating a few notes on my cello one day and just kind of vibing out.

Just being, you know, on your own or with people that you loved, people who you love to be around.

Breaking free and having fun and just taking a step back.

- You can watch the full collection of "Rhythm Cafe MKE" volumes featuring local musicians at our website, milwaukeepbs.org.

Time now for part two of Art 64 2023.

16 artists remain.

Who will take home the grand prize of $20,000?

Here's the exciting conclusion.

(upbeat music) Halfway home, two more paintings is all it's going to take for one of these artists to be crowned ART 64 2023 champion.

Can Ben Otten repeat or will someone new take home that big check?

Round three, the theme, flora/fauna.

- Five, four, three, two, one, paint.

(upbeat music) - [Sandy] Pete Zielinski out of Menomonee Falls competed in 2022's ART 64.

He made it to round three then as well.

This is Karen Remsen out of Chicago.

Her work focuses heavily on female empowerment.

In this round, she's facing off with Ben Otten.

Can she take down the reigning champ?

Speaking of Chicagoans, Kevin Lahvic is hoping to beat Michigan impressionist painter Pamela Wilburn.

- Five, four, three, two, one.

Stop painting, put down your paintbrushes.

- [Sandy] And with that, voting for round three begins.

- We are now about to announce the eight finalists who are moving on to the final round and are going to compete for the $20,000.

This is huge.

(upbeat music) - [Sandy] Kevin Lahvic has advanced to the final round.

Pete Zielinski improves upon last year's tournament performance and advances to the finals as well.

Ben Otten's tournament is done, succumbing to Karen Remsen's beautiful work of art.

We are down to round four.

One more round, one more painting, one more chance at $20,000.

- Five, four, three, two, one, and paint.

- [Sandy] Round four, final round.

The theme, artist statement.

(upbeat music) The final eight artists were Lori Ehlke, Erik Krenz, Kevin Lahvic, Eric Mogenson, Marla Morris, Karen Remsen, James Swanson, and Pete Zielinski.

Now here's the moment we've all been waiting for, the announcement of the winner of ART 64 2023, and the grand prize $20,000.

- The ART 64 2023 winner is Lori Ehlke.

The $20,000 prize goes to Lori Ehlke.

Congratulations Lori.

Amazing.

Here he goes.

Your oversized check.

Holy cow, 20 grand for Lori Ehlke.

- We are now joined by ART 64 2023 Champion Lori Ehlke, and Lori, thank you so much for being with us on "The Arts Page."

- Oh, thank you so much for having me.

I'm excited to be here.

- You're riding that roller coaster.

Describe that moment when your name, Lori Ehlke, is announced as the champion of ART 64 2023.

- That was just so unreal.

You know, I joked with my husband before I came like, huh, wouldn't that be great to get 20,000?

Like yeah, that's never gonna happen.

And you know, it's like, oh that would be so amazing, but you just don't think it would actually happen to you.

And gosh, when my name was called, I was just in shock.

And they hand me this giant check which I've never seen before in real life and you just never think that you would be the one to actually do it.

And that last round I was looking, eyeing up the competition and I was very intimidated by the other artists that were there.

So was still very surprised that my name was the one that was called out.

- What other creative projects do you have in the future?

- I am really trying to get involved in my local art group, Onalaska Art Keepers.

They are promoting the arts in the town of Onalaska.

And so like the mural that I just installed was for them.

And we have like a butterfly project coming up where we'll put butterflies around Onalaska.

We've got Rocking Sunfish coming up and there's just a lot of fun things going on with this group that I'm involved in and promoting the arts in our local area.

So I hope to continue with them and promote the arts in our area.

- Congratulations to Lori Ehlke on being the 2023 ART 64 champion.

You can see my full interview with Lori on our website, milwaukeepbs.org.

Thank you for watching "The Arts page."

I'm Sandy Maxx and please join us the first Thursday of every month for a half hour full of art on "The Arts Page."

(upbeat music)