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Jun 07, 2023

Beaumont tattoo artist Kailee Viator Batson hosts exhibition

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The triptych. "Ultraviolet Light," is one of Kailee Viator Batson's mixed media works in the exhibition, "Light Weavers," at Iron Gate Studios through July 31. Photo by Andy Coughlan

Kailee Viator Batson presents "Light Weavers," an exhibition of her mixed media works at Iron Gate Studios through July 31. Photo by Andy Coughlan

Kailee Viator Batson stands next to one of her mixed media journals, on display at Iron Gate Studios through July 31. Photo by Andy Coughlan

Pages from one of Kailee Viator Batson's mixed media works at Iron Gate Studios through July 31. Photo by Andy Coughlan

Pages from one of Kailee Viator Batson's mixed media works at Iron Gate Studios through July 31. Photo by Andy Coughlan

Pages from one of Kailee Viator Batson's mixed media works at Iron Gate Studios through July 31. Photo by Andy Coughlan

Pages from one of Kailee Viator Batson's mixed media works at Iron Gate Studios through July 31. Photo by Andy Coughlan

Pages from one of Kailee Viator Batson's mixed media works at Iron Gate Studios through July 31. Photo by Andy Coughlan

"Vitruvian," one of Kailee Viator Batson's mixed media works in the exhibition, "Light Weavers," at Iron Gate Studios through July 31. Photo by Andy Coughlan

Kailee Viator Batson likes messing around with books. Sure, she likes to read, but she also uses them as a creative stress release, a way to make art for art's sake, she said.

Batson has exhibited her multi-media creations in the past, but since becoming a tattoo artist five years ago, she found that she missed making art that wasn't on someone's skin. So, she started making journals. But she didn't sit and pour out her innermost thoughts in words. Batson created journals that literally explode off the page with images and words, some profound and some mundane. Each page is its own creation that captures a moment or mood.

"The beauty of me getting back into doing this was there wasn't pressure — it's not on someone's body for the rest of their life," she said. "It can look like whatever it looks like. There's some that aren't even ‘finished.’"

Batson said she didn't originally plan to even show them, but she decided to include them as part of "Light Weavers," an exhibition of her work at her new Iron Gate Studios gallery. The exhibition, which also includes Batson's mixed media paintings, is on display through July 31. The gallery grew from a desire to reconnect with a creative side that she felt was neglected.

"About five years ago I stopped making art that wasn't on someone's body, and it just felt like something was missing from my life since having shows and entering shows had been such a huge part of me for such a long time," she said. "It just felt like I was neglecting a big part of myself for too long. I wanted something that I could control, that I could curate."

Tattoos are essentially commissioned artworks, she said, but she wanted to make art just for herself. When she was in high school, Batson's art teacher gave everyone an old book and told them to use it as like a visual journal. She turned to that idea as a way of re-connecting with art making as an outlet.

"Back to making art because it's what I love to do and it's what I've always loved to do, instead of having the intent of, ‘I'm going to sell this’ or ‘This is going on someone's arm,’ or, ‘This is a print,’" she said. It's purely art for art's sake."

Two journals, titled "Reconnect" and "Rituals," are part of the exhibition. Batson turns the pages at different times so one never knows what will be visible at any visit. She uses old books she finds at a thrift store, although it's best if they have stitched binding. She glues a bunch of pages together and rips out others so space for all the additions and the pages are a little sturdier. As she turned one page, a cicada shell fell out. Batson laughed. The books are not intended to be archival. Things are glued and fastened to the pages; globs of paint run into glitter. It's a pure process of creativity.

A lot of pages are collage because it's a lot quicker to glue a thing than to draw a thing, Batson said.

"It's rare that you will see a fully drawn by hand anything in here and that's partially because of the time efficacy and also because this hand is tied to a tattoo machine most of the time so it's nice to not do some tight rendering," she said.

That's not to say there are not drawings (she is a skilled artist after all), but the idea is for it to be an outpouring of ideas and feelings. One might see a stamp, an old photo, an E.E. Cummings poem or just a list of books she has or plans to read.

Batson is normally working on several books at once because she moves from one to another while glue or paint dries, as she is "the least patient person," she laughed.

She has little drawer full of collage things, notes from people, cards, things she found on sidewalk — a whole tackle box full of potential things just waiting to make it onto a page.

Batson said the beauty of working on the books, and anyone can do it, is that the process is the only thing that is important. It's not about having to look a certain way. It's the joy of getting lost in the work. Sometimes she finds herself thinking about what the "finished product" will look like, but has to rein herself back in.

"It's not something that I can take too seriously, or the pages feel stiff," she said. "You just can't care too much. And that's kind of the point because a lot of this is gonna fall apart. This book is not archival in any way, shape, or form. It's about the emotion of it, about the process of it, the getting your hands dirty — just the action.

"I guess it's getting back to like the main reasons we start making art. Rather than, ‘Oh, this has to mean this,’ ‘This has to be $2,000,’ ‘I'm painting a still life, I can't add anything to this except paint.’ You know, being more outside the box of what we create for ourselves as a box."

"Light Weavers" also features Batson's mixed media paintings. Upcoming exhibitions include Elizabeth Fontenot in August and Amanda Barry in October.

Iron Gate Studios is located at 2184 Eastex Freeway in Beaumont. For viewing information, visit @iron.gate.studios or @sticks.and.bones.creations on Instagram, visit Kailee Viator Batson on Facebook, or email [email protected].