Art

West Oakland fired up at The Crucible

The Crucible in West Oakland will commemorate 15 years of teaching community welding and other fire arts with an open house on April 12 exhibiting the works of teachers, artists and students who use the space for creating public art.

Female tattoo artists make their mark in Oakland

The artist wears black latex gloves and dips a needle into ink. She then draws blue waves around a colorless outline of the Buddha, carefully wiping excess ink off of her living canvas. The mechanical hum of the mechanized needle doesn’t interfere with the interaction between tattoo artist, Melissa Taylor of Oakland’s Sacred Tattoo, and her client, the recipient of a large back piece. “Tattoos can be symbolic, they can be a tribute or a memorial, ” Taylor said. “It…