Sanctum Tattoos and Comics presents custom toy art exhibit
This December, Sanctum Tattoos and Comics invites any curious artist, action figure collector or creative type to submit a custom-made action figure for its first Buy/Sell/Trade custom toy art exhibit Dec. 9.
The event curators, artists Walker Miller and Luke Porter, started making their own action figures about 4 years ago. Miller said he does the packaging and Porter sculpts them.
Prior to the event, they’ve sold action figures they’ve made at the Punk Rock Flea Market event and also to a man that sells boutique toys in California at different conventions.
“This was the natural next step — to involve as many other people as we could,” Miller said. “So we came up with the idea of the kit.”
The kits, which people are required to use if they submit an action figure for the exhibit, are handmade, and called The Patel Products ™ Action Figure Kit. Each kit includes materials, tools, instruction manual and certificate of authenticity.
“This [exhibit] is for people who like action figures, or people who want to do something a little different,” Miller said. “It’s a fun way to get people to do something art-related, but also, you know, a little non-traditional in that you’re having to explore something 2-D and 3-D.”
The deadline to submit — Dec. 2 — is one is a week before the show, which is Dec. 9 from 7-10 p.m.
After meeting Wes Gregg and Aaron Hamilton last year when they opened Sanctum Tattoos and Comics, Miller said they started developing a rapport with them that eventually led them to help Miller and Porter flesh out the idea of hosting an exhibit.
“People can basically make whatever will fit on the plastic bubble we include,” Miller said, and they are encouraged to paint on it and decorate after the sculpting is done.
For the sake of simplicity, Miller said they’re only allowing submissions from their custom kits for this first exhibit, and only from people in the immediate area. Miller said to drop off the finished submissions at Sanctum Tattoos and Comics, during normal business hours.
Miller encourages people to have fun with it and tune into “the sensibilities of a child.”
It is an action figure, after all, he said, so people have got to be able to explore that side of themselves.
“But just like every other art form, it requires a lot of patience,” Miller said. “It’s definitely a little more involved than you would think.”
The only additional supplies you need to participate is an oven to dry the sculpture and your own paint or markers to color it. Each kit is $10, and the night of the show, there will be a wall for everyone to display their action figure.
Miller encourages the Birmingham community to come check it out even if they didn’t participate. This will likely be the first of multiple shows.
Sanctum is located at 4410 4th Ave. S.