World Bodypainting Festival - Did You See That? - Photos - SI.com

World Bodypainting Festival - Did You See That? - Photos - SI.com

Pt. 5 (Happy Ending) -Tales of the North American Bodypainting Championships

NOTE: This is transcribed from my original iphone notes - date 2/14/10

Just as I predicted, the spectacle planned for the evening is downright time-consuming and I keep hoping against hope that it won't wrap up too late. Scott & I would gladly miss the flight and take the next one (and then I could take the proverbial stick out of my *Ahem* and enjoy the show) but Kristen is raring to get home to her other half as close to Valentine's Day as possible & won't consider it. I keep thinking how heartbreaking it would be to leave, only to find out we placed and didn't get to stay for the awards ceremony. The scores are cumulative, so our second place in the preliminaries puts us in pretty good stead...

A 12:30 AM redeye flight seemed like a pretty reasonable idea when I booked it, now we're back to nail-biting yet again as we watch the clock. Eric Clark, a new acquaintance who already feels like a friend, offers us his couch to crash on if need be. Eric is a local & we met when he shared a table with us in the prelims. He also happens to be a make-up artist for Cirque Du Soliel's Zoomanity and oddly, the second person I've met working on that show this year. We're appreciative of the offer, though we can't take him up on it and instead pick his brain for the exact amount of time we'll need to make it from casino to airport in a cab.

At long last (and with about 6 minutes left on our stopwatch) they're ready to announce the winners. Though "Brush & Sponge" was called first all the way through, they do "Airbrush" first, instead. My nails are digging into my seat as I watch our last few precious minutes dwindle away. ARRRRGGGGGHHHH! PLEASE! CALL IT, ALREADY!!! The time runs to zeros and it's now or never. They call 5th place, then 4th, each artist/assistant/model taking the stage to accept the beautiful, custom-designed Raku trophy appropriate to their placement. "In 3rd place, SCOTT FRAY", is the next phrase uttered - YES!!! We leap up and possibly even over the next row in our hurry to get to the stage, Kristen is jerked along as if caught in our slipstream, still painted but bedecked in PJ's in anticipation of the flight.

They called 2nd and 1st place respectively and we grouped together for the official photographs. I tried to smile serenely while my rubbery limbs shook from the adrenaline. As soon as the last shutter snapped, we leaped off the stage, cognizant that staying had cost us about 10 minutes and we had to get into a taxicab ASAP! We grabbed our luggage and hightailed it out of the casino, provoking quite a bit of interest along the way. We sped to the airport wondering what the hell security would make of Kristen. Would we need to duck into a bathroom and wash (at least) her face so you could tell she was the same girl as the picture on her ID? How would a fully bodypainted person be interpreted in the las Vegas airport in our post-911 culture?

Unbelievably, we sailed through check-in with flying colors (pun intended)! The ladies there were all smiles and even congratulated us on the trophy. There HAVE to be stranger things at the Las Vegas airport than our little trio, (likely on a daily basis) but at check-in they were practically blase'. We huffed & puffed toward security... still fearing the worst. Instead, the mostly male crew at that hour was positively CHARMED by our girl. She got an opened bottle of water plus a few other random 'no-no's' that would have gotten anyone else a stern lecture, if not a cavity-search. So much for security.

If THAT weren't impressive enough, allow me to tell you about the plane. Ms. K. led our way onto the aircraft, where instead of being shown her seat, she was promptly shown to THE COCKPIT (Do they still call it that?) and every flight attendant, as well as both pilots, proceeded to make the biggest fuss over her you've ever seen! Scott and I were pulled out of line as well and were duly noted for our accomplishment but Kristen removed her tank top and posed for pictures topless at the controls and I SWEAR they would have let her drive the plane if she had asked!!!

Once seated, I watched Kristen settle in and exchange Facebook info with the tickled flight attendants so that photos could be swapped down the line. If it hadn't been a red-eye flight, I'm sure they would have waited on her hand and foot. I supported the form of the trophy through the carry-on bag securely between my ankles as I tilted back my seat and sighed. What a trip, what a weekend, and my goddess, what a DAY! Beside me, a suspicious snoring noise was emanating from our darkened row...

Pt. 4 -Tales of the North American Bodypainting Championships

NOTE: This is transcribed from my original iphone note - date 2/14/10

Having forgone the bodypainted party bus headed for Club Rain last night, we stayed close to our room at The Flamingo to collect our thoughts. There had been a misstep in the preliminary tabulation of placements and in fact, one artist in our category had to be removed from the finals and another who had actually earned the score put through. We had ALL been put on alert that the scores might change and no one knew who might be affected, so nerves were a bit raw. Scott went off to find a quiet spot to meditate (in VEGAS, mind you) and tweak designs, which served to tweak ME as I was left packing our things to check out in the AM. We planned only 3 nights in Vegas, set to leave on a red-eye back home in the wee hours of Monday. Kristen was spirited off for a fabulous meal at a posh new club with a local friend but came back early to get her beauty sleep.

We rose swiftly and headed downstairs with the paints for finals day. Because of the tabulation issue, it had been hard to get a definitive answer on the actual start time today. It seemed best to arrive early, figure it out and then wake Kristen, who had been sleep-deprived due to a mysterious snoring noise that occurred in the dark of our room each night. From the escalator, finalists were whisked off to a meeting and told that the room we'd used previously had been engaged and they were moving the finals to a banquet room upstairs with a new start time of 1PM. I eyed Scott fearfully (thinking of our departure) but he pointed out that we should still be okay and we trotted off to enjoy breakfast with Jimmy Buffet (his videos anyway) with our unexpected free time.

At 1PM, 75 artists and their assistants begin painting furiously, the atmosphere crackling! Scott altered our design significantly the night before and I couldn't just follow a color key (like I had on day one) and do my thing. Unintentionally. I distract him with questions that subsequently seem to provoke too much information, causing his careful instructions to fly from my head. It's an out-of-sync day. A sharp word from him about my lack of comprehension finally reduces me to tears and I paint that way for a good 15 minutes, aiming my face so as not to splash the paint. Time is moving impossibly fast.

At half-hour to the finish, I anxiously wait for the magic to happen as I mop up spilled water and catch running paint drips, the result of Scott painting faster than he ever has before. I attach Kristen's headpiece but completely forget her eyelashes, giving up as time is called. WOW! Some AMAZING painting has gone on around us! We were tucked into the corner and could really only see about the next two bodypainters' work (also incredible), not that there was any time to gawk. Now we do and it's quite humbling, inspiration and vision of the theme, 'Evolution', executed cleanly and clearly. I couldn't choose a favorite and I don't know how the judges will manage to.

Scott and Kristen are off to the judging line and I start packing the paints. After judging there will a stage presentation of the models, who will certainly take the full 2 minutes alloted to showboat as they compete for the model's trophy. Unlike the other nights there will also be a burlesque troupe, a stand-up comedian and a band! Plus, they're certain to do stuff like introduce the judges and make speeches and thank sponsors. You KNOW that the last thing to happen will be the awards ceremony, and I'm mentally ticking off the time. Everyone else can relax after that, but we have a plane to catch & I can already tell this will be a close shave.

North American Body Painting Championships 2010 (Trailer) from MLTmedia on Vimeo.

Pt. 3 - Tales of the North American Bodypainting Championships

NOTE: This is transcribed from my original iphone note - date 2/13/10

After a night of Las Vegas debauchery that included a massive bodypainted takeover of The Voodoo Lounge, today's strolling of the strip was far more low-key. We went to the gallery where our friend Craig Tracy was having an opening of his bodypainting art in the Miracle Mile Shops. Craig is also coincidentally, here as a judge for the competition, being a former World Bodypainting Festival champion and judge. Craig's girlfriend, Lauren and I had lunch and shopped a bit (Can you say Sephora?!!) as well.

Tonight's main event is the stage presentation of today's paintings, including all of the airbrush and the rest of our category. Kristen made quite a splash with her presentation, which happened last night. The stage presentation, designed to thrill the audience, counts only towards the "Model's Trophy". The paintings are all judged prior to the stage show.

Post-presentation, the official nail-biting commences. They announce the finalists in reverse order of placement, beginning with #25 and carrying on through #1. The artists take the stage as they are called. We hear Rachel called around #17. We keep waiting and watching as artists who did paintings we really liked (and possibly thought were better than ours) were brought to the stage. When they announced the artist who I knew had done Scott's personal favorite painting in for #3, my heart leaped into my throat! Could it be we DIDN'T make it after all? Could we be in the TOP two? The tension broke in a wave as Scott's name rang out for #2 and we clasped hands and headed to the stage, all smiles and SO relieved!!!

Oh my god... we've got to do this ALL AGAIN -- TOMORROW!!!

Pt. 2 -Tales of the North American Bodypainting Championships

NOTE: This is transcribed from my original iphone note - date 2/12/10

Competition day was as exhausting and exhilarating as anything I've experienced! We joined the line of artists in the early AM, waiting for them to cover the banquet room being used as painting space in plastic. With everyone in a holding pattern, we spent time meeting and chatting with fellow artists, many of whom we'd seen or heard about online. One girl complimented my hair and before I could respond, she uttered an amazed, "Scott? Scott?!! Scott Fray!" when she looked to the figure just behind me. I squinted and Scott and I said at once, "Rachel? Inter-spacial Rachel?!! Oh MY GOD!" Excited squeals and hugs followed. The day after Scott and I met at a festival in upstate NY, 6 years ago, I had watched him bodypaint Rachel as a Star-Bellied Sneech (of Dr. Suess lore). Now Rachel is a bodypainter too, arriving in Las Vegas by way of her home in Hawaii. Small world!

Once allowed in, Kristen sprints off to claim our table. We will have 6 hours to execute our design. They decided to divide our category, due to limited space in the room. The first third (us) would start right away, the next third could begin an hour later and the final third would actually paint on Saturday. Apparently the airbrush category didn't max out after all, so there will be extra room in the work area tomorrow. What that means to us is that we won't know if we made the finals until Saturday night.

Six hours of flying color later, we're put in line for judging. Kristen is a vision and it's definitely a good piece of work! The whole feeling is friendly and appreciative among the artists/models. The only instance where I felt someone teetering off the unsportsmanlike deep-end was one artist who pointed at us at the outset of the competition and shouted, "Hey, there's two people painting over there - that's not allowed!"

I barely glanced in her direction and kept right on painting. Scott & I had both pored over the rules as well as writing back-and-forth with the organizers over every question. As newbie's, we weren't about to be disqualified over some preventable misunderstanding.

In fact, most of the people around her were painting in tandem, it was just us that she happened to notice. An official had to go over and tell her that the rules had been up on the website and that if she had read them she would have known what was and was not acceptable for artists with assistants. At the end when all the photographers were circled around our painting I overheard her huff, "Well of COURSE that's nice, there were TWO artists painting it!" I settled for inwardly rolling my eyes, which I could barely focus by then anyway.

Since I'm not officially the artist, I don't get to go inside the judging room with Scott and Kristen. I'm vexed, considering all the work I've done today but they didn't ask me when they made the rules. I will say that experiencing the electricity in the work room today was a singular and unique thrill for me. All of us painting our hearts out toward this shared goal, all of us called to this art form in one place at one time!

Scott and I have days that are better and worse when we work together and today we seemed of one accord, which is a wonderful feeling. Seeing everyone's work is thrilling too, the choices every artist makes in bringing their vision to life. I don't know how you can judge this or what merits will inevitably rank one painting above another. All I know for certain right now is that we'll have to wait and see...

Pt. 1 -Tales of the North American Bodypainting Championships

NOTE: This is transcribed from my original iphone note - date 2/11/10

This morning we bid North Carolina adieu and hopped a plane bound for Vegas to spend Valentine's Day weekend amidst throngs of the betrothed looking to seal the deal on the most commercially romantic day of the year. I wonder what that many newlywed couples will look like and if dauntingly long lines of them will keep me from reaching the best food at the buffet.

We're flying over the Rocky Mountains right now and I'm enjoying time to muse over what the weekend will hold. Once we land, there won't be much time to spare, I imagine.

Joined together with common purpose in this odyssey, Scott, Kristen and I are on our way to compete in the first ever North American Bodypainting Championships at The Flamingo on the Strip. Scott is the main designer and as such, we compete under his name. I will assist in painting and our friend Kristen has come along to be the model. I created all the headpieces she will wear in advance and as assistant, I may also do her hair/nails/eylashes as well as base coat painting. To make the most of what I'm allowed to do, Scott has designed a fairly elaborate plan for the base coating.

This is our first foray into the world of competition, mainly at my urging. Up til now, Scott has been quite content to make art and has never considered competing. I'm not even certain he knows why someone would want to. I was raised doing competitive sports (figure skating/equestrian) and am used to working hard to attain goals within that kind of structure. I haven't pushed to do this because I feel we must seek victory but rather to find out where we stand within this world community. I also really want this opportunity to network with people who feel as strongly about this art form as we do, artists we might never encounter otherwise.

Certainly we're in good company and they're turning out in droves, too. Our category, "Brush & Sponge" has been capped at 70 competitors, all of whom paint tomorrow. Another 70 "Airbrush" painters will have a go at it on Saturday. The top 25 from each category go on to Sunday's finals. Do I think we'll be among those painting again on Valentine's Day (Sun)? I have high hopes and believe strongly in our art but I lack the experience on which to gauge how it all might go.

At this point we're as prepared as we're going to be and fortunate to have a model who had enough frequent-flyer miles to accompany us. All the tools of the trade necessary for turning Kristen into a divine fantasy creation are checked in the belly of the plane, which is beginning it's descent. The bright dessert afternoon spreads out beyond the tiny window to my left and the possibilities seem as endless as the landscape.

Colorful Regards - Meet Foxy Moxy

It feels as though I should introduce myself for those who stumble upon my musings but haven't otherwise come across me in real life or on the web. I'm known best as "Foxy Moxy" which is my burlesque performance name as well as the pen name I've used for all my published writings. In addition, it's a public persona that I propagate via humorous TV commercials for a local craft brew store/wine bar. I also perform there sometimes, too. It's not uncommon to be bent over in my front yard, digging in the dirt and have a car cruise by with joyful shouts of "It's Foxy Moxy" coming from inside. I laugh every time.

I'm a Southern small-town transplant (originally from PA) and had some dubious feelings about moving here 5+ years ago. I was just beginning to enjoy real notoriety as a performer back in Pittsburgh and was pretty sure I wouldn't find much welcoming here in the bosom of the bible belt. Instead, to my amazement, nothing could be further from the truth! Opportunities have come from all over, pretty much since my arrival. I've been able to flourish artistically in more directions than I might have ever imagined and I attribute that to being here, the right place at the right time.

The other thing looming large in my artsy ambitions is bodypainting. My partner/fiancee Scott and I met because of it and our tale was recently broadcast nationally on NPR's "The Story with Dick Gordon" and worldwide via Sirius Satellite Radio. We have the current Guinness World Record for "Most Painted Bodies" and are also newly competitive champions, placing 3rd of 70 artists from 18 countries in Las Vegas at The North American Bodypainting Championships. We were the top-finishing Americans in our category. We're planning to attend The World Bodypainting Festival in Seeboden, Austria for the first time this year, with great anticipation! Oh, and we do theatrical productions together too, oftentimes involving bodypaint.

I feel gifted by the life I lead and the wealth of loving support from my partner, family and friends. Because of the work I do, the tendency is to meet other people who are often as diversely talented as they are downright interesting and quirky. I'll be certain to share these folks with you along with my other exploits. I hope you enjoy, are intrigued by, outraged over, titillated or entertained by what you find here. I'll endeavor to share all the juiciest bits, so keep reading. This is a slice of my life, in color!