by Marcella Ortega
Daily Lobo
When Mark Reid's second grade teacher asked him what he wanted do when he grew up, he told her he wanted to paint naked women.
"I got sent to the office," he said.
Reid is the founder of the New Mexico Body Painting Festival. He grew up in Dexter, N.M., and began painting at a young age. When he was 10 years old, he began taking art lessons. He attended the Colorado Institute of Art in 1979. In 1994, he began painting faces at small festivals. Reid said he began body painting when he met a magazine editor in Florida.
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"She wanted to put me in her national magazine because I was a face painter," he said. "She asked me if I did any body painting. I said, 'No.' She said, 'Well, you need to. Send me some pictures of your faces and body painting, and I will put you in my magazine.'"
Reid said he went home and told his girlfriend what he planned to do.
"She said, 'I don't think so.' I had to go do it behind her back. She said, 'Goodbye,'" he said.
Reid said you have to be more creative when painting a body.
"It's not like a flat canvas where you say, 'OK. I'm going to paint a mountain over here; put some trees over here,'" he said. "You have a body to work with. It's not flat. You have curves and bumps."
Reid won the 2004 Body Painting Competition at the Face and Body Art International Convention in Orlando, Fla.
"That competition, the public is not invited to attend," he said.
The first public U.S. body painting competition was held last weekend at Albuquerque's Embassy Suites by Lomas Boulevard and I-25 as part of the New Mexico festival. Reid said the competition was the first event in body art where the public was invited to purchase tickets, watch and take classes from international instructors.
Reid, who teaches face and body painting classes, said he and fellow body painting instructor Pam Trent came up with the idea of a body painting competition after a lesson.
"We were sitting out back drinking wine and I said, 'Pam. What if we had a U.S. body painting competition?'" he said. "We've been planning this thing for a year, and now, here we are."
Reid said he and Trent had trouble finding sponsors for the event.
"We could not find anybody to sponsor this, because people have no idea what it is about," he said.
The artists were judged on originality, presentation of theme, quality, technique, use of color and overall presentation. The theme was "Land of Enchantment."
Chery Klairwator participated in the event. She has body painted for 15 years, but it was the first body painting competition she has participated in. She painted faces and balloons on her models.
"I really have a great love for New Mexico. I really love the Balloon Fiesta, and I love all the people here," she said.
Reid said the artists were provided with models for the competition.
"We didn't have a problem finding them here in Albuquerque, because people are so liberal," he said.
UNM student Jackie Sandoval was a model in the event. Sandoval said she and her roommate heard about the event through a flier.
"I just thought it would be fun," she said. "I didn't have anything to do (Sunday)."
Though the paint is washed off the next day, it is worth the time for the artist as well as the models, Reid said.
"You have to realize that once we paint this body, it's going to be photographed," he said. "I will have a beautiful image for the rest of my life."
