It’s not easy to be Gay in the winter. Any college student working through their Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) or drag queen playing to quieter, thinner crowds can tell you that. When Mother Nature is actively discouraging us from going outside, you need to put in that extra effort to bring the community together.
Because of the nature of the NHL’s schedule, the Seattle Kraken can’t celebrate Pride anywhere close to June. They play a winter sport that ceases once the summer rolls around. So, this year’s Pride game, versus the Minnesota Wild, took place on January 8. Creating enthusiasm to celebrate queerness on a cold, dark Thursday evening was inevitably going to be a challenge.
That’s where Vegas Vecchio stepped in. As part of its “Common Thread” initiative, the team hires a diverse group of artists every year to reimagine the logo to represent different communities and artistic styles. The red-eyed Kraken has been transformed into a school of fish, a disco ball, and even the Aztec god Quetzalcóatl. It’s been costumed for Lunar New Year, Earth Day, Black History Month, etc.
This year, the Kraken turned to Seattle’s tattoo community for inspiration. They found Vecchio, a Genderqueer artist and UW alum who started out painting live musicians in Georgetown, where they developed their unique style: kaleidoscopes of intense color against velvety black backgrounds, figures that are both absorbed by their surroundings, yet in contrast, also explode off the canvas.
Despite finding plenty of joy in the musical world, Vecchio knew it was just a temporary stop toward a dream they had to pursue: becoming a professional tattoo artist. They found a mentor, Abra, who taught them the tools of the trade, despite their creative differences. Abra’s a traditionalist who prefers the hand-poke technique, but Vecchio didn't quite have the patience for it. They needed to blaze a path that worked uniquely for them.
“The tattoo industry can be really hard to break into, especially if you don’t know a guy who’ll teach you, and especially if you’re not a man, if you’re not cis,” said Vecchio. “So, it was really like a hustle to take a nontraditional approach.”
The hustle has been constant. Vecchio worked hard enough to open their own private tattoo studio, Ruled by Venus Ink, and they’ve inked hundreds of designs since. Still, even with all the experience, the Kraken’s request for them to reimagine the logo was daunting. The first step, coming up with the design, was the easiest part.
“The unicorn was there from the beginning. I was trying to entertain doing something else. I played around with a hyena for a little bit, but nothing else stuck as well as the OG,” said Vecchio about their process. “It just felt like… How could no one have thought of this yet?”
What came next — actualizing the design into a real artistic product — was where things got difficult. In an Instagram tell-all following the logo’s reveal, Vecchio admitted that they “went underground for two months” while working on the project. They had multiple creative breakdowns, stemming from the pressure of having to be an ambassador for Pride. Could the art they make, and even Vecchio, actually represent a holiday that means so many different things for so many people?
“Coal under pressure makes diamonds,” said Vecchio in retrospect. “I don’t think the art would be as moving as it has been if I didn’t go through that.”
Whether the struggle of an artist to make their work is “worth it” is subjective. What is objective, however, is the success Vecchio had in capturing hearts and minds.
Once Pride Night began, you couldn’t be anywhere in Climate Pledge Arena without a unicorn looking back at you. The reimagined logo’s merch — including shirts, hats, and pucks — almost immediately sold out. The charity auction, with jerseys signed by Kraken stars like Berkly Catton and Matty Beniers, was the highest grossing to date: $100,000 in barely a day’s time.
Every cent made off the auction was split between the One Roof Foundation (the Kraken’s philanthropic arm, which provides financial assistance to low-income kids and families) and Seattle Pride, the organizing body behind Seattle PrideFest and the annual Pride Parade. Given the budget deficit of $350,000 that Seattle Pride had to endure last year due to corporate retreats from LGBTQ+ causes, Vecchio’s work now serves as the antidote. The $50,000 raised for Seattle Pride should, hopefully, help to sustain our community’s traditions both this year and beyond.
“Seeing, tonight, the culmination of it all, it really makes it worthwhile,” Vecchio said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
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