Last week I was a little shocked when I read that Ian White has left Black 13 Tattoo. I later spoke to Ian, who let me know he’ll be opening a private studio in Nashville in January. It looks like Ian has also updated his webpage, portfolio, and contact information.
Tattoo by Ian White in Nashville, TN
While I’m not straight egde, I’m very excited to get my hands on a copy of With the Light of Truth. For those of you who are unsure what exactly this book is, here’s the description from the website:
A collection of Straight Edge related tattoos and art and profiles of some of the best tattoo artists in the world.
The book is now available for $50, while I know that’s a lot money – you can clearly see it’s done right. If you need more convincing, check out this list of artists involved in the book:
DJ ROSE, GREZ, ADRIAN MONAHAN, SHANE B, MATT BAGWELL, DEAN PARKIN, CHAD SONER, DAN SMITH, RANDY HALL, SIMON ERL, STEVE BYRNE, KEVIN BYERS, CHRIS STUART, MANEKO, RON FOX, DAVE QUIGGLE, FRANK CARTER, TERRY JACKS, MARK JACKSON, SOAP, MIKE TOMMYROT, PHILLIP SZLOSEK, MITCH LOVE, STEVIE EDGE, ERICH FOSTER, BEAU BRADY, JASON FRANK, JIM SYLVIA, JAVIER RODRIGUEZ, PATRICK HANEY, ERIC MICHAEL SCHAUFFELE, NICO ACOSTA, AXEL RIO, IAN WHITE, JESSE GABRIEL, JASON ANTHONY, PAUL NYCZ, JUSTIN JARRELL, MATT KERLEY, JOHN RAFTERY, SANTU ALTAMIRANO, JOHN DEWEESE, NATE CLICK, DUSTY NEAL, OLLIE, LARS LUNDQUIST, KC LANGE, MARINA INOUE, RODRIGO BOTERO, BRAD STEVENS, ALEX FRANKLIN, ANNIE WALKER, ADAM SAGE, GASTON FUNES, NICK LUIT, MIKE LUSSIER, CHAZ OTTO
I keep getting this Facebook page suggested to me, “Tattoo Acceptance In The Workplace.” I can’t bring myself to “like” it because I don’t feel that visible tattoos are something that should be accepted in a workplace; it shouldn’t be expected for a business to accept your tattoos. I want to emphasize this is just my opinion, based on my life experiences. For the most part I am talking about discrimination against visible tattoos. I don’t feel that any business should be able to tell you where you can or can’t have non-visible tattoos.
When I see a 20 year old with his neck tattooed I wonder, “Where does that kid work?” I hear time and time again how some girl is upset because she has to wear a full collar shirt at her job because her “boss sucks” and doesn’t like her new collar-rocker. Or some guy can only get a factory job because he wanted to be the tough kid and got his hands tattooed as his first tattoo (not that there’s anything wrong with factory work).
I don’t feel like anyone is being discriminated against when they can’t get a job or are asked to cover their tattoos at a job. We do this to ourselves–this is not something we couldn’t help. Tattoos are obviously permanent and that is something the younger generations that are now getting tattooed just don’t comprehend. I saw a guy at a show that couldn’t have been more than 20–just as tattooed as I am at 33 years old. He got his uniform put on, he got his cool points all at once. Now when the other guys that thought a little about their ink, and got less visible tattoos at first, get good jobs, and then decide where is ok to be tattooed, they have the option. They are not confined by their young decisions.
Tattoos are a wonderful form of personal expression. And it is great that after 18 years of age we can adorn ourselves however we want with them. But we can’t expect a business to conform to us for our decisions of decoration. You are taking away a business owner’s rights by demanding they allow you to look however you want. Abercrombie hires models, Hot Topic hires tattooed folks. Don’t be bummed if one won’t hire the other. It is definitely great that tattoos are getting more accepted in society. And it definitely stinks when a business owner puts their personal opinions on tattoos as appearance policy, and not as a decision of business image. Especially when it is a job that an employee doesn’t encounter the customer. At the same time, it is their right as the owner. We are making leaps and bounds as tattooed people, no longer just sailors and/or criminals. It is up to us, as the people wearing the tattoos, to continue to improve the public image on the tattooed. I see it as two ways to start. One being to just act like a civilized human being.
That’s really not that hard. Here’s the hard part: actually get good tattoos. That’s hard these days with so many scratchers out there, but do your research (like this website), find reputable shops, pay what they are worth and show your great art with pride. But when you have that amazing next tattoo that you just had to have done by your buddy, don’t be bummed when you can’t do the job you really want, because of their tattoo policies.
Tattoos are amazing. I wanted to do them since I was a kid and have wanted to be covered in them just as long. I am literally living my dream. When I was too scared to show my art to a shop to get an apprenticeship, I got my hands tattooed. In my mind, then I HAD to become a tattoo artist. There are lots of places that are very accepting of tattoos and that number continues to grow. As fans of this art, this craft, this lifestyle, we have to take responsibility for the choices we make take the plunge into the world of living art.
I’m sure this article will offend as many inspires. Either way, I hope you got something from it.
–Guest blog by Ian White
**We’re looking for quality guest blogs from tattooers & enthusiasts–shoot us an email.
Surely a cameo silhouette of a wind-up drummer boy has some deep meaning with a story behind it. Not that I know that story but hey, sometimes it’s fun to make them up while preparing posts to go up in here.
Tattoo by: Ian White at Black 13 Tattoo in Nashville, TN
Burke sent us this photo of his two week old rib piece, obviously still fresh when the photo was taken. He mentioned that while dandelions (yes the flower/weed, depending on if you’re a yard owner) hold a special significance to him, a flower tattoo just wasn’t what he was after. I find this dandy lion to be quite a fancy alternative.
Tattoo by: Ian White at Black 13 Tattoo in Nashville, TN
During the Detroit Motor City Expo, I talked to the guys from Black 13 Tattoo Parlor about doing an interview with us. They were excited about the idea, and it took a few weeks for everything to come together. The real time delay was on my part, as I had to come up with a handful of questions that really showed what a unique shop Black 13 is.
I’m excited to have this interview live on the site, and hopefully by the end – you’ll understand why.
Tattoo Snob: Let’s start off with a roll call.
Doy: Black 13 consists of owners Josh Woods and Doy Gardner. Josh, Steve Martin, Ian White, and Marty “Riet” McEwen are our artists.
TS: Does your shop have a motto? (If not, make one up anyway.)
D: “Artists as well as gentlemen” – will that do? ha.
TS: Most people wouldn’t expect a shop of your caliber to be located in Tennessee. Do you think it’s harder to be successful there compared to larger cities?
D: I feel like success is based on what you put in to it. There are great shops all over the world in smaller and larger cities. I feel like Nashville is a really great city and I felt like it would be a enjoyable experience for out of town clientele. I moved here in 99 and noticed pretty quickly that there wasn’t a ton of extensive work going on here. Everyone I met with extensive work traveled outside of Nashville to get it, and no one I knew of ever traveled to Nashville to get tattooed. I wanted to see a different approach for not only tattooing, but for the customer service side too. Josh and I met and ended up talking about everything. We realized pretty quickly that we both wanted the same things. We want a shop that first and foremost cares about its clientele, and the artwork coming out of here. We want to create something that artists never want to leave, a family that takes care of one another. In my opinion, as long as you take care of people and do the best you possibly can, everything else will fall into place.
Tattoo by Ian White
Tattoo by Josh Woods
TS: What percentage of your work would you say is local clients versus those traveling from outside the area?
D: At this point I would say up to about 75% percent is “out of town” clientele. We see people that live at least 45 mins out on a regular basis. Some over a few hours. Some out of the country. Its great!
TS: How often does collaborative work between artists happen?
D: There isn’t a whole lot of that going on right now. The guys always share input and thoughts on each others sketches and art. Every once and a while someone requests it, but its rare.
Tattoo by Steve Martin
TS: What is the PROMocalypse? How did this idea start?
D: Hopefully it will become a yearly event that you will always hear about. Ha. In short, PROMocalypse is a dance for the living, a dance for the dead. Josh has wanted to do a prom for a while, and I like dressing up so we combined the two. For the most part, it will be straight up like high school prom. We will have one small dance room for zombies, but other then that, prom. www.promocalypse.com has the full story.
TS: What other shop events are planned throughout the year?
D: We have our yearly party coming up August 7th at Mercy Lounge here in Nashville. We will be celebrating two years! I believe Ian will be doing some art over in east Nashville for the Tomato Fest. Other then that, just a hand full of conventions throughout the rest of the year.
Tattoo by Marty "Riet" McEwen
TS: A number of guests artists are penciled in for 2010. Who’s on that list, and when will they be there?
D: Sean Herman will make it out sometime this year. Thats what he tells us. Amanda Leadman will be in and out. Lenny Renken is TBA. Theres a few others waiting to be locked down. The updates are in the guest artist section of www.black13tattoo.com
TS: I hear the shop has a rockin’ van. Can you tell us a little more about that? There’s a shop t-shirt of the van too, right?
D: Prior to opening the shop with Josh, I bought this van in Kentucky for $700 bucks. I needed it to get my travel drum cases around. It was in pretty bad shape but it ran and served its purpose. Once Josh took on Marty “Riet”as an apprentice we knew we had to get him to do it up. Cam took care of the paint and body work, Marty spray painted everything on, and Cam clear coated it. Marty ended up doing a sketch for the shirt with me driving. It’s available in the online store!
We thought it would be funny to do our version or spin with a rat fink inspired van design. Ol’ boy Marty drew me driving it, I like it.
TS: What is the shop or artists involved in outside of tattooing?
D: We all, minus Marty, enjoy riding the ol motorcycles. Everyone, minus me and Marty, is into working out and eating right. Steve has a little one and everyone tends to keep busy with the little time we spend out of the shop. We are there a lot now.
TS: Most importantly, how many pages of Cherry Creek flash do you have posted in your shop?
D: Thankfully, NONE! Ha..
TS: Any last words?
D: Thanks for the taking the time to hear from us and share our work. Many thanks for the PROMocalypse support too. Thanks to Tramp, Joe, and everyone over at Eternal for making great inks. Please check us out on www.black13tattoo.com – from there you can add us on Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter.
Thanks guys!
Tattoo by Steve Martin
Tattoo by Josh Woods
As most of you probably know, this past weekend was the Detroit Motor City Tattoo Expo. This year marked the 15th anniversary of the show, and despite the bad weather – the turnout was great. The artist turn out was nothing short than stellar, and the floor was packed all weekend.
As always, I brought out my camera and tried to capture some of the quality work that surrounded me. I snapped entirely too many pictures to post on here, so I’m just going to post the cream of the crop. Please remember, my photography skills are amateur at best.
If you’re interested in seeing all of the mediocre pictures I took, become a fan of Tattoo Snob on Facebook. All of the pictures from this past weekend are posted in the albums.
Black 13 Tattoo just announced that Josh Woods, Steve Martin, and Ian White will all be attending the Detroit Motor City Tattoo Expo during February 26th – February 28th. They’re currently taking appointments if you’re interested in getting tattooed, drop them an e-mail.
If you need anything to help convince you, check out this portrait by Josh Woods:
