Risa Tattoos!

Who’s This Lady?• BFA from The Cooper Union,

NYC– Studied painting & drawing– First interested in tattooing

• Middle school art teacher in MD & VA– Taught for 4 years– Also taught FACS and Tech

Ed• Oregon licensed Tattoo Artist

since 2007– Independent contractor at

4 shops

What, exactly, do you DO?

• Customer presents idea in a consult

• I sketch for them and we agree on a basic layout & plan

• I create a finished drawing, often using digital manipulation

• After the client approves my design, we begin the tattoo!

• On many larger pieces we do multiple sittings

The finished product!

A brief history of tattoos

Tattoos (or scarification) appear in every culture in the world

Oldest discovered tattoo is from about 3,300 bce

Often associated with coming of age rituals, healing, and other sacred rites

Techniques range as widely as subjects do

The modern tattoo machine was developed in 1891 by Samuel O’Reilly

As the art form grows, so does the cultural acceptance

Jeff Gogue

Guy Aitchison

Mike DeVries

Nikko Hurtado

James Kern

Paul Booth

Ooh, pretty! I want one!

WAIT!•You must be 18 in the state of Oregon to get a tattoo, those who tattoo minors risk heavy fines and imprisonment

•Those who tattoo minors or outside of a licensed shop are irresponsible, and most likely unskilled and DANGEROUS!

•Staph infections/mersa•Hepatitis A, B, and C•HIV

•Cover-ups cost more, removal costs more AND hurts more

•Bad tattoos make you look bad!

THINK before you INK!

• Find a licensed artist you can trust who will listen to what you want

• If the shop is dirty, reusing needles, or makes you at all uncomfortable, LEAVE!

• Look at examples of other art & come with an idea, please don’t pick it off the wall! What’s the rush?

• Your tattoo is an expression of who you are! The quality of your tattoos shows how you feel about yourself!

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever”

- John Keats

Thank you!