After her one and a half years as an apprentice, Anna did not
earn a chair at her husband’s shop. They have been married for
four years now, and in that time, Anna started working at shops
from the bottom in New Jersey and Brooklyn - the walk in grungy
ones, the gangster ones, the cliche ones doing simple flash and
cover ups. It was no cake walk. Working in a male dominated
industry Anna, took her fair share of crap, getting hired and dealing with the other tattooers she worked with. This she’s thankful
for because it gave her the chops and backbone to not take any
shit. She is thankful for her bosses in those days that let her
work and had faith and trust in her.
Anna spent years working aboard at these different shop before
she became a full time tattooer at North Star. She earned her experience and learned diligently in baby steps in order to perfect
her craft, which she stands by the fact that that will never end.
There is always learning, perfecting, and branching out in her
work. True learning to Anna is taking those baby steps, indulging
oneself in the culture, perfecting how to use the machines she
uses, and understanding the types of needles and equipment
that she feels most comfortable with to produce the best work on
the human canvas.
She is now working on larger pieces, keeping a humble attitude,
yet having the self confidence needed to become the remarkable artist she is today. She may not outwardly admit it, but
seeing her work, having her work on me and having her artwork
hanging on my walls, I can personally attest to it for her. Now
doing larger Japanese pieces, which are no easy tasks, people
are reaching out to her for sleeves to be done and a friend gave
her free range to do her leg. Anna freehands the work, grateful
to her friend that gave her artistic license. It’s an advanced piece
for her and being able to produce beautiful work, freehand is no
easy task, yet one after many years Anna has accomplished.
She still has guidance from her husband, a man she highly
respects and honors his opinion utmost, as it only helps her
hone her craft to produce the work that she does. One of her
new projects is painting on wood, which she feels is a natural,
organic way to paint.
Anna and Rodrigo travel for conventions, showcasing her art
and tattooing, bringing attention to the shop, meeting other
artists, and putting her work out there. Furthermore, her goal at
conventions is to study and observe other talented artists. They
also travel on vacations, but even those are tattoo related. Anna
and her husband truly have dedicated their lives to the art and
culture and wherever they go, they meet new artists and old
friends who are artists. The learning and the progression never
stops. And when they do run across new people in the industry
during their travels, when people ask to see her husbands work,
Anna is there, his walking canvas. They have a true and diehard
partnership. But Anna alone is an independent, strong and talented woman who went through the bullshit of a male dominated
industry, put her time in in the lower end shops, dealing with shit
talk and criticism from other artists before being able to work at
North Star. Going from flash, cover ups, smaller pieces, and now
large Japanese works of art, Anna has come a long way.
She has found that being a tattooed woman, she now only
receives positivity in this culture. She is proud to have engrossed
herself in a culture in which she loves that has roots that date
back to ancient artisans putting designs on the skin, going all the
way back to mummies with body art on them. Tattooing and art
are Anna’s passion, one she does not take lightly.
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