Totem Animals

Like more than a few other eighteen year-olds, I went out to get my first tattoo, a cartoonish dragonfly on my right hip that I had drawn myself. I still remember the little house in Eureka, CA where I went with my friends one afternoon, the old television set turned into a tarantula terrarium and the piercer who pulled out a scorpion and let it walk all over his hands, freaking us out. But as I grew older, I knew that I would someday modify that little blue creature of ink, but just didn't know when the inspiration would come.

Flash forward a decade or so, to the time when I'm living in the Presidio of San Francisco, and going through a rough patch in my personal life. One spring day I was meditating on our porch that overlooked Baker Beach, and a little lizard joined me in the sun. I decided that this western fence lizard had shown herself to be my new totem animal, and I went about searching for an artist who could ink one onto my upper left leg (providing balance to the two tattoos on the right side of my body). It took a surprisingly long time to get an appointment for a consult with Cecilia (she was next to Rainbow Grocery at the time), but the final appointment was made for January 20, 2009, and my totem lizard was finished in time to watch President Obama's inaugural celebration that evening.

After migrating away from the Bay Area to work for a few seasons in Yosemite's high country, I landed my current job in rural Eastern Oregon. On my first evening of walking around my new (small! quiet!) hometown, I was struck by the thought that it was time to change up that little dragonfly remnant of my past - that whatever life event I'd been waiting for had finally arrived. Earlier that summer, I had encountered a number of butterflies, and decided that the swallowtail would be the icon of my metamorphosis. I worked with Lindsay, a great local artist, to cover up the blue dragonfly (look closely!) with a realistic new insect. This piece was completed in January 2012, and life has been getting better and better ever since... I met my husband about six months afterwards, and gave him a body-balancing tattoo from Lindsay for his birthday this spring!

Gypsy Burks
Exhibit Specialist
National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center



Want to share your own story and tattoo?
Email Beth: beth (at) redmond-jones (dot) com or Paul: info (at) orselli (dot) net.

Sugar Skull

This tattoo has many meanings for me. I've always had a fascination with skulls, I have a collection of them at home. So naturally I've always wanted a skull tattoo. I choose a sugar skull because I'm obsessed with Dia De Los Muertos and I'm Hispanic so I grew up around it. The pickaxe represents my degree in archaeology, the makeup brush represents my artistic side as a professional makeup artist and the flash in the left eye represents my passion for photography.

Samantha Moreno
San Diego Natural History Museum

Want to share your own story and tattoo?
Email Beth: beth (at) redmond-jones (dot) com or Paul: info (at) orselli (dot) net.

Gates outside the Governor's Palace, Colonial Williamsburg

My tattoo was inspired by the first place that inspired me to go into museums - Colonial Williamsburg! When I was thinking up ideas for tattoo concepts, I didn't want something that was obviously historical - like George Washington's portrait emblazoned on my arm. This design was taken from the gates outside the Governor's Palace - a subtle way of representing my love for history, museums, scroll work and Colonial Williamsburg. This is, I'm sure, the first of many more history-inspired tattoos to come!

Alli Schell

Director, Milton Historical Society in Milton, DE
www.historicmilton.org

Want to share your own story and tattoo?
Email Beth: beth (at) redmond-jones (dot) com or Paul: info (at) orselli (dot) net.

Meera's Animal Kingdom Tattoos

These tattoos are dedicated to the people and creatures that are a part of my life. My fascination with animals and the natural world began as a youngster in Queens, NY where I visited many museums, zoos, and gardens over and over again.

After studying Natural History at SUNY-ESF, I wanted to cover myself with illustrations that represented the animal kingdom.  So far, I have included birds, insects, reptiles, and fish. Although I still have a long way to go, each animal reminds me of an extraordinary person, critter, or experience.

The zebra finches are my pet birds that I had as a child - Joe & Judy. As a kid growing up in Ozone Park, I didn’t have much exposure to the natural world. One day my aunt brought home these lovely birds and they became very special to our family. Joe even lived for over 9 years!

The bees remind me of my love for gardening, and helping kids overcome their fear of bees – a fear I thought I would never overcome!

The snake spine combines my attraction to both science drawings & skeletons.  Our museum has lots of animals children can meet and touch, most of them being reptiles. Holding a snake is another fear I have recently overcome, and it has become a part of my everyday museum routine.

When I got my first tattoo at 18, I asked my mother “What should I get?!”

She responded, very seriously, suggesting that I get a seahorse. At first, I thought this was a ridiculous idea. Five years later, my most recent tattoo, of a seahorse, is dedicated to my mother.



Meera Jagroop
Science Educator
Brooklyn Children’s Museum



Want to share your own story and tattoo?
Email Beth: beth (at) redmond-jones (dot) com or Paul: info (at) orselli (dot) net.

Nature Lover's Work in Progress

 

Steph Hample submitted this "work in progress" and here's the story...

When I was in high school I was obsessed with wolves!  In college I decided to get my first tattoo not knowing it would turn into something more!

I was visiting a friend at college and we decided randomly (yikes!) to go and get tattoos.  For me, it felt like a natural choice to get a running wolf, and although I love the concept it unfortunately didn't turn out as great as I had hoped.  Fast forward 11 years and three tattoos later, I decided to finally get my tattoo covered.  I still loved the concept of the wolf but it just needed some revamping.  I have always believed tattoos to be a form of art and my body is just a medium for the art.   I try not to tell the artist what to do but rather give them a guideline and let the artist create their work.  I told the artist that I would like to cover the wolf, add a new wolf, and incorporate a maple tree in fall foliage with a owl in the tree --- OK so I did have SOME stipulations, but I did let him do the creative part.  The image included is the result - so far.

What I love about this tattoo is, well everything, but mostly the wolf.  I know the wolf isn't done in this image but when I got the running wolf at 19 years old it was very appropriate for my life.  I was busy! Always moving, always looking for the next thing.  These days my life has settled and I enjoy standing still to enjoying the scenery.  The owl also has some significance as well.  To start, it was created from an image of an owl I work with, Oliver, at The Wild Center. I have loved owls for a long time and that love has worn off on my daughter, so it also represents her.  In addition to that I have a cousin that has Muscular Dystrophy who also has a love of owls.  For that reason it is also representative of him.  Needless to say, it's pretty significant to me.  Finally the tree.  It was probably the one part of the work that I was most particular about.  It had to be a sugar maple tree, and it had to be in fall.  I wanted color, and lots of it.  The artist was amazing, getting the "u" shape of the falling leaves of the sugar maple!

You may be wondering 'how the heck is he going to cover the wolf?!' It is still very obvious and I had no idea how he was going to do it so I left that to him. The tattoo artist is going to turn it into a hole in the tree...somehow, I'm very interested to see how it all turns out!  So far there is about 6 hours of work done and I would expect it to be at least that remaining.  There is a lot of detail to come and I will send an image when it is complete!

Stephanie Hample, The Wild Center


Want to share your own story and tattoo?
Email Beth: beth (at) redmond-jones (dot) com or Paul: info (at) orselli (dot) net.

Celestial orbs

This is happens when your art history degree blends with a natural history museum. Kandinsky circles become celestial orbs and renaissance etchings of the night sky suddenly become far more relevant to your day to day experience.

For many years, I had the rocket isolated on my right arm, the cranes on my left and characters on each of my wrists. It was symmetrical but the images were completely random- like I had placed stickers on my arms. I needed an update; I needed to create a composition.

One day while on the subway, I saw someone with beautiful colored orbs on their shoulders and I knew that I wanted something similar. I had also been been looking at the mural of the constellations that is painted on the ceiling at Grand Central Station. I work under the Hayden Planetarium and staring at the stars has become a part of my daily existence. In the end, I took a print out of a painting I loved (Kandinsky's "Several Circles/Einige Kreise) and several renaissance etchings of the stars to Ink/Ink in Venice, CA. Stephanie created a new universe on my arms, the colorful graphic circles becoming spheres in my constellations.

Hillary Spencer
Assistant Director, Global Business Development
American Museum of Natural History

Want to share your own story and tattoo?Email Beth: beth (at) redmond-jones (dot) com or Paul: info (at) orselli (dot) net.

Benjamin Franklin

Growing up in Philadelphia, I always hated Benjamin Franklin. We learned about him in school all the time, every historical plaque had something to do with him... Frequently I remember thinking, "Man, Benjamin Franklin, give someone else a chance to do something for once."

I moved back to Philadelphia during the tricentennary of Benjamin Franklin's birth and suddenly I was working on all of these Franklin exhibits. My brothers mocked me for working on projects about someone I complained about, and I was somewhat irate to be spending so much time adding to Benjamin Franklin's importance.

That's when I realized I didn't hate Benjamin Franklin. I was jealous of Benjamin Franklin. Alll of the projects he worked on were because he was a curious, interested, energetic person with lots of ideas. After that realization I knew that I really just wanted to be Benjamin Franklin.

To show my love for Philly and changing attitudes about a pretty rad dude, I got this tattoo. One of my favorite things about it is when visitors are trying to identify me to other museum staff and they say, "I talked to someone last week, she was small with curly hair, and had a tattoo on her arm of someone, Isaac Newton or maybe Ben Franklin?"

Dana Scholss
OMSI



Want to share your own story and tattoo?
Email Beth: beth (at) redmond-jones (dot) com or Paul: info (at) orselli (dot) net.