Hi tattoo world! I just wanted to take a moment to address an issue. Algonquin College is thinking about making a tattoo course. They have contacted several tattoo shops in the Ottawa area about contributing information to the course and thus far, it has sparked a debate about whether or not the course should be started at all. I just wanted to contribute my two cents to the debate. I made this post on a public petition against the course as well: Just to make some things clear for people not in the industry; - Being an artist, and then undergoing the *procedure* of transferring your art to living human tissue are two very different things. Creating the design is an art. Doing the tattoo is a science. - Tattooing is not easy. It demands an incredible amount of respect, dedication and patience to learn. - A potential apprentice starts by approaching an artist with a pre-existing knowledge of art, a well put together portfolio to demonstrate that, and a humble, hungry attitude. The apprenticeship should continue by being taught ONE ON ONE by the mentor. It should take years. Ideally the artist continues to evolve and learn even after their apprenticeship is over. - What I am trying to say with the aforementioned comment is that an apprenticeship should NOT begin by applying to a program over the internet with a credit card or a fist full of money. Its not something that can be taught by a single teacher to a classroom full of students with a ration of 1 to 30 or 1 to 15. I would even go as far as to say that a true tattoo artist doesnt stop learning and is willing to push themselves continually over the course of their entire career. - Aspiring tattoo artist, Algonquin college BEWARE: WHO is teaching your course? Its my understanding that you want the input of 7 or 8 tattoo artists to create your course. The most of the respectable tattoo shops in Ottawa are already telling you this is a bad idea and are refusing to participate. Second of all, lets say for a moment that you DO get experienced, knowledgeable contributions from artists - are they going to teach the course? Or are you going to create a program and then have someone ELSE teach the program? You risk losing too much in translation. You NEED the experts not just giving you the content, they would need to teach it as well. And like I mentioned, so far those experts are telling you no. - And again, to aspiring tattoo artists: Tattoo schools are a shortcut. There are NO SHORTCUTS in this world, only hard work. I cant speak for everyone, but from what Ive seen and heard at this point in my career, no decent artist, no decent tattoo shop is going to take you seriously or hire you if you show up with a piece of paper saying you took a course. In conclusion, I just want to mention that it IS true that there are currently no licencing or standard requirements that qualify anyone as a tattoo artist in Ontario. Currently, anyone can pick up a machine they bought on ebay and do whatever they want. This is why there are so many scratchers (inexperienced, bad tattooers) making mistakes and hurting people. Other provinces and some states in the U.S require that artists have a basic knowledge of heath standards/health hazards before they are allowed to work. So to be clear, I do think that some sort of standardized licencing requirement would benefit the industry in terms of getting people educated about the health hazards, blood borne pathogens etc, just to keep everything safe for the community and deter scratchers. HOWEVER: this should COMPLIMENT a traditional tattoo apprenticeship, not replace it. This is just my opinion!
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 15:08:42 +0000
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