Humans have marked their bodies with tattoos for thousands of years and for a variety of purposes. Read about the history and origin of tattoos. What was the most interesting thing you learned?

Career

Learn about the history of tattoos. 

Get a jump start on what you want do in college or test your interest before you get there by taking a class in Art!

Education

Take an art class.

Find a nonprofit or cause in your area that needs volunteers and apply to help out. Is giving back to your community like this something that's important to you in your career?

Advice

Volunteer in your community.

Fine Artists

Create original artwork using any of a wide variety of media and techniques.

Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Artistic

Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Realistic

Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Enterprising

First Interest High-Point

Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

Investigative

Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Social

Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Conventional

Second Interest High-Point

Third Interest High-Point

Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators

Artists and Related Workers

Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations

Art and Design Workers

Use materials such as pens and ink, watercolors, charcoal, oil, or computer software to create artwork.

Integrate and develop visual elements, such as line, space, mass, color, and perspective, to produce desired effects, such as the illustration of ideas, emotions, or moods.

Confer with clients, editors, writers, art directors, and other interested parties regarding the nature and content of artwork to be produced.

Submit preliminary or finished artwork or project plans to clients for approval, incorporating changes as necessary.

Maintain portfolios of artistic work to demonstrate styles, interests, and abilities.

Create finished art work as decoration, or to elucidate or substitute for spoken or written messages.

Cut, bend, laminate, arrange, and fasten individual or mixed raw and manufactured materials and products to form works of art.

Monitor events, trends, and other circumstances, research specific subject areas, attend art exhibitions, and read art publications to develop ideas and keep current on art world activities.

Study different techniques to learn how to apply them to artistic endeavors.

Render drawings, illustrations, and sketches of buildings, manufactured products, or models, working from sketches, blueprints, memory, models, or reference materials.

Create sketches, profiles, or likenesses of posed subjects or photographs, using any combination of freehand drawing, mechanical assembly kits, and computer imaging.

Create sculptures, statues, and other three-dimensional artwork by using abrasives and tools to shape, carve, and fabricate materials such as clay, stone, wood, or metal.

Study styles, techniques, colors, textures, and materials used in works undergoing restoration to ensure consistency during the restoration process.

Develop project budgets for approval, estimating time lines and material costs.

Shade and fill in sketch outlines and backgrounds, using a variety of media such as water colors, markers, and transparent washes, labeling designated colors when necessary.

Collaborate with engineers, mechanics, and other technical experts as necessary to build and install creations.

Create and prepare sketches and model drawings of cartoon characters, providing details from memory, live models, manufactured products, or reference materials.

Examine and test paintings in need of restoration or cleaning to determine techniques and materials to be used.

Create graphics, illustrations, and three-dimensional models to be used in research or in teaching, such as in demonstrating anatomy, pathology, or surgical procedures.

Brush or spray protective or decorative finishes on completed background panels, informational legends, exhibit accessories, or finished paintings.

Trace drawings onto clear acetate for painting or coloring, or trace them with ink to make final copies.

Apply solvents and cleaning agents to clean surfaces of paintings, and to remove accretions, discolorations, and deteriorated varnish.

Model substances such as clay or wax, using fingers and small hand tools to form objects.

Collaborate with writers who create ideas, stories, or captions that are combined with artists' work.

Provide entertainment at special events by performing activities such as drawing cartoons.

Render sequential drawings that can be turned into animated films or advertisements.

Market artwork through brochures, mailings, or Web sites.

Photograph objects, places, or scenes for reference material.

Set up exhibitions of artwork for display or sale.

Frame and mat artwork for display or sale.

Teach artistic techniques to children or adults.

Acrylic paintbrushes

Alcohol lamps

Angle grinders

Artists' fountain pens

Artists' palette knives

Artists' palettes

Ball mills

Bevel tools

Brazing tools

Bush hammers

Bust armatures

Camera lenses

Ceramic bead bars

Clay cutters

Clay mixers

Computer data input scanners

Detail carving tools

Die grinders

Digital calipers

Digital hydrometers

Digital pyrometers

Digital scales

Digital thermometers

Digital viscosometers

Dipping tongs

Drying cabinets

Dust masks

Edging tools

Electric kilns

Electric potters wheels

Electric saws

Encaustic scrapers

Encaustic spatulas

Enlarger timers

Extruder dies

Fettling knives

Figure armature systems

Gas kilns

Glass kilns

Graduated measuring cylinders

Hand chisels

Hand glaze mixers

Handheld clay extruders

Handlemaker tools

Head armatures

Heat resistant gloves

Kick wheels

Kiln carts

Kiln oxygen probes

Kiln ventilation hoods

Laptop computers

Lens filters

Linoleum cutters

Loop tools

Mat cutters

Metal inert gas MIG welders

Mold knives

Oil paintbrushes

Oxyacetylene torches

Paint spray guns

Personal computers

Photo enlargers

Photo quality computer printers

Photography tripods

Plasma cutters

Pneumatic chisels

Pot lifts

Potter's ribs

Pottery cleanup tools

Pottery duster brushes

Pottery kilns

Power sanders

Print squeegees

Printing tongs

Processing trays

Protective safety glasses

Pugmills

Raku kilns

Raku tongs

Remote firing flashes

Riffler rasps

Round hole punches

Saber saws

Sandblasting guns

Sculpting thumbs

Sgraffito tools

Shielded arc welders

Single lens reflex SLR cameras

Slab mats

Slab rollers

Square hole cutters

Stationary lighting systems

Steel rasps

Stone carving chisels

Stone carving knives

Stone saws

Strobe flashes

Sumi paintbrushes

Tablet computers

Art Activist/Executive Director

 (female narrator)  Everywhere you turn,  people try to tell you who  to be and what to do.  But what about deciding  for yourself?  Roadtrip Nation is a Movement  that empowers people  to define their own  roads in life.  This past summer, teams  of Roadtrippers crossed  the country, hoping to  gain insight into their lives.  On the road, they met all  kinds of interesting people  to learn how they  found their way.  This is Roadtrip Nation. (Calvin) Today is the  third of August and we only have two days left of our trip. We're at the end of the trip. Even though I don't want to think that it's ending, it slowly is. (Tina)  We have a lot of  really great interviews left, and we're also going to meet up with the other Roadtrip teams who've also been traveling across the country. We started with the other two teams in Southern California. I'm really  excited to see what kind of experiences they've had. (Calvin) So right now we're  on our way to speak with Kitty Love here in Asheville, North Carolina. Kitty Love works with a group called Arts 2 People, and she's a tattoo artist. Tina. Nice to meet you. Hi, I'm Vanessa. Vanessa. Hello. You're the driver? (Vanessa) I was driving, but I don't always drive. [impressed] Dang. That's hot. (Tina)  I'm on this trip to get away from all the noise back home. From parents telling me to take a more stable route in life, and instead follow my passions, even though it may seem,  at this point, unstable. So, where were you when you were our age-- 22, 23 years old? Also an art  school graduate. I went to the Marilyn Institute College of Art. I have a degree in visual communications with an emphasis on illustration. And I graduated from art school and suddenly regretted that I had spent four years, in illustration, realizing I did not have any interest in commercial art at all. So I graduated and started waiting tables, and I was partying my (...) off and hanging out in a punk bar. And I met this (...) that everybody was like, "Don't give him your phone number!" And I did because, you know, it was like the rockiest possible path. And so we ended up hanging out  and at one point he was like, "Why don't we buy tattoo equipment?" And we called up one of the companies and made up the name of a shop and got tattoo equipment and started tattooing on, you know, punk rockers. Next thing I knew-- I mean, we both had day jobs. next thing I knew we were up until two in the morning every night, you know, tattooing all these weirdos. Getting up at six, going to work. Finally, you know, after about six months of that, we quit our jobs.  We started charging, and we quit our jobs,  and that was the last time that I had a boss. So that was 19 years ago. So tattooing kind of saved me. I didn't really-- It fell into my lap. It was like a gift. And that is how I've been able to swing living the way I live, because I've traveled-- That's how I came to Asheville. I traveled in a school bus tattooing all over the country. We'd walk into a bar, throw our portfolio on the bar. I never made a fortune at it, but I've been able to survive doing it. (Calvin) So you went from traveling around the U.S. in a school bus  tattooing people, and then you run a nonprofit now. So where was that transition for you? So, during that time they had created an initiative called the Downtown Social Issues Task Force. And they were getting together to talk about panhandling and loitering and all these horrible things, and one of the things was graffiti. And I was like, "Don't tread on me." I went to their meeting and I was like, "What is this? Who do you think you are?" And instead of  being like, "Now we're going to watch you and your friends," they were like, "Tell us what you think we ought to do." And I was like, "I think you should put up a legal wall and let people paint, and put it on the Internet." And they were like, "That's interesting, tell us more." and I was like, "Really?...Really? Okay." And they sucked me in and I ended up working with them for 18 months and we created these recommendations for channeling that energy into a community-building process. So now we have this 6,000-square-foot mural that's got graffiti art in it, and all these beautiful images of cultural heritage of Asheville and-- So it's just been this kind of snowball that occurred, and that's how I got involved in community work. So it was just, like, a natural, organic process. But I feel like I want to answer an unasked question, which was about how the arts builds community. The smartest thing my ex ever said was that the way that we're created in God's image is not that God has arms and legs, but that we are creators. And so when you are creating, you are in your most God-like state. When you're following your desire, there is a natural creative industry that comes with that. And you're just armed with it-- You're born with it. So that litmus exists in us as our ability to define and live our purpose. And what happens is that when you start walking that path, you can then inspire other people to do the same thing. So, Arts 2 People kind of just organically evolved out of a need, out of a zeitgeist, out of an interest. When I think about being a community organizer and using my energy to help my community and other people,  I feel really conflicted because I just want to go and travel and spend my money and my resources and my time and my age and just do that. But then I suddenly feel like I'm being really selfish. Where is that line for you?  Or do you think there's a line between giving yourself to service and just taking as much in just for yourself for-- I mean, 'cause I'm young, I'm 22, so-- One of my favorite phrases along this line is the-- when you're in the airline and you're looking at the safety card and it says, "Put the oxygen mask on yourself before assisting your child." You've got  a source to feed. The more you do that, the more you're going to have to give back.  There will come a point when your interest in working with other people is so compelling that there won't be a choice, you'll just be doing it.  Some people come into the world in a position of service, and we all come to it at a different time.  I was 28 before I really felt like I could give anything because I had just... had tasted every wonderful thing that there was to taste, And I'm like, "Okay, I'm satisfied." And then it's like, you can devote yourself fully to that experience, and not have regrets or feel held back, or like you didn't quite get it all out of your system. 'Cause this is the one time in your life when you have that opportunity. Yeah, it's really cool what you guys are doing. Thank you. Yeah, I'm pretty excited.  [laughter] Calvin just wants to walk out the door right now. "I'm 22, get out of my way!" [laughter] (Calvin)  She said you need  to be selfish in a way, and you need to do what it is that you want so that when you settle down you're not gonna be regretful. That really spoke to me. (Tina) Thank you so much. (Vanessa)  People have trouble writing anything on this. And you're just like, face, person with wings, done. [laughter] ♪♪ (Vanessa) When we planned our trip we planned to go up to Philadelphia, and then we found out that there was going to be a music festival in Jersey City. So we decided to go to the music festival and try and talk to some people there. ♪♪ ♪♪ (Tina) The interview that took me most by surprise were The Knux, because I had seen interviews from them previously and they just seemed like a bunch of jokers.  And so I was kind of like-- didn't know what to expect. (The Knux) We never felt normal. We never could fit into the mold of the nine to five. We never could fit into society, 'cause we always went against the grain. Always.  We didn't understand why we always went against the grain. (Tina)  Like once they sat down they were like, "Okay, give me some more questions. Let me answer some questions like I usually do." And as soon as we told them where we were coming from you could just see it in their eyes. They really wanted to speak with us and they really saw something different. (The Knux) You know what it is? It's blindly following your gold. Blindly.  When I say blindly I mean there's no questioning yourself. There's no thinking about if, you know... backup plan if I do... it's blindly following your gold. You gotta know what you want and say, "I got it already. I got it." You know what I mean? Like, there's no "If I wanna get it..." or whatever. "I got it", you know what I mean? Some people... it takes something dramatic happening. And sometimes it's like, you just wake up one day and say, "The (...) with it, I'm going to do it." You have to not be afraid of falling. What's worse? Falling and hurting yourself, or never ever witnessing what you're capable of? (Tina)  Thank you so much. (Vanessa) Before I went  on this trip I was excited about all the things that I didn't know would come out of this trip, or I didn't know would happen. So many unexpected things did happen, and they're all really great. [crowd cheering] ♪♪ [engine failing] [frustratedly] I don't  believe you. [disappointedly] Oooh, look at that. (Vanessa) Calvin is just the best. He's just so good at, like, saving the day. And I know that and I just, like, let him do it rather than like trying to help out the situation myself. I'm really spoiled in my life and I always have this, like, man that takes care of me. Like, my dad growing up, or in school just, like, a friend. Try it again. I want to be the initiator for things in my life. (Vanessa) No. Well, we have AAA so... (Vanessa) Talking with all  these people and realizing that I'm the only one that can really push myself forward. and like, I just...I have to. (truck driver)  You're the ones that  need a jump-start? [engine starting] I'm really excited to go to Philadelphia our last big urban city. (Calvin)  Right now we're gonna go  speak with Daniela Romero. (Tina) Wow, this is our last interview. I'm really excited to meet Daniela Romero because a woman who's working with trying to allow people to still have their culture with them but move into the American culture and feel welcome and warm--  I'm all for that. So I'm really excited to hear what she has to say. I'm Tina. Hi Tina.  Nice to meet you. (Vanessa) Where were you when you were our age, 22, 23? I was in Chile.  I was about to finish college. I have a bachelor's in linguistics, English linguistics, so I spoke English before I came here. And I was very disoriented,  [laughs] so I can hear you. And at that time the only possibility, I'd say, that was offered to me was the teach English. And I realized that I liked teaching English but probably I didn't like to teach corporate executives and people who had a lot of money to afford English classes because English classes are very, uh...a luxury. Um, so I said maybe teaching is not my thing. I knew that I wanted to travel, and I knew that I wanted to live in another country. So I wanted to live for a while. I didn't know it was going to be so long. [laughs] So how was it for you moving to the United States of America, where it's really difficult to stay? Yes, it  was difficult. [laughs] It was difficult first of all because I didn't have papers. I overstayed my visa. I knew that I overstayed it, that was the purpose. And I thought, "Okay, I'm going to find a job." It took me years to find a job. I was coming from the third world to the first world. It's like taking a tree and planting it in another land or another soil. It is very hard. I didn't get out of my apartment for about a year. I was trapped there and I didn't want to interact with anyone. I was in shock and I was afraid. People are very friendly here and they talk to you on the train and the line. I didn't want anyone to talk to me. I couldn't understand them. I spoke English, but it's English in-- The English that I studied was in a country where nobody speaks English. So I did some jobs under the table. [sadly]  And I always  had the suitcases ready to  go back. And then I came across this ad that they were looking for a coordinator in this place. We teach ESL: English as a Second Language. I think that there are roads for you in life. And if you want to take a different road, life is always going to take you back to that one. For example,  teaching for me. And as soon as I started teaching, I loved it. When I see their faces-- they work crazy hours. They have to work 60 to 90 hours, and they still come to class! Some of them fall asleep in class because they just can't take it. When they say, "Thank you for teaching me," and you know they really mean it. They really mean it. And at the end you realize: Yes, I'm giving something, but it's much more what I'm receiving. When you started working here and, especially with the experience of you coming to this country and having a really tough time, what was it like the first time somebody, a student, came to your classroom with that same fear in their eyes? Or, do you deal with that very often? Like, there's somebody that's-- I mean, do you feel like your experience has really helped you? Um, hopefully. [laughs] It's very easy to feel sympathy for the person who doesn't have any documents and is struggling to find a job, uh, because I know what it's like. I think that it's very important to tell the person: "I know what you're talking about. "I'm not in this power position, "'Okay, please tell me your problems and I'm gonna "'give you a solution.' I know what you're talking about "because I went through the same. "Um, so this is what helped me. Maybe it can help you." (Daniela) Wow, it's... (Tina) Very bright. (Daniela) It's very distinctive. [laughs] (Daniela)  Listen to  your hearts. Listen to what your other intelligence is telling you. For some people it's very clear. But I'd say that for 90 percent of the population it's not! So I think that you have to listen to what your life wants to tell you, instead of you trying to tell your life what you want to do with it.  And sometimes that's very hard. (Calvin)  This Roadtrip  really heightens that experience of actively wanting to get a new sense of who you are. (Calvin)  This Roadtrip  helps you develop a new sense of the world and what its possibilities are, so that when you go home, you have a better sense of home as well. (Tina) I had a wonderful  childhood. Like, amazing parents, but have really lived an extremely conventional life. Like, I feel like that made me really nervous about, you know, doing something new. (Tina) Talking to the leaders that we talk to-- it really made me see that there's so many different ways to live and an infinite amount of ways to think as well. (Tina) All these notions that I've held as, like, "Tina" were really questioned. And in that I've realized I am more than the way I define myself as well. (Tina)  Like, it's almost  ridiculous that I've allowed myself to not achieve my dreams when I only have one shot at this life. Like, there is really nothing holding me back.  "Don't forget you only have  one shot at this life thing.  "The only one stopping you  from achieving your dreams  is the one  reading this." (Vanessa)  Talking to so  many people on this trip, I mean-- No one said that they just sat around and someone, like, gave them this opportunity. No one really had it easy,  but they all made it through. So, to know all these stories and then to still not go through with what your heart is telling you to go through with is...inexcusable.  "Let this trip help you to  discover  what you are capable  of." (Calvin)  An expectation I  came on the trip with was that I would know exactly where I wanted to go after this trip. But I'm leaving and I don't really have a definitive answer, and I'm okay with that. This Roadtrip has left me with a lot more courage to move forward than I came with. That's small but I think that's really valuable.  "I pray for faith  and courage.  "Faith that I am walking  on the right path  and courage when I experience  fear or doubt." My rose for this trip has been realizing that America is so big. Los Angeles to San Francisco, you can get there in a day and it doesn't seem far. But what I never knew is that there are a million experiences in-between those two places, and there are a million thoughts that you can think and a million definitions that can be added to who you are and how you see yourself in the world. It'd be really cool if your map wasn't in miles but it was in all the thoughts that you had. (Vanessa)  [excitedly] Oh I see them! Oh my god! (Calvin) There's the other group! [horn honking] [excitedly] Aww! (Vanessa) I saw them through  the window. (Tina) Me too! (Calvin) Look at, it's like  our sister. Here we go!  [horn honking]  [laughing] [singing She'll Be Comin'  'Round the Mountain ]  (female #5)  ♪ ...they'll be comin' 'round  the mountain when they come. ♪ (Vanessa) Is that them? (Calvin) Yeah, that's them. [horn honking] (Vanessa) Ahh, that's so exciting! (female #6) And now it's like, the last shot, and we're all together. ♪♪ [teams cheering] (Tina) How are you? (female #7) Gosh, how was  everyone's trips? (Tina) Amazing! (Calvin)  [sarcastically] It was okay... (Vanessa)  Good!  Really good! [laughter] (Calvin)  What month is it? January, February, March... [surprised] Holy smokes. It's been eight months. When the Roadtrip ended I came back to Fort Lauderdale. I knew that there was a lot of different directions I could go. But that didn't matter  if I didn't just choose one and see where it led. Right now I am working as a producer for a production company,  and I'm in the process of  buying a place of my own. I'm really excited to move on to this next step of my life.  Hello Roadtrip Nation!  It's Tina here.  I'm actually reporting from here at KUCR. I will be graduating in about three weeks. I'm still doing documentaries and actually finished one back in winter. I launched my little organization that I was starting called Tentu.org. I'm actually planning on moving to the Bay Area to follow my dreams of doing documentary work or community building in the Bay Area. I think my parents are more worried than ever about me, But, luckily, I just have to think back to the Leaders and understand that this is totally normal, what I'm going through. (Calvin) Right after our Roadtrip  ended I realized I wasn't ready to make any serious life decisions,  so I decided that I would keep traveling. Then once I moved home,  I moved in to my friend's cabin. When I got back it felt like everybody was in the same exact places that I left them. People would say, "What have you been up to? Where have you been?"  And I'd say, "Well, I just traveled the U.S. with Roadtrip Nation , and we interviewed all these people and I developed some really great friendships." And they'd say, "Oh, that's nice. I wish I could experience-- I wish I could do that. I wish I could... could just leave." And I always was saying, "You can...you can." (female #3) This summer my two  best friends and I are going on a six-week Roadtrip. (male #2)  Trying to get advice from people who we feel to be really influential. (female #3)  This could be  the opportunity for all of us to figure it out. (female #4)  I think it's just hard for me to be my own motivator.  (male #2)  I constantly feel  like I'm spread way too thin with what I plan to accomplish. (male #3) It's not that I have to pick a course for my life, and I'd better get it right, right away. 'Cause you can always back up and take a new fork.  (female announcer)   To watch more interviews   from the road  and listen to the music that  keeps us driving,  visit www.roadtripnation.com.  Online you can learn more  about the Movement  and how to  bring the experience  into your classroom. 

<p>Team "Tabula Rasa" winds up their Roadtrip with a series of final interviews. In Asheville, North Carolina, Kitty Love, tattoo artist, talks about the unusual path that led her to become an Arts activist and community organizer. On their way to Philadelphia, they have a conversation with The Knux, hip-hop artists, performing at the All Points West Music & Arts Festival in New Jersey. Their final interview is with Daniela Romero, ESL Coordinator at the Nationalities Service Center.</p>

Asheville - Philadelphia

(Roadtripper #1) Where were you when you were our age 22, 23 years old? (Kitty) Uh also an art school graduate. I went to the Maryland Institute College of Art. I have a degree in visual communications with an emphasis on illustration. And I graduated from Art School and suddenly regretted that I had spent four years, you know, in illustration realizing that I did not have any interest in commercial art at all. Um, so I graduated and started waiting tables and I was partying my -- off and hanging out in a punk bar and I met this -- that everybody was like "don't give him your phone number!" And I did because it was like, you know, the rockiest possible path. And so we ended up hanging out, and um, he was at one point, like, why don't we buy tattoo equipment? And we called up one of the companies and made up the name of a shop and got tattoo equipment and started tattooing, you know, on punk rockers and uh, next thing I knew-- I mean we both had day jobs. Next thing I knew we were up till 2 am every night, you know, tattooing all these weirdos. Getting up at 6, going to work. Finally after about 6 months of that, um, we quit our jobs. We started charging. We quit our jobs and that was the last time that I had a boss. So that was 19 years ago. Umm, so tattooing kind of saved me. I didn't really-- It fell into my lap, it was like a gift and-- and that is how I've been able to swing living the way I live because i've travel-- I mean that's how I came to Nashville. I travelled in a school bus, umm, tattooing all over the country. Just, we'd walk into a bar, throw our portfolio on the bar. I never made a fortune at it but i've been able to survive doing it. (roadtripper #2) So you went from traveling around the U.S. in a school bus tattooing people and then you run a non-profit now so where was that transition for you? (Kitty) So during that time they had created an initiative called the downtown social issues taskforce and they were getting together to talk about panhandling and loitering and all these horrible things. One of the things was graffiti, I was like "don't tread on me". I went up to their meeting and I was like "what is this?" You know. "Who do you think you are?" And instead of being like "Well now we're going to watch you and all your friends", they were like "well sit down, tell us what you think we ought to do". And I was like "Well I think you should put up a legal wall, and let people paint, and put it on the internet". And they're like "really, that's interesting tell us more." And I was like "really? Really? Okay." And they sucked me in, and I ended up working with them for 18 months and we created these recommendations for channeling that energy into like a more community building process. So now we have this 6,000 square foot mural that's got graffiti art in it and all these beautiful images of cultural heritage of Nashville. So it's been this kind of snowball that occurred. So that's how I got involved in community work. So it was just like a natural organic process. But I feel like I kind of want to answer an unasked question. Which was about how the arts builds community. Smartest thing that my ex ever said was that the way that we are created, in "god's image", is not that God has arms and legs, but that we are creators. And so when you are creating, you are in your most godlike state. When you're following your desire, there is a natural creative industry that comes with that because you're-- and you're just armed with it. You're born with it. So that litmus exists in us as our ability to define and live our purpose. And what happens is, when you start walking that path, you can then inspire other people to do the same thing. So Arts 2 People kind of just organically evolved out of a need. Out of a zeitgeist. Out of an interest. (roadtripper #2) When I think about being a community organizer and using my energy to help my community and other people I feel really conflicted because I just want to go and travel and spend my money, my resources, and my time, and my age and just do that. But then I suddenly feel like i'm being really selfish. Where is that line for you? Or do you think there's a line between giving yourself to service and just like taking as much in just for yourself, err, I mean 'cause i'm young. I'm 22, So-- (Kitty) One of my favorite phrases along this line is the, like, when you're in the airline and you're looking at the safety card and it says put the oxygen mask on yourself before assisting your child. You've got a source to feed. The more you do that, the more you're going to have to give back. There will come a point when your interest in working with other people is so compelling that there won't be a choice. You'll just be doing it. Some people come into the world in a position of service and we all come into it at a different time. I was 28 before I really felt like I could give anything, because I had just tasted every wonderful thing that there was to taste, you know, and i'm like "okay, i'm satisfied". And then it's like, you can devote yourself fully to that, you know, experience and not have regrets or feel held back or you didn't quite get it all out of your system. 'Cause this is the one time in your life where you have that opportunity. 

Interview

It all comes back to the inner litmus. You just have to be okay enough with what that is saying. Even if your, screw your parents. If your own inner judgement is trying to get you to walk a path that you don't really feel comfortable with, you gotta be brutally honest with yourself. It's just, you may have visions of the way that you should be, just like your parents do. That you have to just dump, because you have to realize, like Hendricks said, castles made of sand melt into the sea eventually. You can try it. All you're doing is wasting time. You might as well just get it right from the get go and just get over the fact that you're maybe not what you, you know what I'm saying. I mean, it's just, you have to do what you have to do. 

Family

Honesty

Pressure

Castles Made of Sand

And I think that if you're in a situation where you have resources and people that want to see I mean they're giving to you because they want to enrich your life and if you already start giving it away it's like drinking a wine before it's had its chance to age. You know, you're popping your resources, you're tapping that energy before it's really had a chance to kinda generate and build, you know? Cuz you wanna just have all stuff behind. That's when I was saying like I had kids when it was time for me to give back because I had just tasted every wonderful thing that there was to taste, you know? And I'm like okay, I'm satisfied. I'm never gonna go, oh what if I had only cuz I've done it. I've done everything I wanted to do. And then, it's like you can devote yourself fully to that experience and not have regrets or feel held back or like you didn't quite get it all out of your system. Cuz this is the one time in your life when you have that opportunity. So, you've got your health and freedom, and all that gets great, yeah. It's so nice. >> [LAUGH] 

Experience

Let Your Wine Age

We quit our jobs and that was the last time that I had a boss. So that was 19 years ago. So tattooing kinda saved me. It fell into my lap, it was like a gift. And that is how I've been able to swing living the way I live. Because that's how I came to Nashville I traveled in a school bus. I'm tattooing all over the country. We'd walk into a bar, throw our portfolio on the bar. People would walk up and be like, dude, are you all tattoo artists? And yes, and we'll tattoo you for free if you hook us up with the five of your friends. And so then we'd go somewhere to their house and tattoo for two weeks, and so, I got lucky because I found something that was like a pop culture that was money making, on the rise of people's interest. And so, that's what made it possible for me to live the way I live. And I never made a fortune at it, though I could have, but I've been able to survive doing it. 

Chance

Saved By Pop Culture

And there’s like a, there’s kind of like a click that happens. We didn’t have any public art in Nashville, and here are all these graffiti artists and some of them are working victim restitution hours digging ditches. And here are these young people that want to basically express themselves to the community in a way that’s really beautiful, but there’s no avenue for it. The magic is finding those people who are inspired by the idea enough to make it happen. Because, I at this point, I never implemented the public art program. I met someone who had a strong enough interest in it. And I just kind of pretended to be their safety net. And kind of said yes. You can do this. You can totally do this. Here is, we're gonna talk to this person and it's, and that's where it starts to build community, because every time that spark happens and that rubber hits the road there, other people who are interested in that same thing just kind of come out the woodwork and it just starts building like that. 

Community

Inspiration

When Rubber Hits The Road

We all have an interest that is necessarily linked to our purpose as individuals and if we have the, and of course following that desire is going to be challenging because it's gonna challenge all the things that you guys talked about. The prior generation of course is gonna have a very different idea of what you should do with your time and the government doesn't want to be challenged. And there's a lot of challenges to do in it but if you can follow your desire forward and it becomes a really minute process too because you start making that same choice in every single thing you do. And you become kinda a master at it just like a painting. The more you do it, the easier it becomes, the more you see the times that you choose otherwise. So that litmus exists in us as our ability to define and live our purpose. And what happens is is when you start walking that path, you can then inspire other people to do the same thing. 

Desire

The Challenge of Desire

Every year we make an art car at laugh, and somebody donates their car and people paint it and glue on stuff. It's just, it's basically a plethora of opportunities to participate in creative activities that anybody can do. And, once you've spent all day doing it, suddenly there's like this subliminal shift. Where you've participated in enough art, even though you're maybe normally just checking people out at Walmart, or whatever, or just working some job that doesn't have necessarily a creative component. All of sudden you've done enough activities that you're like, well, you know that thing I did was pretty cool. Because one of the things I really like to see, is a return of that kindergarten mentality where everybody's an actor, a painter, a writer, a dancer. I mean, we all did all that stuff. And we still can, if we just didn't judge it and say, oh well that wasn't any good. That's the buzz kill. Was it good, you know? 

Kindergarten Mentality

And that's how I came to Ashville. I traveled in a school bus, um, tattooing all over the country. [Roadtripper] You went from traveling around the U.S. in a school bus tattooing people and...and then you run a non-profit now, so where was that transition for you? [Kitty] During that time, they had created an initiative called the Downtown Social Issues Task Force, and they were getting together to talk about panhandling and loitering and all these horrible things. And one of the things was graffiti, and I was like, "Don't tread on me." And I went up to their meeting and I was like, "What is this?" You know, "Who do you think you are?" And instead of being like, "Well, now we're gonna watch "you and all your friends, they were like, "Well sit down, "tell us what you think we ought to do." And I was like, "Well I think you should put up a legal wall "and let people paint and put it on the Internet." And they were like, "Really, that's very interesting, "tell us more." And I was like, "Really?" [roadtrippers laugh] [Kitty] "Really? Okay..." And they sucked me in and I ended up working with them for 18 months and we created these, um, recommendations for channeling that energy into like a more community building process. When you start walking that path, you can then inspire other people to do the same thing. The way that we're created "in God's image" is not that God has arms and legs, but that we are creators. And so when you are creating, you are in your most God-like state. 

Kitty Love

Art Activist/Executive Director

Videos

Kitty Love

Milestones

Education

Career

Career Roadmap

My work combines:

My work combines:

Art

Non-Profit Organizations

Working with Others

Kitty Love

Art Activist/Executive Director

Videos

Kitty Love

Milestones

Education

Career

Career Roadmap

My work combines:

My work combines:

Art

Non-Profit Organizations

Working with Others

Related Leaders

Ashfaq Ishaq

Rex Doty

Joan Baldwin

Alkistis Tsitouri

Beth Cornell

Bethany McGill