Tattoos are often associated with skulls or cherries or dice, and they can be simple or elaborate — but often generic.
That’s not the case with Creston tattoo artist Gerry Eyre, who goes above and beyond, with many pieces looking like they’ve jumped off the sketchpad or canvas and onto a limb or torso.
Detailed, and with fine lines, his work includes modern spins on traditional designs, as well as portraits and more realistic images, much of it made possible with the wide range of colours available nowadays — he has a set of about 75.
“The fine art side is way more incorporated,” Eyre said.
But for Eyre, who grew up in a Christian household, it was the edginess of the eagle and flames associated with bikers’ tattoos that attracted him to the art. He did some drawings, which his brother showed to a Spokane, Wash., tattoo artist, who was suitably impressed.
When the Creston-raised Eyre, who had long enjoyed art — “I’ve had a pencil in my hand since I was two years old,” he said — decided to attend Calgary’s Alberta College of Art, his brother saw an opportunity.
“When I became a teenager and was going to art school, my brother and his friends were pushing me to get into it,” Eyre recalled.
It took a while before Eyre made it happen. He moved back to Creston 14 years ago and worked in home support before apprenticing to become a tattoo artist, but never dreamed that it would turn into full-time work.
Six year later, it has, and he’s built up a clientele from as far away as Fort McMurray, Alta. Between one-third and one-half of his clients are from out of town, thanks to the publicity from social networking — when one client posted a picture of her tattoo on Facebook, Eyre had nearly a dozen calls over the next week. Of course, time is of the essence for out-of-town clients, which can make for some very extended sessions — over the course of two days, a Kelowna man spent 19.5 hours in Eyre`s studio.
While bikers are a tattoo artist’s stereotypical clientele, that is no longer the case.
“I have done tattoos on teachers, doctors, lawyers — people you don’t normally think of getting tattoos,” he said.
Clients have ranged in age from 16 to 75, and come for a variety of reasons: to mark a milestone, create a memorial or simply have Eyre’s artwork on their body.
Unlike many tattoo parlours, Eyre doesn’t simply copy stock images — known as flash — onto new clients. He designs each tattoo from scratch, with the help of his customers.
“Everything is all custom work and one-offs,” he said. “I don’t mind people bringing in reference work, but I always try to put a different twist on it.
“If someone wants something a certain way, even if it isn’t my vision, I’ll accommodate them. I try to visually communicate what they’re thinking.”
That’s been Eyre’s goal from day one.
“Even that first year, I was overwhelmed with how many people trusted me to do what they wanted,” he said.
He noted, however, that he had to do many retouches to his work that year, and still does a couple each year — customer satisfaction is key, so he’s happy to touch things up.
And he’s passing on his love of the art — his teenaged son, Skylar, is also an accomplished artist, who has done some tattooing himself — at the same time as he’s giving customers a one-of-a-kind experience that will last a lifetime.
“People give me a lot of creative freedom,” he said. “To be able to use my art to help someone express something is great, for sure.”
For more information, visit Gerry Eyre’s Facebook page here.
