Abbotsford’s Tanya Loewen is recognized throughout the Fraser Valley as one of the top tattoo artists in her field.
The mother of four is also a published author and talented painter, but she’s now looking to add Inked cover girl to her impressive and unique resume.
The Inked cover girl search is seeking a new model to highlight the pages of the popular magazine. The winner will receive $25,000 and get an all- -expense-paid trip to join celebrity photographer Christopher Kolk and his style team for a cover shoot.
Voting is all done online and a Facebook account is needed. There is also the ability to purchase votes for your favourite potential cover model, with a portion of those proceeds going towards the MusiCares program.
To vote for Loewen, visit cover.inkedmag.com/2021/tanya-4.
Loewen, who currently works out of Abbotsford’s Van Bree Tattoo in downtown Abbotsford, studied painting and photography at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, but marriage and a child at a young age prevented her from completing her schooling there.
Years later after a divorce, Loewen was offered a tattoo apprentice opportunity and took a leap of faith into the industry.
“I threw all my eggs into one basket and started tattooing,” she said. “And it was a bit of a risk because I was a single mom at the time and we did not have a lot. So it was scary at first because I didn’t know if I would be able to provide my daughter with everything we needed.”
That leap into tattooing occurred in the summer of 2011, and almost 10 years later she has developed a large client base and has worked in several locations in the Fraser Valley. She has also found another partner and is now a mother to his two kids, and they also have a child of their own.
She said the $25,000 would be a way to aid her children in their post-secondary studies and also help her complete her degree.
She said she loves her job, but it unfortunately is not something you can do forever.
“It would be nice to finish that so I could fall back on something else,” she said.
Loewen has spent the majority of her life in Abbotsford, graduating from Robert Bateman Secondary School in 2000. She shared that she is the only member of her family that doesn’t work on a farm, with her family holding deep roots in Abbotsford.
She personally has both of her arms and the side of her body done, as well as some art on her legs. She also has her armpits tattooed – which she said is the most painful.
She said if she wins the big prize she may also want to get a back piece done, as her back is currently free of any tattoos.
Loewen has also recently started offering free tattoo cover-ups on anyone who has a racist or hate speech tattoo they no longer support. She said it’s a way to remove some hate in the world.
Loewen’s artwork was also featured this summer, as she and her partner created chalk drawings on many sidewalks of downtown Abbotsford.
The first round of voting concludes on Thursday at 11:59 p.m., with the top 15 advancing from each group advancing. Voting continues until the cover girl is chosen on March 11.
For more on Loewen, visit instagram.com/tatloewen.
