Tattoo parlor opens on the square

Danny's Ancient Art Tattoo and Body Piercing opened its new location at 122 W. Sixth St. across from the courthouse earlier this month. Despite the opening of Ancient Art downtown, area tattoo parlor owners said they are optimistic, considering the numerous shops in the area. \nAncient Art was formerly located in Brazil, Ind., but made the decision to move to Bloomington because of its advantageous location and better competitive market. \nAncient Art is a corporate-owned tattoo parlor that has four locations in Virginia, West Virginia and Indiana. Danny Fowler, founder of Ancient Art, also owns Time Machine Inc., a tattoo machine manufacturing and distributing company located in Roanoke, Va. \nAfter three months of complete renovation, Ancient Arts had its grand opening in Bloomington March 2. \n"The competition that Ancient Art or any tattoo parlor brings will be healthy for the business," said Shannon Simpson, owner of Big Red's Genuine Tattoo Parlor. "I would like to see the continuation of clean tattoo businesses in the area. It does not look good when people open a hack shop."\nTalisha Coppock, director of the Downtown Bloomington Commission, commented on the appeal tattoo parlors have in the downtown community. \n"I find tattooing to be a sort of trend or fad, and it seems to be a popular business in town," she said. "I don't find there to be any need for concern about the effect tattoo parlors will have on businesses. Bloomington prides itself on its diversity and has a reputation of having unique businesses that seem to find their niche in the community. The key to being a successful business downtown is to keep customers coming back and to have a presentable store."\nMark Ascheman, district manager of Ancient Art Midwest division, has a four-man team in Bloomington, consisting of two tattoo artists and two piercing artists. Chase Chovan, 32, head tattoo artist, moved recently from Virginia. He decided to take up the opportunity to work here in Bloomington. \nChovan has been tattooing for nine years and has worked in three other Ancient Art locations. He also holds a fine arts degree from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Nixxin Gallagher, 26, head piercing artist, also has nine years of experience and has owned his own tattoo and body piercing in West Virginia. \n"Piercing was my first love," he said. \nAscheman and Simpson noted that since Sept. 11 the tattooing business has declined significantly but has made a slow comeback. \n"People were not willing to spend money because of job losses and because it is considered a sort of luxury," Ascheman said.\nBrian Passwaiter, owner of Skinquake Precision Tattooing and Body Piercing, disagreed. \n"There was some decline in business, but for the most part the only thing that changed was that I was tattooing more patriotic symbols," he said. "For Bloomington's population, the amount of tattoo parlors in the surrounding area is overwhelming. This is making the tattoo industry an extremely competitive business, but even though more tattoo parlors have opened, I see no decline in my business." \nAlthough the state of Indiana does not require tattoo parlors to be medically licensed, Ascheman said that Ancient Art requires all artists to be American Red Cross certified in first aid, CPR, blood borne pathogens and disease transmission. \n"This is for the customer's and employee's safety," he said. \nThe once-taboo practice of body art has continued to gain a broader acceptance into mainstream society.\n"Tattooing is an art form of body decoration and modification that has been practiced for thousands of years. It was an ancient form of medicinal techniques for applying medicines and for purposes of tribal identification," Ascheman said. \nChase said that people are sometimes hesitant to get tattooed because of the pain and because it is permanently on your body. \n"Once you get past that first tattoo, you realize that it's not as painful. It's also hard to find people with just one tattoo." Chase said, laughing. "People also worry about what the tattoo is going to look like when they're 80. Who cares what you look like when you're eighty? Have you ever seen an attractive 80-year old"