A Different Type of Art Shop

I have been running dry as far as topics go recently. There few things I want to write about and so I haven't really been writing. To get out of this funk i grabbed my camera and set out on foot around the town. This, by the way, is also a recommended practice just to find out what new is going on around some of the lesser frequented parts of the city.

Towards the end of my walk I come across a man and his wife and children all standing outside of a new shop at Clinch and Locust. The man turned out to be Dave, the owner of Ace High Tattoo.



Dave.

Dave is well known in the Knoxville area tattoo scene (of which i know woefully little) and has recently moved from his former location of Kingston and Carr to our little slice of urban heaven. Almost literally in the shadow of the Sunsphere, Ace High is the first tattoo parlor within the downtown area (as far as I can tell) and has some great and unique qualities.

First, Dave has a gift for chatting. That is important as I, being a non-tattooed wigster in my track jacket, could easily have been growled away by a man with a tattoo that says "We The People" on his neck (it could have said "I love to cuddle" and I still would have been intimidated), but instead he proceeded to tell me will all gusto about his transition to the downtown area and how happy he was to be here.



A Sign.


Ace High has been open for a little over a week and seems to already be drawing in quite the clientele. The big glass windows make the shop both welcoming and an attraction as you can go by and just watch people get tattooed. in fact, Dave encourages you to just walk by and watch or come in and watch. It's a very welcoming environment, and pleasantly short on snakes curling around knives driven into the heart of large chested women.

There are a few odds and ends to finish out the shop for aesthetic purposes and Dave has invited me to come back once that is done. I just may take him up on that and who knows, perhaps I'll get a little glam-rock Sunsphere tattooed on me for safe keeping.



Inside.



Window Shopping.