There was no hesitation when preschool teacher Alex Campbell began the process of filling her lower leg with a bright orange koi swimming in a blue pond of labyr-inthine waves. The intricate tattoo is not hidden under schoolmarm tights or practical slacks. Instead it has become part of the lesson plan in her class at Corner Co-op Nursery School in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Campbell's students followed the process of their teacher getting a tattoo firsthand -- or as close as a four-year-old can get to firsthand without stepping into a tattoo parlor. They talked about sketching, needles, and, most importantly, not touching Campbell's leg the day after she was tattooed.
Campbell, who seldom wore skirts before getting her calf tattooed, has switched over to a wardrobe that is far more skirt-friendly to display her pricey body art. Her next step is getting a full arm tattoo (those in the know refer to a full arm tattoo as a sleeve).
"I asked a few parents about how they'd feel about a teacher with tattoos on her arm, and they were fine with it," the 37-year-old Brookline resident says.
As tattooing reaches a mainstream crest thanks to shows such as Miami Ink, Inked, and even Meet the Barkers and Prison Break, professionals such as Campbell are bringing more elaborate -- and more visible -- body art into the workplace. For Campbell, the tattoos were a non-issue at school, and even became a teaching tool that resonated with the tykes in her class. In the current tattoo-friendly climate, a number of white collar professionals are finding that body art is a helpful tool at the office -- a way to give a subtle nod and a wink to co-workers or clients that they run with a crowd that owns the new Arctic Monkeys CD or lives a life with more attitude and flair than most. In some workplace circles, visible tattoos have become the new power suit.
"Usually the tattoos are an asset," says Sean Cunningham, a creative director at Mullen Advertising in Wenham who has an entire arm solidly tattooed. "Because of what I do here, people are fine with tattoos. Sometimes I actually think they feel better when they see my arm because they almost expect an artist to be tattooed."
These are not spur-of-the-moment tattoos that happen after a night on the town consuming mug after mug of liquid confidence. At Fat Ram's Pumpkin Tattoo in Jamaica Plain, where Campbell had her koi tattooed, it takes six months to procure an appointment with owner Ram Hannan. He charges US$200 an hour for his time, and large tattoos take several hours to complete in sessions spread over multiple days. The investment, which inevitably totals in the thousands of dollars, is often an important form of self-expression for those who endure the needle for long stretches. But for some, the unforeseen benefit is an increased level of cache at work.
"The taboo has been broken," says Ami James, whose tattoo parlor is the focus of the TLC reality show Miami Ink. "It's not just our show, but a lot of factors have eased the stigma. Everywhere you look, football players, basketball players, rock stars are tattooed. I think what Miami Ink has done is show that lots of ordinary people are getting them too. We see every kind of person in the shop."
Joe Summers Jr., a psychiatric evaluator with Cape Cod Hospital who has two full tattooed sleeves, has found his ink to be a helpful tool when working with patients. A burly, goateed former marine who looks as if he could break open a coconut with his bare hands and then crush it into a pina colada, Summers makes no attempt to cover his tattoos at work. He's found that the tattoos put clients at ease during psychiatric evaluations.
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