With the smell of sawdust lingering in the air and the first layer of flooring and drywall up, the Nashua Center for the Arts is physically constructed.
While the project was in talks for the better part of a decade, and ground broke almost five years ago, seeing the modern building design, the 750-seat theater and the lights and sound systems being installed makes the project much more real.
Construction, according to Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess, is due in large part to Bank of America and the generous gift of $250,000 they gave in 2022. On Wednesday, Feb. 8, the bank has matched that amount, to give a total of half a million dollars for the project.
“When [Bank of America] stepped up for $250,000 and became a donor of a lobby … that really showed the community that there is a lot of interest,” said Richard Lannan, the president of Nashua Community Arts. With the new donation, the theater in the Nashua Center for the Arts will be called the Bank of New Hampshire Theater, said Lannan.
Lannan said he has been a champion for this project from the start, helping conceive the idea 10 years ago when Nashua Community Arts first pitched the prospect of a state-of-the-art theater in the downtown area. Lannan said a survey was conducted to ask members of the community if they wanted to see a theater built and if they thought it would be a good thing for downtown. With much positive feedback, the project was decided.
Choosing architects and contractors and designing the theater took two years, Lannan said. Construction began in 2020.
Now, only eight weeks from completion, Lannan is amazed that the project is so close to being finished.
“I’m in here every week,” said Lannan. “Even with that, I’ll be wondering, ‘Oh wow, when did they do that?’ It’s awesome.”
For now the stage is just concrete, the seats are in storage, and the reception area is matching shades of off-white walls and gray base layer flooring, but the image of a theater with state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems and a special type of floor that can hold seats or be used as a function hall, a standing-room-only pit or even a banquet area is coming to fruition.
“We are a destination now,” said Wendy Hunt, president of the Nashua Chamber of Commerce. “I personally cannot wait for April 1. [Visitors are] going to find out that we are state of the art in so many ways. Really, Nashua has it all.”
April 1 will be the official opening reception for the Nashua Center for the Arts, ahead of the first show coming to the theater, Winnie the Pooh, opening on April 6. Not all the shows will be plays, with a magician coming, several concerts, and a ballet rendition of Beauty and the Beast.
The reception is completely sold out.
“It feels good to come in and see things happening,” Lannan said, looking around the soon-to-be-filled theater. “I’ve been involved since the beginning. I can’t wait to start coming to shows.”
Winnie the Pooh Where: Nashua Center for the Arts, 201 Main St. When: Thursday, April 6, and Friday, April 7, at 6 p.m. Price: $39 to $69 Visit: nashuacenterforthearts.com
Featured photo: There won’t be a bad seat in the house at the Nashua Center for the Arts. Photo by Katelyn Sahagian.
Winter break (Feb. 27 through March 3 for many area schools) is coming on fast. Here are some of the camps planned to keep kids busy. Know of any vacation camps for February or April not mentioned here? Let us know at adiaz@hippopress.com.
• Action Kids at Brentwood Commons (112 Crawley Falls Road in Brentwood; brentwoodcommons.com, 642-7200) is holding a February vacation camp for kids ages 4 and older from Feb. 27 through March 3 with different themes for each day. Camp runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with an option for early or late care as well. Pricing is $85 per day, $400 for all five days, with early and late care costing $12 per day $50 per week and $15 per day $65 per week respectively.
• Young actors and actresses can participate in Bedford Youth Performing Co.’s (55 Route 101 in Bedford; bypc.org, 472-3894) winter musical camp, or the preschool February vacation camp. The musical camp will have kids acting in the classic tale of dogs to the rescue, 101 Dalmatians. At the end of the week the production will be filmed for the kids to bring home. The preschool camp will introduce toddlers and preschoolers to dance, music, performance and science through books and outdoor playtime.
• The Community Players of Concord’s Children’s Theatre Project will hold a musical theater camp to run Sunday, Feb. 26, through Friday, March 3, for kids ages 8 through 14. On Feb. 26 there will be a two-hour orientation session at the Players Studio (435 Josiah Bartlett Road in Concord), according to a press release. Monday through Friday, campers will rehearse for a performance of Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka Jr. which will be presented Friday evening at the Concord City Auditorium (where Friday’s day rehearsals will also take place). Tuition costs $225. Register at communityplayersofconcord.org/membership or contact director Karen Braz at k.braz@comcast.net with questions, the press release said.
• Get cooking with the Culinary Playground (16 Manning St. in Derry; culinary-playground.com, 339-1664). The cooking school is offering two types of cooking camps, a traditional cooking camp for kids ages 6 to 10 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and a teen baking camp for ages 12 and older from 2 to 5 p.m. One day costs $60, four days cost $240. There is limited availability for the morning sessions.
• The Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org, 669-6144) is holding an in-person art camp from Feb. 27 through March 3 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. for kids in kindergarten through grade 9. The camp, called Dreamscapes, will encourage kids to use art to express their daydreams, nighttime dreams and any dreams in between. The week of camp costs $315 for members, $350 for nonmembers. Register at currier.org.
• Girls, Inc. (administrative office at 1711 S. Willow St., Suite 5, in Manchester; 606-1705, girlsincnewhampshire.org) is hosting a February vacation campfor girls of all ages at both its Manchester (340 Varney St.; 623-1117) and Nashua (27 Burke St., 882-6256) locations, according to the website. Girls will have a chance to do activities like science experiments, arts and crafts, team-building workshops and more. Hours of the camp are 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and include breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack. Call to register and for pricing.
• McIntyre Ski Area (50 Chalet Way in Manchester; mcintyreskiarea.com, 622-6159) is hosting a ski campfor kids ages 4 to 6 and 6 to 12 from Feb. 27 through March 3. Kids will learn all the fundamentals of skiing in lessons with other kids their ages. Camp time for the younger session is from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., for the older group is from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Camp prices for five days are $345 for the younger session, $370 for the older kids.
• Kids ages 6 through 12 can enjoy nature at the New Hampshire Audubon’s McLane Center (84 Silk Farm Road in Concord; nhaudubon.org, 224-9909) for nature camp. Kids will learn more about local nature with hands-on activities, crafts, storytimes and more. The camp runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Feb 27 through March 3. Registration is $65 per day.
• Get that extra energy out at a three-day ninja camp at Ninja Challenge Hudson (14 Friars Dr. in Hudson; ninjahudson.com) from Tuesday, Feb. 28, to Thursday, March 2. Kids will climb, balance, jump and swing while learning different apparatuses. Camp runs from 9 a.m. to noon and costs $225.
• New Morning School (23 Back River Road in Bedford; newmorningschools.com, 669-3591) has vacation camp for kids ages 6 to 12 (kindergarteners and up) from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The camps feature themed clubs (such as basketball, Lego, art, comic books), according to the website. The cost is $75 per day or $325 per week.
• Seacoast United is hosting a February vacation soccer campat the Seacoast United Indoor Facility (10 Ferry St., Suite 105, in Concord) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a half-day option at noon as well. Kids ages 8 to 14 will learn more about their favorite sports, and run drills and practices to get even better. Camp with a half-day release costs $230, with a full-day release costs $320. Visit seacoastunited.com to register.
Nashua playwright’s production comes to the Concord stage
At the Hatbox in Concord, the community theater troupe Lend Me a Theatre is preparing the first production of The World Was Yours, by Nashua playwright William Ivers. Matthew Parent, director of The World Was Yours, said he was extremely excited to bring this play to life.
“It’s a great story about the value of art and what people think of art and whose opinion about art is right or not,” Parent said. “It’s this debate, and you can extract that to be about anything, not just art.”
This isn’t the first of Ivers’ plays to be produced, but it is the first time Lend Me a Theatre has produced an original and independent text.
In the play, three artists compete for the same grant: aging art professor Adley Schwartz, his young student Joy and guerilla graffiti artist Z-Jones, according to a press release. Watching the action from the ether are Bob Ross, Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol, the release said.
Parent, who is a new member to Lend Me a Theatre, said having an original play be his directorial debut is extremely exciting. He said it’s incredible that he is allowed a chance to put his own spin on the text, to work with the Ivers to realize his vision, and to work with actors to breathe life into characters that have never been portrayed before.
Even though this is the first performance of The World Was Yours, Parent said there is a very good chance that it won’t be the last. This show will have a reading done in New York City, and it has gathered interest from the Royal Court Theatre in London.
“It’s unusual for a community theater or nonprofessional theater to do new plays,” Parent said. “Usually they do shows that have been published and done before. In that respect, [The World Was Yours] is brave.”
The World Was Yours What: Original play by New Hampshire playwright William Ivers produced by Lend Me a Theatre Where: Hatbox Theatre, 270 Loudon Road in Concord When: Friday, Feb. 3, through Sunday, Feb. 19, with shows on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets: $22 for adults, $19 for seniors and students More info: hatboxnh.com
Intown Concord is bringing some post-holiday fun to the city with the annual Winter Festival, with ice sculpting competitions, unique food options and more starting on Friday, Jan. 27, at 3 p.m.
Haylie Stoddard, a representative from Intown Concord, one of the organizations that has partnered to run the festival for the last five years, said that this year will have a few new additions to the festivities.
“New this year we’ll have the Capitol Street warming hut and beer garden, and we’re excited to have that,” said Stoddard, adding that there is a lounge area in the tent as well, and the garden will serve local canned beers and drinks.
There will also be a dozen vendors, from media corporations to artisans. Stoddard said this was the first time in a while that the group had brought on vendors to the partnership.
The main event of the festival is the ice carving competitions, Stoddard said. This year the competitions will take place in front of the Statehouse. On Friday the sculptors will honor the sponsors of the festival with something inspired by the company’s logo or industry. Stoddard said that it used to be sculptures of the logos, but that proved to be too time-consuming for the smaller sculpting.
On Saturday, the six sculptors will spend the whole day working on creating the semi-permanent masterpieces. Stoddard said that it was important to the festival committee to give the sculptors as much free range as they wanted when it came to the creation of the frozen artwork. She said there is something magical about the ice and the way sculptors work it into their own vision.
“It brings uniqueness … during a colder time of year,” Stoddard said about the sculptures. She said it also gives people a chance to enjoy the winter weather. “Not everybody has the opportunity to get out, especially if they have a family and if they don’t do skiing or snowboarding. [The festival] gives a free option for families to get out and do something during the day and get some fresh air.”
Red River Theatres is partnering with the event this year and is showing family favorite Frozen (PG, 2013) on Saturday, Jan. 28, at 10 a.m. The Concord Public Library will host a snowy storytime that might feature everyone’s favorite ice queen and her younger sister.
The Black Ice Pond Hockey tournament,originally slated to coincide with the Festival, has been postponed to March 17 through March 19. According to Intown’s website, the O Steak & Seafood ice bar also has been postponed.
The winter festival is all about bringing the community together and outside during a time of year when most like to stay indoors, Stoddard said.
“It’s fun and something to do in the wintertime,” said Stoddard. “Get some fresh air and check out beautiful pieces of art. Even though it’s temporary, it’s exciting and unique.”
Concord Winter Festival Where: New Hampshire Statehouse, 107 N. Main St., Concord When: Friday, Jan. 27, from 3 to 9 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 28, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit: intownconcord.com
Concord Garden Club holds 20th annual Art in Bloom
Every year the Concord Garden Club celebrates the winter with its Art in Bloom event. This year’s show features 23 bouquets inspired by the creations of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen.
“It’s not all paintings, textiles, pottery,” said club president Nancy Betchart. “It’s interesting to see the creativity and to see what people use to come up with arrangements.”
Betchart’s own project was inspired by a birch tree lamp with a red and orange shade. Betchart said that she and her partner took a few hiking trips in preparation to mimic the lamp with their vase, covering the glass holder with birch tree bark and arranging a colorful bouquet in the vases.
Other projects florists have selected for inspiration in years past have been hand-sewn clothing, pillows, woodworking and more. Betchart said it’s not just about capturing the visual representation of the craft, but it could be the color palette, the textures or even the feeling that it evokes in the club member.
The hardest part of the show, after selecting a craft, is sourcing the flowers for the arrangement, Betchart said. The wintertime makes it challenging to find the vibrant blooms and specific flowers the arrangers might be looking for. Betchart said she’d seen club members use flowers from a grocery store in a pinch.
“Garden club members aren’t professional florists,” Betchart said. “It’s just a lot of fun. It’s a way to develop a new friendship and just an opportunity to be creative.”
One of the most creative displays Betchart ever saw, she said, was when a garden club member created a flower cushion to match a throw pillow. She said the florist copied the design and texture of the craft, and it was something she never would have thought of.
Each bouquet will be on display next to the item that inspired it. The display will have a plaque that tells viewers what flowers and techniques were used in the making of the bouquet, and a sign explaining the item that inspired it.
Garden club members who participated in creating the bouquets will be at the gallery for the opening day, Thursday, Jan. 26, at 1 p.m. to talk about their creations and why they were inspired by the crafts they chose.
“It’s a nice way to encourage people to see some creative things and to get out and mingle and see the nice crafts artisans are making,” Betchart said.
The Concord Garden Club’s Art in Bloom Where: 49 S. Main St., Concord When: Thursday, Jan. 26, 1 to 5 p.m.; Friday, Jan. 27, and Saturday, Jan. 28, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit: concordgardenclubnh.com
Featured photo: Art in Bloom photos courtesy of Nancy Betchart.
A look at New Hampshire’s world of tattoo artistry
By Katelyn Sahagian and Jack Walsh
listings@admin
Live Free or Die Tattoo Expo Where: DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown, 700 Elm St., Manchester When: Friday, July 22, 5 p.m. to midnight; Saturday, July 23, 11 a.m. to midnight, and Sunday, July 24, noon to 8 p.m. Cost: $15 for a single-day pass, $20 for a two-day pass, or $25 for a three-day pass Visit: livefreeordietattoo.com
On Friday, July 15, the air was buzzing with more than just the whir of tattoo machines at Tattoo Angus and Spider-Bite, Inc., a joint tattoo and body piercing shop in Manchester. Anticipation grew as artists and apprentices scurried across the main floor — those not currently getting inked or pierced looked through flash sheets and pointed out elegantly crafted adornments, occasionally stooping to pet one of the “shop dogs,” a black-and-white-colored pit bull named Bijou.
It’s nearly time for the long-awaited return of the Live Free or Die Tattoo Expo — the 14th annual event is a three-day affair packed with local vendors, contests and live music, returning to the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown from Friday, July 22, through Sunday, July 24.
The largest event of its kind in the Granite State, the expo originally started in 2007 but hasn’t been held since 2019. Organizer Jon Thomas, who is also the owner of Tattoo Angus and Spider-Bite, said he never imagined it would be as successful as it has become.
“An hour before the show, people started piling up and I saw this huge line out there, and that feeling was amazing,” Thomas said. “We had a sold-out show.”
The expo will be a little smaller this time around, Thomas said, but there will still be more than 100 booths set up. Sideshows by Doctor Finnigan’s Circus and burlesque performer Marlo Marquis are also planned, as well as the return of the ever popular pin-up pageant.
“For the tattoo contest and pin-up contests, we went back to the classics,” Thomas said, adding that some past themes have complicated things. “It takes [the models] a lot more work. They all do a decent job, but every time we do a classic pin-up, it goes back four times bigger.”
Artists can participate in different competitions, like Best Cover-up, Best Half-Sleeve and Best Portrait in either color or black and gray. Each of the expo’s three days will culminate with an artist being awarded the Best Tattoo of the Day.
Smaller tattoos like scripts and dates, as well as images chosen from flash sheets, will make up most of the walk-in tattooing opportunities at the expo. Thomas said that a few of the artists will be fully booked for the competitions. He added that even with the smaller number of booths there will be no shortage of artists willing to do some quick work.
Thomas is even hosting a party at Angel City Music Hall, a bar below his shop, with a complimentary limo service to take people from the expo to there and back. There will also be live music, including performances from Bar Hoppers and The Dilemma.
Tattoo by Sean Ambrose
Meet the artist Sean Ambrose, Arrows & Embers Tattoo 117 Manchester St., Suite 3, Concord, 988-6067, arrowsandemberstattoo.com Years of experience: 12 Appointments: arrowsandemberstattoo.com/contact Ambrose started his first apprenticeship at the age of 18. “I knew I was going to be a tattoo artist from an early age,” he said. “It was meant to be.” Having opened Arrows and Embers in 2010, Ambrose has gone on to win awards and accolades, continuing to do what he loves today. As for his style, it’s hard to pin down. “I work in any style that is beautiful,” he said. “I follow my instincts, draw from classical art sources, any piece of art has a recipe, like baking a cake, more so than being a magical experience.”
Tattoo by Jo-Jo Clark
Meet the artist Jo-Jo Clark, Scaredy Cat Ink Tattoo 181 Route 13, Brookline, 347-8980, scaredycatinktattoo.com Years of experience: 17 Appointments: scaredycatinktattoo.com (scroll down to the contact form) Originally from Maine, Clark has been tattooing since 2005, opening Scaredy Cat Ink in 2018. Working in a lot of different styles, she specializes in watercolor tattoos, preferring to do things the old-fashioned way. “I like to sit down with the client and do an in-person consultation,” she said. “I love the opportunity to sit down with them and design it for them in the studio. That way any changes can be made right there, instead of messaging back and forth.”
Tattoo by Sami “Moxi” Monoxelos
Meet the artist Sami “Moxi” Monoxelos, Scorpion Tattooing 10 Manchester Road, Derry, 434-4798, scorpiontattooing.com Years of experience: 4 1/2 Appointments: smoxietattoo@gmail.com (not currently accepting bookings) Monoxelos, who dresses up as her favorite characters from different fandoms and attends different conventions, specializes in doing fandom and anime tattoos. While she isn’t open for booking, her shop takes walk-ins and bookings with other artists.
A rapidly growing culture
Thomas organized the first Live Free or Die Tattoo Expo just one year after tattooing became legal in Manchester. In fact, he was a major part of getting that legislation passed in 2006.
“I tried to tell [the court] how safe shops would be, instead of people getting tattooed in basements,” he said. “I had Spider-Bite already. I showed them my aftercare sheets and other stuff. They finally broke down and gave it to me.”
A major part of tattooing is getting an apprenticeship. According to the Board of Body Art Practitioners, apprenticeships are required in New Hampshire for tattoo artists to become licensed. Apprenticeships must last at least a year, but most will extend for longer until the training artist is confident in their apprentice’s abilities.
Paul Teves of Blue Iris Tattoo in Merrimack has been practicing the art for more than 20 years in New Hampshire. Back then, Teves said, there was a huge social taboo hanging over the heads of artists and people covered with tattoos alike.
“When I first started, [tattoos were] really frowned upon,” Teves said. “I remember when older women would get up and sit on the other side of the bus from me. Now you can’t go [to] the hospital without seeing a nurse with a sleeve.”
Teves will be one of the featured artists at the expo. He said he is glad to see how the art form and its overall reception have evolved tremendously over the last few years.
Tattoo by Abe Hilerio
Meet the artist Abe Hilerio, Tat2abe 100 Main St., Nashua, 341-0145, tat2abe.com Years of experience: 23 Appointments: Made via phone To Hilerio, tattooing is more than just a profession — it’s his passion. He treats every day of work as a chance to better his skills and hone his craft, as well as making the best art he can for his clients. He specializes in black and gray realism tattoos, especially portraiture. Tat2abe, his shop, only accepts clients via appointment.
Abe Hilerio of Tat2abe, a private studio in Nashua, said tattooing has changed drastically since he began back in 1999. His career started in his home state of Massachusetts, where it was illegal for people without medical degrees to tattoo up until the year 2000.
“Back then tattooing wasn’t popular,” Hilerio said. “There were no reality shows, [and] it was more of an underground type of thing. It was still kind of cliché.”
Hilerio gained an apprenticeship by word of mouth — a friend boasted of his talents in illustration — as there was no social media for him to share his work.
Now, Hilerio said that tattooing has grown in acceptance, crediting the popularity of reality television shows. He said they have shaped the current industry and have shown the world the true diversity in art surrounding each tattoo artist and piece.
Hilerio spends hours studying and drawing his designs to perfection for each of his clients. He only takes on one client per day so that he can maintain complete focus.
“Everybody wants custom [tattoos], so we have to sit there and draw, and sometimes we have to figure out what it is the client wants us to do,” Hilerio said. “That takes a lot of time.”
Sami “Moxie” Monoxelos of Scorpion Tattooing in Derry said that in recent years tattoo culture has changed for the better. She started her career as an art student at Maine College of Art before transitioning to skin canvases.
“Almost any tattoo shop that I’ll go into, it doesn’t matter what walk of life, who you are, where you come from, [or] what you identify as, people are super accepting of it,” Monoxelos said.
Lloyd Goodwin of Magic Moon Tattoo in Nashua said that being personable is a huge part of the process nowadays, especially in having recurring clients.
“The business has changed a lot,” Goodwin said. “It used to be that somebody would come in, [and] they’d sit down, be quiet and get the tattoo.”
Originally taking up illustration in his early years, Goodwin worked in retail when he was told that he could make money in tattooing by an admirer of his art. Tattooing quickly became his passion, and he has been giving people permanent art for six years.
Tattoo by Paul Teves
Meet the artist Paul Teves, Blue Iris Tattoo 416 Daniel Webster Hwy., Merrimack, 505-7701, blueiristattoo.com Years of experience: 23 Appointments: ptevesbookings@outlook.com Teves received his first tattoo at the age of 13 and has been in love with the artform ever since. He began his career as a self-taught tattooer in 1999. A few years later he completed his apprenticeship in Massachusetts under longtime artist Mulysa Mayhem, ultimately returning to New Hampshire to fulfill his dream of owning his own shop. Teves owns Blue Iris Tattoos, where he is also a principal artist. The shop is by appointment only.
Tattoo by Sarah Arnold
Meet the artist Sarah Arnold, Apothecary Tattoo 141 Route 101A, Unit M4, Amherst, 521-7491, apothecarytattoonh.com Years of experience: 8 Appointments: apothecarytattoonh.com/contact/ Arnold, who has been fascinated with art and drawing her whole life, said transitioning to tattooing in 2014 felt like a natural extension of that passion. She opened Apothecary Tattoo in 2020 as a joint tattoo shop and fine art gallery. She specializes in neo-traditional, illustrative, and cartoon tattoos. Apothecary Tattoo is open for walk-ins, as well as booked appointments for larger pieces.
Tattooing trends
While she favors creating unique fandom and anime pieces for her clients, Monoxelos said she has noticed over her four-and-a-half-year career that tattooing trends change frequently. Right now, she is seeing a spike in people requesting floral pieces.
“There’s so much that you can do with it, too. It flows naturally with the body, and it usually looks really good,” she said. She explained that any type of plant life, from forests to flowers, is considered a floral tattoo. “Black and gray floral, color floral, floral with a pet portrait, I’d say, [is] the going trend right now.”
Sarah Arnold, an artist at Apothecary Tattoos in Amherst, said that she’s seen a lot of tattoo trends come from social media.
“On TikTok, there was a girl [with] five butterflies going from her hand up her arm and the amount of people who wanted this tattoo was staggering,” Arnold said. “It was pretty, but I kept thinking, ‘Why do you all want the same thing?’”
Arnold said she has been obsessed with tattoos since she was 18, when she got her first piece done. She has been designing art and inking people since 2014, but said she has never before seen people embracing the art form like they are now.
“Everybody is getting tattoos now,” she said. “Everybody is going straight for hand, neck, face and that used to be the last thing you’d get done. You’d only do those spots when you ran out of space.”
Arnold said she won’t do faces, hands or necks for people unless they are already heavily covered. She said that a lot of young people don’t fully grasp the implications of what having tattoos in those spots could mean in the future.
A piece of advice Arnold has for people who are new to getting tattoos is for clients to not worry about offending artists if they don’t like the stencil. Arnold said that there’s no harm in turning away a drawing, because it’s the client’s body that will be permanently changed.
“Say something when you’re upset with the drawing. We have to look at it for a couple hours. You have to look at it for the rest of your life,” Arnold said. She added that offending an artist might be uncomfortable, but it outweighs the other option. “Their feelings will be fixed in an hour when they’ve forgotten you. You’d be stuck with a tattoo that you don’t want.”
Meet the artist Lloyd Goodwin, Magic Moon Tattoo 38C E. Hollis St., Nashua, 320-9616, magicmoontattoo.com Years of experience: 7 Appointments: form.jotform.com/magicmoontattoo/tattoo Goodwin has been drawing and creating illustrations his whole life. While working in retail he was encouraged to take the plunge into tattooing, and he’s never looked back. Goodwin specializes in neo-traditional but is comfortable with all styles of tattooing. Magic Moon Tattoo does not take walk-in clients.
Tattoo by Dave McCormick
Meet the artist Dave McCormick, Tattoo Angus 179 Elm St., Unit C, Manchester, 935-9398, tattooangus.com Years of experience: 27 Appointments: fleshink@yahoo.com McCormick does a mix of styles but said he specializes in photorealism and more classic styles. His process for designing a tattoo with a client is simple: “They just have to put me on a path,” he said. McCormick had an interesting start to his tattooing career. ”My wife bought me a ‘tattoo starter kit,’ with our tax money that we desperately needed to pay bills that year, and she said, ‘Get good quick,’” he said. “27 years later I’m still doing it.”
When it comes to trends, Goodwin said that there are often waves. He said that a lot of what people consider hot tattoos is based on the art notable celebrities get done.
“Rihanna’s pharaoh bird came out and that really set the trend for sternum tattoos,” Goodwin said. “It’s all based on what people see in the media.”
Goodwin added that now, more people are doing research on who they want to use as an artist rather than walking into a shop and picking the first artist that they happen to speak with.
Birth flowers, mandalas, dates and memorial tattoos take up about 30 to 40 percent of Goodwin’s business. The other 60 to 70 percent, he said, is based on his own creativity — he works with clients to design art that fits their body and will accommodate their special requests.
“People are beginning to see [the value of] going to see a specific artist because of the quality of the work, in comparison to just going everywhere and getting a bunch of work,” Goodwin said. “When I first started in the industry, it was more or less flash tattoos that people were doing.”
Despite the growing demand for custom tattoos, Arnold said that there isn’t any hostility amongst artists that she’s noticed in New Hampshire. She said that she’ll often refer people who are looking to get mandalas done to artists she knows who will excel at the geometric style.
“I feel we’re super lucky to have so many great artists concentrated in such a small state,” Arnold said. She said that there is competition, but it pushes her and other artists to do the best they can. “I feel like the community between artists … [is] not negative and super competitive in a bad way. We’re all proud of the accomplishments of each other.”
Tattooing styles Source: Inked Magazine, inkedmag.com • American traditional: A popular style of tattoo with thick black outlines, a minimal but bold color palette, and iconic tattoo imagery like skulls, snakes, knives, swallows and anchors. • Black and gray: A style of tattooing that only utilizes black ink. The ink is diluted with water to get the gray tones for shading and highlighting. • Cosmetic tattoo: A type of tattoo that is used to enhance features, much like make up. Common types are microblading, which is done to fill out eyebrows, as well as permanent lip and eye liner. • Cover-up: A tattoo designed to hide an older tattoo in the new one. A good cover-up will completely hide the old tattoo through strategic linework and color. • Geometric: A style of tattooing that uses geometric shapes and linework with no shading. Mandalas are a popular form of geometric tattoo. • Illustrative: A style of tattooing that combines aspects of realism and American traditional. It uses bold outlines and realistic shading to depict illustration designs.
