SUMMERSIDE – Every few seconds the buzzing stops, Aron Scott dips his tattooing needle into the ink and points it toward the person sitting the chair across from him.
“Aron’s art inspired this piece,” said Josh Gallant, the person in the chair, looking down at the newly inked skull with tentacles on his upper right arm.
Recently, Scott partnered with Griffen Dunsmore and Oliver Wassef to open their own tattoo artist co-operative on First Street, Ink City Tattoo.
“We didn’t want to have one owner or one boss. We’re all independent artists coming together under one roof,” said Scott, dipping the needle back into the ink.
Scott owned another tattoo shop from 2010 to 2016, the popular spot known as Artist’s Ink. Although he sold the business, the three artists continued to work there.
Speaking for the trio at Ink City Tattoo Scott explained, “Griffen and I felt it was time to work for ourselves. We wanted to exploit the freedoms that come with this job.”
“It was appealing to put everything back into the hands of artists, who have to be on point every day for two, three, four, sometimes six hours at a time.”
Scott says getting the new shop up and running was hectic.
“We were in the process of getting out of the old spot while trying to get into this location, which was being renovated all while trying not to back up our client schedule too much.”
He added, “It was also really exciting. We saw the location and we saw the potential it had to be a tattoo shop. It’s open and bright.”
It was important that the shop stay in the downtown area, too.
“It’s the area where all the funky businesses are, and we wanted to stay here.”
The name of the new shop came from spit-balling ideas with Dunsmore, said Scott.
“All of a sudden I said Ink City Tattoo and we both new that was it. We didn’t want anything cliché, but we also wanted a classic sounding tattoo shop name.”
Scott hopes the new space grows into a creative, open and free-thinking place.
“In this line of work, the space you’re working in can’t be oppressive. We want the freedom of our surroundings to match the freedom of our art.”
Ink City Tattoo details
- Aron Scott, artist
- Griffen Dunsmore, artist
- Oliver Wassef, artist
- 281 First Street, Summerside
- Hours of Operation: Tuesday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- 902-724-2879
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkcitytattoos/
