I am a lifelong artist and university professor with a passion for blending the historic and symbolic meaning of tattooing with clients’ ideas. I started my tattooing journey in a street shop where I worked evenings after teaching, and where I learned to tattoo ‘whatever walks through the door.’ When I opened my private studio, I knew I eventually wanted to create a community space for other artists where we could make affirming art for people while redefining a more sustainable approach to education in tattooing. I opened Siren & Song with these goals in mind.

I consider tattooing to be a profound form of energetic exchange between the artist and the person being tattooed. The experience condenses many of life’s most dramatic elements into a singular moment - pain, joy, blood, death and rebirth.  No matter how many tattoos I’ve done, or how simple or complex the drawing, to be trusted with leaving a permanent marker on the body that reflects a person’s hopes, desires, and imagination is extremely humbling. As a tattooer in Hawai’i inspired by classic and traditional designs, it is important for me to continue to educate myself on the complex encounters that influence this particular art form, from late 18th and early 19th century mariner contact with Pacific islander tattooing practices to contemporary military tattooing on the islands today.