The Notorious K.A.I.

Awesome!
David Allen got to it before me, but there was a front-page article written about me in this week's UC Davis Aggie (the newspaper of the university). It's totally flattering and I still have no clue how they found out about me. I don't know anyone on the paper.
I am happy with the article (there is nothing like being misquoted in a public forum) and I think she translated most of what I said well. It must've been hard since I tend to GO ON about tattooing and my opinions about it. I think I also had a lot of ice tea at that point in the day.

It's also apparent that the interviewer and I got along rather well. I think I should probably use the article as my resume in the future. Or just something to carry around at parties and give it to people and say, "Look! I'm one hell of a girl!" Haha.

Kai Smart article in the Aggie



I DO think Jessica's story of tattoo artist conception is more interesting than mine. It's surely more representative of what women in tattooing have had to go through. Mine is very abnormal;
find amazing and little-known tattoo artist (Jess didn't even have an email address when I met her.) through personal connections who actually WANTS and is looking for an apprentice but has had no luck,
meet and hit it off pretty immediately ( the day we met I recognized her because she has the exact same haircut as I. Pretty funny. I'm just a foot taller than her),
realize that I can't apprentice and live at the same time so take a contract job in Antarctica to make a nest egg of money to live off of while I learn,
begin tattooing in Antarctica with equipment I brought with me for practice,
come home and spend 7 days a week at the tattoo shop!

Jess started in a gnarly bikered-out shop in Vacaville, and basically had to learn on her own. She was put into rotation as a full-time artist only three months into her apprenticeship. She has tattooed a hemopheliac (who didn't tell her) and penises (she's got good stories, but you have to pry them out), and lived to tell the tale.
When I started apprenticing with her it was at a typical agressive all-male shop. Jess had carved out her little space there by being a little queen (in the sense that her demeanor allowed for no jackoffs or sleaze) and being a damn good artist. She put in her time with bullshit and homophobes and racist bastards, and learned to tattoo amazingly by sheer force of will. She emerged unscathed, with her own shop, a fiance that is both a piercer and a wonderful guy, and a sunny outlook on life. Other people probably would have been made bitter and hardened by this experience, but not Jess. She believes in the art of it, sincerely and purely, She still gets excited about tattoos all the time, after 8 years. We get giddy just talking about color and designs.
Maybe I will write the article on her.
Hey, that's a great idea.

On an entirely different subject, I love Creative Commons. It has allowed me to find this font based on the handwriting of Edward Gorey, one of my favorite illustrators!
Download Gorey font here