Traveling abroad expanded our horizons, literally & figuratively. Europe in 1983, the era of Reagan , & Marines in Lebanon, was distinctly anti-American, Graffiti on Crete called for removal of the US Air force base there. We became acquainted with an Air force nurse living off base, and added Stars & Stripes to the International Herald for our news feed, we even got to see a Star Wars movie on base, a distinctly surreal experience- with Air force personal standing for the National anthem before the show. We spent the summer shopping for & cooking Traditional Greek food for American foodie tourists, who arrived from their hotel for morning classes, with wine flowing before & during the lunch we prepared as it was demonstrated. We spent our free time with walks around the village. Touring the island, swimming in the Mediterranean, Reading, and drawing.
Leaving Crete we took the train from Athens & a boat to Brindisi, Italy. An overnight train to Rome put us in the city as masses were gathering for political rallies. We spent most of our time there walking, viewing art & architecture, and getting to know the famous cats of Rome. Ending up in London in the fall we ‘let a flat’ for a month. Our first order of business was upgrading our wardrobe for the cooler weather, exploring the open air markets and resale shops. We spent the month touring museums and galleries, hearing live music & theatre, drinking ales & stouts, eating fish & chips, Cornish pasties, Scotch eggs, Shepard's pie, Bangers & Mash, and getting our fill of British Television.
During our Greek cooking school experience our Host/Chef told us she was convinced that we ought to be living in “the city” meaning San Francisco, her home base. The London experience convinced us that the vitality of city life was compelling, but having been poor students in San Francisco briefly, we knew that we would need to earn more money to take advantage of city life. On the eve of that momentous & ominous date 1984, we arrived back in the Bay area in time to poster Palo Alto with a new years greeting featuring Ronald Reagan as “BIG BROTHER”. We regrouped & eventually located a small apartment in the mission district and jobs. Tanya was pulling Espresso at a cafe, & then baking the graveyard shift at a Noe Valley bakery, I worked at a small print shop blocks from LYLE TUTTLE’s 7th & Market street Tattoo studio, and Tattoo Art Museum and used my lunch breaks to deepen ties with the Tattoo scene. As I slowly honed my Tattoo skills, I began donating my time to production of the quarterly journal, The Tattoo Historian that Lyle was publishing, eventually he began paying me a stipend in appreciation. Laid off from the temporary position at the printshop, I had a difficult time finding another job, commuting briefly by train to fill in at the printshop I had worked at in Palo Alto. I ended up at the 7th Street Tattoo shop more and more, picking up tips, meeting artists, observing techniques, cleaning up a little, running errands and then taking over production of the Tattoo Historian. I wasn’t making much money but was building the connections that eventually led to a job Tattooing. This was a rare opportunity, an offer I couldn’t refuse. The learning curve was steep, & the skills of the craft challenging. Immersion in the Tattoo scene was intense, and, as I learned the additional art of salesmanship, lucrative. Insights into human psychology, creative symbology, primal atavism, & totemic mythology, became seductive aspects of the practice. As I met and Tattooed a wide spectrum of humanity.
Tuttle’s lead Artist ERNO introduced us to the art in,
1981 When we began designing & collecting Tattoo’s.
Freelancing circa 1983
Opportunity knocked- circa 1984
my apprenticeship began with 4 days a week
of full immersion in this busy Tattoo studio.
Evolving- circa 1985.
Working with Lyle Tuttle, Erno,
Terry Tweed, & Morbella,
helped hone my abilities & led to
my participation In the 1986
Amsterdam Tattoo convention,
as The only San Francisco artist
working on the convention floor,
followed by a month working for
Hanky Panky, in the Red light
district of Amsterdam.
While Tanya as newly hired
apprentice covered the shop
with Lyle.
What he referred to as:
“The greatest partnership
since Loeb & Leopold.”
By 1987 I emerge as full fledged journeyman Tattooist. More to come.
© 2012 Joshua Golden/Partners in time LIFE AS ART PART 1
October 15, 2012