Charlotte Magazine – August 2019

34 CHARLOTTEMAGAZINE.COM // JULY 2019

LOGAN CYRUS

Matt Terry (left)

and Jason Baker

at Canvas Tattoo

& Art Gallery in

NoDa.

THE GOOD LIFE

STYLE

Permanent Ink

Canvas Tattoo talks the business of body art

BY LAURIE PRINCE BY LAURIE PRINCE

JASON BAKER, a former Army Ranger, worked several cor-
porate jobs a er his discharge, but none of them satisƒed
him. “I knew I wanted to do something humane and con-
nected to a community,” he says, “something that ƒlled me
up.” He’d commissioned tattoo artist Conan McParland to
cover up some of his old military tattoos, and during their
long talks he hit on the idea that led to his career epiphany:
a tattoo parlor that made the physically painful experience
more comfortable.
In 2017, Baker opened Canvas Tattoo & Art Gallery in a
NoDa bungalow across from the Johnston YMCA, a reloca-
tion from the original space in South End. They’ve added
small, calming touches: Photos and paintings hang on the
walls; outside, picnic tables adorn the gravel lot in back, and
Adirondack chairs circle the ƒre pit near an aquaponic pool
where herbs and vegetables grow.
Baker opened a second location a block down the street
last year, part of a continuing e™ort to make the business a
player in the neighborhood’s enhancement. Canvas Tattoo
has sponsored more than 70 events in the last two years,

from fundraisers to art exhibits to rock ’n’ roll shows.

Baker is a tattoo canvas, not an artist: On his le  arm are

the weapons he used as an Army Ranger capped by a portrait

of Odin, the wise god of Norse mythology. In May, Charlotte

magazine spoke to Baker and one of his tattoo artists, Matt

Terry (edited for clarity and length). —Laurie Prince

CHARLOTTE MAGAZINE: How do you make a tattoo shop

inviting to customers?

JASON BAKER: People are already nervous, coming in to

get a tattoo—it hurts—and so we do everything we can,

from letting them watch a movie on an iPad when they’re

getting a tattoo to the music we listen to and the environ-

ment they’re in. It’s the experience you would expect at a

nice hair salon.

MATT TERRY: The clients themselves have shi ed now

that it’s mainstream. That old-school mentality of having

the rough and gru™ tattoo setting does not go with societal

expectations now.

Continued on page 36