Fort Smith Tattoo and Piercing Artist

Artists

Z's Gallery

"Z"

Kingman, Arizona

AR Licensure 2004

I pretty much got into tattooing accidentally. When I was much younger I ended up with a homemade tattoo. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted it covered. I went to the "Black Dragon Tattoo Shop". While I was waiting for my turn I mentioned I could help by drawing art for another client. The artist, and client, were so impressed both gave me $20. The hook was set!

About a week after this the shop owner (Brian Freeman) showed up at my work and offered me a job. The first 5 years I was pretty much a slave to the shop. I did all the "grunt work" around the shop. All this time I developed my craft.

I have been tattooing professionally since the early 80's. I have worked all over the country. I consider myself lucky to have worked with some really great folks, but most of all I consider myself blessed to have introduced several people into my industry who have made it safer and more desireable practice.

I ended up in Ft. Smith pretty much by luck. I met the man who has taught me more about life and living than any other person. Jim and his family, "The Lames Klan" welcomed me with open arms and here I stayed.

We bought our shop in 2007, however I have been tattooing in Ft. Smith since 2004.

At Southtown, we are proud our studio was built with a large portion of "green" material. I take pride in the fact we have saved many items from the landfill!

My desire for Southtown is to be the best Tattoo and Art Studio for Ft. Smith and the surrounding area. We welcome area artist (not just tattoo artist) to gather and meet other artist, to discuss technique and style, to learn from one another and display and sell their own art.

Quinton Wynn

Talequah, OKlahoma

AR Licensure 1999

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away.....okay maybe not so far in a town called Talequah, Ok is where I grew up. I started my life as an artist very early on. In fact, I've been drawing on everything for as long as i can remember. I worked with all mediums that are available to a young child ranging from the spaces in my text books to the desk. At a young age I had a few older peers that were more skilled and that gave me inspiration to try harder. I got in the tattoo biz when I was 19 and fresh out of high school. I had known that I wanted to learn to tattooing since my junior year. I started out by driving to the nearest border town in Siloam Springs, Ar seeing how at that point in time tattooing was still outlawed in Oklahoma. I found a studio named "Tattoos by Wild Child" that would give me an apprenticeship. After my apprenticeship, I stayed and worked at both of Wild Child's shops. She also had one in Bentonville, Ar and that was one hell of a drive from Talequah. After making the 90 minute drive for a year and a half I found new employment at a shop named "State-line Tattoos". After working there for a year and a half I decided to work for "Knight Times Tattoo" in Conway, Ar. After four months there, I took the opportunity to move to their Fort Smith location. This is where I met the other founding members of Southtown Tattoo Studio. In early 2005 we all left Knight Times and went out and found ourselves the first Southtown location. I always called that first location the "Octagon". This is the time period in which I really started to learning about art and how to make it work in my tattoos. After almost two years in that little building, that I'm surprised we didn’t kill each other in because we were crammed in there like sardines, we moved in to the bigger building in which we are still located in today. In the last year or so I have started working with a new medium of acrylic on canvas. I still love to tattoo and painting has allowed me to express myself in new ways, experiment with ideas, and to get some of the art out I might not have gotten the chance to do.