By Ashley de Sampaio Ferraz
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
When most people are in seventh grade, they may spend their time worried about who they’ll sit with at lunch. Deirdre Aikin was busy giving her first tattoo.
“It was just right, I can’t explain it,” Aikin said.
In those days, tattoo machines were much harder to get your hands on. That’s why Aikin says she used the hand-poke method to create her artwork, often on her fellow classmates’ skin.
“My mom said, ‘you know when you go through kids’ drawers, and you’re looking to see if you can find weed in their drawers? Well, I was going through her drawers looking for tattoo kits,’ ” Aikin said.
These days, Deirdre Aikin has graduated to much more advanced designs. Last year, she and her husband, Grant, opened Triple Crown Tattoo Studio and Art Gallery, the first tattoo shop in Towson.
With degrees from both Parsons School of Design and Maryland Institute College of Art, Aikin is no stranger to the artistic world. Recently, she has been part of a push for the creation of a greater art community in Towson.
“I saw a lot of problems with how kids were being represented in the art world,” she said. “And I saw a lot of really phenomenal artists just fall to the wayside, just disappear. Really, it was only because they didn’t know how to sell themselves, they didn’t know how to approach galleries, they didn’t have a chance, no one gave them an opportunity, and they just got crushed.”
Aikin is trying to change this. Her gallery connects with art students at Towson University and gives them the opportunity to display and sell their work, all while also teaching them how to run their own art show.
“We’re a self-sustaining community space, and its working,” she said. “That’s what we’re trying to do, let these kids, these blooming artists, be able to sell their work and not have the pressure of a gallery. It’s a gallery space, but not having to sell for 40 or 50 percent, and actually show that their work is viable.”
Taylor Shafirovich, who works at the Triple Crown, said that she also believes the gallery has been a success.
“We have so many people that come in just to look at the art, wanting to possibly buy some, wanting to sell some,” Shafirovich said. “We have a lot of students that will come up that are from the art program at Towson, and are genuinely interested in the whole gallery aspect of it. Then it also bring them into the tattoo world, like hey, we also appreciate art, it’s just a different form of it.”
Aikin is also a part of a group of individuals who hope to make public art widespread throughout Towson’s communities, and currently sits on the board for one of the town’s newest mural projects.
“I’ve been helping them find funding, writing the proposals, and just getting it out there so we can proceed and hopefully make Towson look beautiful,” she said.
Recently she returned from a trip overseas where she visited Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, and Bali. While abroad, she explored how other cultures use public art to their advantage, and how it can transform a community into something much more valuable.
“Everywhere I went, there were tons of murals, there were tons of sculptures, there were interactive sculptures, and it really sets the mood for an area,” she said. “It’s just something that really should be considered depending on how you want your area to be perceived.”
Here in Towson, Aikin tries to make sure that the atmosphere and mood is always a positive one. Each day, she said, she comes in and, before anything else, makes sure to greet her team and ask how they’re doing that doing that day.
“I want everybody to have a good day,” Aikin said. “We have a hard job.”
No more than a few minutes pass before employees crack a joke and share a smile.
“This shop is like a family,” said George Dilla, a piercer at Triple Crown.
Dilla said he has worked in over 20 tattoo shops. Triple Crown is different from the rest, he said, because it has an owner that is an experienced tattoo artist, rather than someone who is only interested in making a profit.
Aikin said she isn’t in it for the money. She’s been obsessed with tattooing since the beginning, back when the only thing she was getting in return were complaints from her classmates’ angry parents.
“I tattooed a dragon on a bubble that I drew in seventh grade on some girl’s back,” she said as she carefully etched lines on her client’s, Dave, detailed tattoo sleeve that Aikin has been steadily working on for the past two years. “What was I thinking? It’s seventh grade artwork, dude. Dragon on a bubble with no wings, it must look like a big fat lizard.”
Thankfully, after almost 30 years of experience, Aikin’s clients are able to trust her to create lasting artwork for their bodies. After all, with so many tattoos herself, she understands better than anyone how important it is to choose the right studio and design.
“I think it’s important for people to rethink what they’re doing because it’s your body,” she said, “it’s not going to go away.”