It sounds like a really touching story at first. Bette Baron lost her 32 year-old son to leukemia, after a four year battle against the disease. In honor of his memory, she decided to open a tattoo school, to teach others and impart money making skills to those struggling in these desperate economic times. She says she loves to teach and after 16 years of tattooing, she feels a desire to share her talent with the world. Sounds nice, doesn't it? Well, keep reading!
Let the Shredding Commence!
Here's a few quotes from the article written in the Neighborhood Star:
- "I got life insurance on Brian when he was born. Of course I never thought I'd cash it in," Baron said. "So I used a portion for the cremation and the rest I invested (in starting the business). That was my gift from Brian."
- "With The Art of Body Coloring School of Tattooing, Baron hopes to impart to others what she's learned during 16 years of doing tattooing in her home."
- Baron said. "I love teaching, and I love helping people. With the recession, and people being unemployed, I thought people can learn how to tattoo to make some money."
- It's an intense 80-hour program spread over two weeks...Tuition is $900, and Baron is charging $756 for a kit that contains everything students need to get started. The course is cheap compared with aspiring tattoo artists' other options. "Tattoo artists usually apprentice at a shop, which costs $3,000 to $10,000," Baron said.
- And Baron said students need not worry about possessing artistic skills. "You don't have to be artistically talented to be a tattoo artist," Baron said. "It helps to be artistic, but most of the time you're stenciling."
Just the use of the phrase "cash it in" really rubs me the wrong way. She says this like her son's death was some kind of lottery. It was nice of her to use a portion of it for his cremation, though.
First of all....The Art of Body Coloring School of Tattooing. Wow, that's an inspiring name for an artistic institute if I've ever heard one. Body Coloring - nothing like taking one of the most amazing forms of art and simplifying into an insulting phrase that sounds like nothing more than scribbling in a coloring book.
And she's been tattooing for 16 years in her home - she's a kitchen magician and now she's going to be training others how to be just like her. Oh, goody.
You know, that sounds great, but tattooing is not supposed to be treated like some trend that can be capitalized on by anyone looking to make a quick buck! If you're only doing it to make money, then you shouldn't be doing it at all. This is an art form, not a commercial enterprise.
Of course it's cheaper! You're getting a two week crash course as opposed to two or three years of training, hands-on experience, and the benefit of a a masterful artist's wisdom. You simply cannot compare the two, and you cannot learn everything you need to know about tattooing (and be able to RETAIN what you have learned) in a two-week crash course. Experts say it takes doing something for 30 days straight to learn a new habit. 75% of those students are going to walk out of there with their crappy little $756 kit and forget 75% of what they learned.
For $756, students get everything they need to get started; except an autoclave sterilizer, of course! But you do get Huck Spaulding's Tattooing A-Z, a book that was ahead of its time - 20 years ago. The art of tattoo has gone so far beyond the teachings of that book that it would be like trying to learn geography from a book that was written when they still thought the earth was flat. And if Baron bases her own skills on those kinds of outdated tattooing methods, she has nothing to teach prospective students and has no business assuming the responsibility of training the next generation of tattooers.
Oh, this is my favorite part. You don't have to be an artist to be a tattoo artist! It's just stenciling and body coloring, remember! A five year-old could do it! Well, a five year-old might have been able to do the poor excuse for a portrait Baron has on her arm that's supposed to be her son. But take a look at some of the competition right in the Chicago area and you'll see that you do have to be an artist, and if you think that you have any chance of being a successful tattoo artist if all you can do is stencil and color inside the lines, you are just the kind of sucker Baron is looking for. Good luck!