BEMIDJI — After about three weeks, several downtown artists are eager to get back to the drawing board.
Make that the drawing arm … or neck … or back … or shoulder.
Your Mom’s Tattoo Atelier is set to reopen Wednesday after about three weeks of expanding and totally renovating its space at 110 Fourth St. NW in downtown Bemidji.
Your Mom’s bought the space next door, most recently the Grow Inside hydroponics business, and before that Althea’s Cakery, giving them much more room for their tattoo artists, body piercing and general merchandising.
“We needed to expand anyway, because we have two apprentices right now and only two booths and we have four artists,” owner and tattoo artist Mike Wiltse said. “And the two apprentices need booths to start working, so we decided to do some renovations and take over the other side so they can start working and get their careers launched.”
The renovation also provides more room for Jeremy Van Wert, who runs his own body piercing business, Industrial Tech Body Mods, out of the location.
Work started on Dec. 22, and Wiltse said the majority of people have been understanding about the renovations. They are already taking new appointments. “They are loyal customers,” he said.
January also marks the eighth anniversary for Your Mom’s, all spent at the downtown location. As a custom tattoo shop, Your Mom’s doesn’t feature what is called “flash” tattooing, where there are books of tattoos people can choose, he said. Artist portfolios are available, but work is done by appointment and one-on-one with customers.
“We want to still remain as an arts studio,” Wiltse said.”So when people come in, they have an idea and we can draw it out and can utilize our talents as artists.”
Through the years, Wiltse and others at the shop have seen how tattooing has evolved. While lower back tattoos were all the rage when he first started, they are hardly done anymore, he said.
Still, the art form remains popular, from small to medium tattoos that can take just one session, to larger pieces that may take six months to a year to complete. (The skin needs to heal in between sessions.)
Another area of growth is in body piercing. Van Wert said the industry has gone from more of an “underground, extreme” genre to more mainstream.
OK, about the name?
“There’s all kinds of stories,” Wiltse joked. “Of course, there’s your mom, you gotta love your mom; and ‘mom’ (tattoos) are synonymous with tattoos. We also used to have a lot of ‘your mom’ jokes over at the other shops I worked at and they were always kinda pretty funny, so I was thinking, ‘Hey we could combine it all into one and make it into a shop name and it sticks in people’s heads.’ It’s versatile in a lot of funny ways.”
While they will be open Wednesday, a grand reopening party is scheduled 4 to 6 p.m. Jan. 30.
Your Mom’s can be reached at (218) 333-1576, online at www.yourmomstattooatelier.com as well as on Facebook.
