Making their mark

Fred Pinckard and Katie Davis made a permanent mark on the Oregon Hill community in more ways than one since opening their tattoo shop on Pine Street more than two years ago.

Salvation Tattoo Gallery now houses four tattoo artists, each with a distinct style, background and range of clientele to meet the growing demand for custom tattoos.

A cross-country trip and an engagement made Pinckard and Davis realize they were ready to open their own tattoo shop.

Salvation Tattoo Gallery opened for business in September 2005, followed by the marriage of Pinckard and Davis.

“I was fed up with working for someone else, and in the back of my mind, I wanted to own my own shop so I didn’t have to do everything [all the tattoos] that walked in the door,” Pinckard said. “[And] I didn’t like staying until the last tattoo was done.”

Davis has always loved the Oregon Hill area but was never able to live there and thought it might be a good place for the shop.

The sense of community and the quiet of the neighborhood appealed to her, she said. “We wanted to go somewhere we would be looked after by our neighbors and be part of the neighborhood,” she said.

Both expected resistance when they began looking for a venue to start their dream business, but were surprised to find a landlord as excited as they were about their idea for a custom-art driven shop.

Michel Gahan, the owner of Pine Street Barber Shop, was open to the idea of a tattoo shop because his business supports the arts as well.

Gahan said he used to host an opening reception for new art collections in his shop every two months, but now he just rotates the art frequently.

Pinckard and Davis seemed like really nice people, Gahan said they had planned a low-key business and that was fine with him.

Davis said the neighborhood was accepting as well and that one of the neighbors even comes by the gallery to put up fliers for his bluegrass band.

Pinckard wanted the shop to reflect those hidden shops of the great tattoo artists he admired. The spot would not promote the run-of-the-mill work that tattooists get when their shops are placed in commercial areas.

“A custom shop doesn’t need to be in a high-traffic area,” Pinckard said.

“You couldn’t always walk down the street and find a tattoo shop,” he said. “It gave the idea that people can’t stumble into the shop and get some ink. People come here because of us and our reputation for good work”

Price, location and community were all reasons Pinckard and Davis choose the neighborhood to build their business.

Oregon Hill reminds Pinckard of the neighborhood where he grew up in Little Rock, Ark. He wanted to have the community aspect and build his business where everyone keeps an eye out for each other. A place, he said, where you can’t get away with anything because everyone will find out.

“It doesn’t suck to go to work. People wave when we come to work in the mornings and tell you if you have a problem,” he said.

Davis said people are always around and it’s safe. The gallery has had no problems at all with the location in a once rough-and-tumble area.

The neighborhood has a long history of being a rough area, Davis said, but people take care of their own business and don’t cause trouble.

Some neighbors who didn’t already know their work stop by and ask about getting tattooed as well as the clients who knew them by reputation, Davis said.

No one has approached them about neighborhood participation or sponsoring any groups, but Davis wouldn’t be opposed to participating if it was something the shop was interested in.

Pinckard said Davis and he didn’t have trouble getting the shop in a residential area because tattoo parlors are licensed under the Virginia Board for Barbers and Cosmetology and Pine Street Barber Shop is right next-door.

The shop has a space out back, and it’s a small shop with street parking everywhere during the gallery hours, he said.

A Salvation Tattoo Gallery client, Eric Weinraub estimates that he has spent more than $2,000 on his tattoos and had well over 30 hours of the tattoo machine drilling at his skin.

Weinraub knows what good work looks like because he worked at the front desk of Enigma Studios on Broad Street.

He began getting tattooed by Pinckard soon after Salvation opened in Oregon Hill because he knew Pinckard’s work from Enigma Studios.

“I’ve always been impressed by his work,” Weinraub said.

He likes the fact that people can throw Pinckard an idea and as an artist, Pinckard takes it and makes it visually more than just a concept.

Weinraub enjoys the openness of the gallery and the discreet location within the Oregon Hill community.

The gallery isn’t about getting walk-in traffic like “baby daddy tattoos,” Weinraub said. The custom aspect gives each customer more time with the artist and walk-in traffic doesn’t clog up the appointment schedules.

Salvation’s Mike Moses began work on a graphic back piece of how Judas hanged himself that will involve many hours of work, Weinraub said.

“Mike has a different style than Fred, and no one else could do it the way Mike does,” Weinraub said.

Salvation offers a variety of artists and Moses’ style is very dark and graphic – and that fits with this particular tattoo.

A few months ago Mike Moses also started on a large tattoo of a crow carrying a pocket watch on Ainsley Dougherty. The tattoo goes from a little above her knee to the top of her ribcage.

“The thing I like most about Salvation is its intimacy being that it is such a small shop, you feel very comfortable and safe being there,” she said. “It’s obvious to the client a very clean environment, which is important. It also helps that there’s such a wealth of talent among the artists there.”

She can’t wait to go back and get her tattoo finished, she said, and then she will certainly return to get more work done.

The gallery’s business is booming, and Pinckard doesn’t often get a chance to enjoy the natural beauty of the parks in the neighborhood. He often orders food from the restaurants around the area, and the artists and clients at the gallery frequently go on walks between appointments.

But Pinckard can still find one thing missing from the neighborhood.

“I just wish I could live here.”