Katey “Kat” Scully Interview

Katey

You may be wondering why a streetwear brand would sit down with a tattoo artist to understand her inspiration — what possible connection could exist between the two?

Well if you refer back to the interview with 6Streets’ Mike To, about the “Clef” snapback cap, he mentions that his inspiration to design the cap resulted from a search for a new tattoo.

Which brings us to 6Streets’ newest segment “Under the Skin.”

Pablo hard at work

We sat down with Kat Scully, a tattoo artist at Mission Tattoo Parlour and one of the small percentage of people born and raised in Calgary, AB.

Scully begins by mentioning a few parallels that exist between the world of tattoos and the fashion industry.

“There’s a lot of patterning, repetition, colour-work, and a lot of tattoo artists now work with the flow of the body.  You’re creating a look, an attitude, and a feel that both industries aim to embody no matter how individual it may be.

“Many people that work within the tattoo industry have a sense of style.  They may not be technically stylish but they do have a distinct look to them,” says Scully.

As with the fashion industry, tattoo artists have their own sense of style that plays a role in the type of work they create.

Nate

“You develop a technique of how you do things.  Mine’s more of a stylized/realism.  I do a lot of fine detailed work and I like to do a lot of mark making with my tattoos, like cross hatching which adds more texture.”

Establishing a career in the tattoo industry wasn’t always the game plan for Scully.

It wasn’t until after she met up with her uncle, who lives in a tree-house in the middle of the Hawaiian forest, that she considered earning a living as an artist.

That coupled with a chance meeting during her trip, with a tattoo artist from Calgary, further reinforced what Scully’s uncle said. The two shared a conversation that would pave the path for her future.

Her uncle has managed to support himself for his whole life doing what he loves most – working as an artist.

“He said to me, ‘why don’t you tattoo?’ and I said ‘I don’t know.  I never thought of it as a job.’ My parents were always more conservative in that sense but after this conversation he encouraged me to pursue it.”

Like many endeavors this was much easier said than done, unlike some conventional careers, being hired as a tattoo apprentice can be a daunting task with very few shops willing to take inexperienced artists on board.

Nate

Upon her return to Calgary, Scully approached the owner of Wise Guys Tattoo and Airbrush Inc. in NE Calgary and because of her extensive portfolio that she built up as a painter and portrait artist Scully managed to land an apprenticeship with the shop which soon lead to fulltime work with Wise Guys that lasted 2 1/2 years.

After her time with Wise Guys, Scully made the transition to fulltime work at Mission Tattoo Parlour where she’s currently been working at for over a year.

You can sense how passionate Scully is about her work when she’s able to maintain a sense of optimism when asked if there are any downsides associated with the work.

“There are not very many downsides to this job.  There are technical aspects of it that can be difficult but I don’t really look at them as a downside.  Overall, it’s a pretty sweet job and to be able to make a living as an artist is wicked.”

Katey and Sunjeev discussing “Under the Skin”