Tattooing Makes Its Mark In Montrose

Michael Vlad is an artist working in Montrose in a highly insular field, one overrun with competition. It’s hard to break into, highly addictive, and according to him, one of the most “heart breaking arts” there is.

Vlad is part of an industry that has gained immense popularity over the past ten years, and has made great technological advances along the way. Vlad is a tattoo artist. “Your art is walking away from you,” said Vlad, about watching one of his designs go out the door, “you might never see them again.”

The new shop, Cult Status Tattoos, was opened in March by Sean Heverin. The shop is located on Albany Post Road in Montrose, just down and across the street from Hendrick Hudson High School.

Opening the shop was a “no brainer,” for Heverin, who has been a tattoo enthusiast for many years, and whose daughter, also an artist in the shop, went to the Tattoo Learning Center in Albany to train. The shop itself is an immaculate collection of single rooms, for privacy, each outfitted with the artist’s designs, and safety precautions which far exceed anything sanctioned by the State of New York

Biomedical waste bins are in every room, each tattoo artist is Blood Born Pathogen certified by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, also known as OSHA, and the shop has two medical grades autoclaves for cleaning piercing jewelry. Many precautions taken by the shop are not state mandated.

A point that Heverin emphasizes is that it is illegal to tattoo anyone under the age of 18 in New York. Even Heverin’s parental consent forms for piercing have to be signed by a notary. “I don’t think there’s enough regulation,” says Heverin. He continued that while it’s illegal for him to tattoo anyone under 18 years old anyway, the shop seeks an older and more mature clientele.

“We’re not those evil villains in the shadows,” says Heverin, “I welcome everyone to come in.”

The tattoos etched on the artists at the shop are often packed with meaning, and the same goes for the clientele’s taste. Names of close family members, or images that conjure their memory are popular subjects, as much as stars, animals or people who articulate a client’s personal aesthetic.

Amanda Cowell, who had her son’s birth flower, poinsettias, and name, “John Francis,” tattooed on her shoulder by one of the artists, said “You’re dedicating your body, your time, your money, part of your day to this, and there’s so many tattoo artists and so many advances in tattooing there’s no reason to get a bad tattoo.”

 

 

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