When Scott Boyer was in his early 20s, he visited Tattoo City, a shop in San Francisco where the walls were covered in World War II-era, hand-painted flash sheets. Those flashes, which were used to display available tattoo designs, fascinated Boyer, who was drawn to tattoos from his childhood.
“The graphic quality, the economy of line, the symbolism — it felt like discovering a hidden visual language,” Boyer says. Since then, his interest has evolved into deep research about the history and culture of tattooing and the lives of the people who created this unique art form.
For decades, Colorado Springs has been a tattoo hot spot, shaped by artists like Colorado Nick and others who worked in pool halls, small storefronts and improvised studios, Boyer says. In collaboration with the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, Boyer and his wife, Kayla, have curated “Colorado Nick: A Legacy of Tattoo Art,” a new exhibit opening Feb. 28 in the museum’s AJ Smith Gallery. The exhibit features the story of Leonard Newell Wisner, known as Colorado Nick, a Victor native who practiced his art at several Colorado Springs locations from the 1950s to 1970s. The opening coincides with the launch of Boyer’s book, “Colorado Nick,” published by the Boyers’ company, Yellow Beak Press.
“Because Colorado Springs has long been a military town, tattooers and servicemen developed a natural connection,” he says. “I’ve heard first-hand accounts of soldiers lining up out the door and around the corner on military paydays. Tattoos marked identity, time served and personal experience. Artists like Nick helped define that visual language.”
Although tattooing was thriving in Colorado Springs, it was considered a fringe pursuit in prim-and-proper midcentury America; the work of its practitioners, who often were outsiders, was mostly undocumented and lost.
“The exhibition aims to bring that hidden history forward and recognize these tattooers as important contributors to Colorado Springs’ cultural story,” Boyer says.
The exhibit tells the stories of Colorado Nick and other seminal Colorado Springs tattoo artists through original flashes — works of folk art in their own right — vintage photographs, correspondence, tools of the trade and Nick’s custom-built tattoo trunk, which served as his portable workstation.
Nick’s flash sheets reveal an artist with a distinct style and a refined sense of composition, Boyer says. He was not an isolated regional figure but was part of a nationwide network of midcentury tattooers. The Pioneers Museum is a meaningful site for telling Colorado Nick’s story, he says, since it’s close to where Nick inked his clients.
“Nick worked in the heart of what was known as ‘GI Row’ along Colorado Avenue,” he says. “That stretch in the 1950s and 1960s was lined with bars, pawn shops, arcades and multiple tattoo shops within a few blocks.”
Scott and Kayla founded Yellow Beak Press in 2009 to document and preserve the overlooked history of tattooing. “Colorado Nick” is their 12th book and the culmination of a decade of research.
The exhibit opening will offer something for everyone — food trucks, family-friendly activities, free temporary tattoos and live permanent tattooing by Scott Huttenmaier and Nate Hudak (for a fee). Boyer will present a special program on Colorado Nick at 2 p.m. and will sign copies of the book.
Boyer says this occasion mirrors his pride in Colorado Springs, where his family moved just before his second birthday.
“I’ve lived in Denver and New York, but I’ve always found my way back,” he says. “I’ve long felt that this city is a bit misunderstood, sometimes treated as the underdog of the Front Range. In many ways, this book and exhibition feel like a love letter to Colorado Springs.”
What: Colorado Nick: A Legacy of Tattoo Art
When: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Feb. 23
Where: Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, 121 S. Tejon St.
Information: cspm.org
The first step in getting a tattoo is to find an artist whose style matches your vision.
Every tattoo artist has a distinct design aesthetic, spanning a wide range from traditional to edgy, says Scott Huttenmaier, owner of Keepsake Studio in Oklahoma City.
Huttenmaier will be live tattooing vintage designs at the opening of the tattoo art exhibit Feb. 28 at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum. Check out the websites of tattoo artists to see examples of their work, he suggests. Read reviews and talk with people whose tattoos you admire and verify that the artists they chose were professional and diligent about cleanliness and safety.
All tattoo shops and artists in the Colorado Springs area must obtain licenses from El Paso County Public Health. To be licensed, artists must complete first-aid and blood borne-pathogens certification training and must pass a body-art regulations competency exam. Both shops and artists must post up-to-date certifications.
Here’s a list of popular local tattoo shops to get you started:
