We recently connected with Seth Agar and have shared our conversation below.
Seth, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I learned to tattoo through an apprenticeship with a master tattoo artist. This question holds a lot of emotion for me at the moment as I learned last night that my mentor just passed away. Tony Olivas taught me most of what I know about tattooing. From the artistry to the business aspect. If I could go back and redo things, I’d try to take advantage of the networking more. Unfortunately I’ve been fairly shy and insecure throughout my life. Especially in my younger years, I didn’t make the connections and keep in contact with other tattoo artists like I feel I should have. I feel I could have furthered my career, probably avoided some business pitfalls, and helped my artistic progression by being more open and available to colleagues.
The technical aspects of doing a clean tattoo were probably greatest skill I was taught. You can be a phenomenal artist, but if you can’t put the ink in the skin properly, the tattoo is going to suck. Essentially, know you’re medium.
Seth, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I had wanted to be a tattoo artist from the age of 15. I was into punk rock, but couldn’t play an instrument. However, I could draw and it seemed like tattooing was as close to being a rock star as I’d get. Plus the idea that someone would want your artwork on them for the rest of their lives was intriguing. You can put paintings up and take them down, but a tattoo is there till you’re done with this world. At 19 I was introduced to Tony Olivas and proceeded to contact him every week to demonstrate my determination and dedication to wanting to learn to tattoo. Eventually he took me on as his apprentice and I began my career.
Early on, I tried to not have a specific style. It was before the time of tattoo contest tv shows, and tattoos were still taboo. You had to be able to do whatever style the client wanted in order to pay rent. Nowadays, tattooing is so popular that artists can specialize in a specific thing and not worry about how they’re going to pay rent.
Eventually I started to gravitate more towards blackwork. Anything involving geometric designs. I’ve developed a decent clientele based off that, but my interests have been changing and I find myself drawn more towards traditional Japanese style tattooing, so I’ve been trying to explore that more.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
My area of art is based on such a personal experience that that’s where I find my rewards. What I mean by that is that while I’m doing my artistic expression, and have my own personal fulfillment in that, I’m only able to do that at the request of my client. That’s were the big reward comes in is the satisfaction and gratitude of my client. I have a handful of tattoos that stand out in my head as fulfilling projects that made me happy and brought a sense of pride. I have a lot more tattoos that, while I may not have felt that the piece was a great demonstration of my abilities, gave me an immense sense of satisfaction based solely on the gratitude and enjoyment of my client.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I think my creative journey is moving along fine, but my goal now is to foster an environment of growth in our shop for the other artists. I’m trying to pass along the knowledge I’ve gained in the last 25 years to my employees. As well as provide opportunities for them to learn from other artists. I feel like now is the time to give back and help others on their journey.
Contact Info:
- Website: Ironwoodink.com
- Instagram: @seth_agar_tattoo
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/Ironwood-Ink-102091522147493/
- Other: TikTok- @sethagar13