We were lucky to catch up with Deanna James recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Deanna, thanks for joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I’m so lucky to have accomplished many of the goals I set out to at the beginning of my career. However, that being said, I sometimes struggle with what the next goals or next steps should be. I’ve found it’s incredibly important to continue to create a culture within my own studio where people feel safe, and beyond that, inspiring other tattoo artists to spread this culture throughout the industry. I also feel that it’s incredibly helpful to give back and I have been able to do this through doing free nipple tattoos for cancer survivors or other people that have lost theirs.

I also sometimes struggle with burnout. Though I used to love painting, it can be difficult when your passion, in my case, arts, becomes your job and how you make a living. That being said though, I’d never want to have a regular job. The very first career I wanted to be when growing up is a teacher, and I feel I’m able to teach quite a bit in the current position I’m in. I would love to find some way to teach young and talented artists how to begin tattooing, rather than just teaching current tattoo artists,.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Deanna James and I’m the owner and founder of Eden Body Art Studios in Dallas, Texas, a designer tattoo studio.

I’ve been studying fine art since middle school, In high school, I attended and graduated from the visual arts program at Booker T. Washington in Dallas. At 16, I realized the best way to use my artistic talents would be to become a tattoo artist, as opposed to going to art college, as I was encouraged to do by my peers and teachers. I was hoping I could bring something new to the tattoo industry with my fine art background.

I started a tattoo apprenticeship right out of high school, but it was anything but an easy path. Over 5 years, I apprenticed at 3 different studios in New York in Texas. I had to endure years of hazing and mental and sexual abuse. I never formally graduated an apprenticeship, but after 5 years (a typical apprenticeship takes about 2), my current mentor told me I wasn’t progressing as fast as my male peers because “girls just get treated differently in this industry.” From there, I found Dark Age Tattoo Studio in Denton, Texas, who took me under their wings.

At Dark Age I learned a lot, and I was encouraged to use my fine art background in my tattooing for the first time in my career. I was lucky enough to get a spot on Ink Master: Angels, and after I won that, I got a spot on Season 10 of Ink Master, where I finished in the top 5. Being on Ink Master gave me the notoriety I needed to jumpstart my career. In 2018, I was awarded Best Tattoo Artist by Dallas Observer.

Wanting to move to Dallas, I moved to a private studio there in 2018. It’s that year I met my husband, Colton James, who encouraged me to open a studio of my own. With his help, we opened Eden in early 2021. We currently have 12 resident artists on staff, including myself, two studio assistants, two content creators, a body piercer, and a studio manager. We do a variety of different styles, have acquired hundreds of thousands of followers at social media, and won awards at some of the biggest tattoo conventions in the world. We also host about 6 educational seminars per year.

Artistically, I am elated I have accomplished my goal of bringing fine art into my tattooing. I go by “The Baroque Tattooer,” because in my artwork I replicate and use the same techniques as old masters from the baroque era, like Caravaggio. Many people refer to my style as “painterly realism.” I quite often host seminars teaching tattoo artists how I approach my pieces.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

When I first began taking apprentices, it’s a little tough to admit that I found I was still very bitter from being treated so poorly when I was an apprentice. Of course I would never subject anyone to the abuse I went though, but I did find other refrains had been ingrained in me, like “my apprenticeship was hard so your has to be hard too.” I never intentionally made it hard on my apprentices, but I did find the bitterness would affect my view of them in the beginning when they weren’t performing exactly as I expected.

However, I quickly realized I had the opposite mindset of the one I should have. I realized I have a golden opportunity to break the cycle so many had put me through, rather than perpetrate it. I’ve since made it my goal to be an example in the tattoo industry for how to treat artists and apprentices. I expect my artists to work–nothing more. No abuse, hazing, or disrespect of any kind is tolerated at Eden. I strongly encourage other mentors to adopt the same policies.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

This isn’t applicable so much to society as a whole, but I think it’s very important for our creative ecosystem, specifically within the tattoo industry, that we build and maintain healthy relationships not just in each studio, but across studios. Unfortunately there has been some unhealthy competition in this industry in the past, but really, artists don’t need to compete with each other. We all have the same goal, and there are plenty of clients to go around.

We’ve worked really hard at Eden to create a collaborative environment between artists and studio owners in the Dallas tattoo community. Dallas is a very up and coming city and tattoo culture, and we want to continue to foster that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://deannaart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deanna_art/?hl=en
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@deannajamestv

Image Credits
Ian McKenyon, Lexie Newell, James Blair