We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Katie Grinstead a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Katie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

Like most artists I know, I am wicked grateful that I don’t have to clock in, or request time off, or abide by a dress code when it comes to going to work. There are many more things—good and not so good—that come with being an artist and creative. I certainly think about having a “regular” job, especially when I’m getting in my car to drive thirty minutes home at 9 o’clock at night. Or when my family is ready to watch a movie together, but I’m not a part of the cuddle puddle because I have to get upcoming tattoos designed. I haven’t ever had a job that I can leave at work. One of those careers that you actually can’t do at home…ahhh…dreamy. That short lived daydream ends when I think about having a boss, ugh. I’ve never been great with authority, so this industry is perfect for me. The only people who tell me to change something I’m doing is either a client who is paying for my services, or a fellow tattooer who is giving me constructive criticism. If I decide to work on a day off, I can adjust my pay scale to accommodate the situation without having to clear it with a boss. On the other side of that coin, sometimes I have long time clients who fall on hard times in the middle of a large project, or a client who had breast cancer and want the scars decorated but can’t quite afford it in full; I don’t have to charge my normal rate when circumstances change and I don’t have to check with anyone first. Do I have benefits, or a retirement savings through work? Ha! Absolutely not, but thankfully I’m a responsible adult who can handle those things on my own.

Katie, 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?

One of my favorite things to ask folks is how they have me saved in their phone. For some clients I’m “Tattoo Kate, Boogaloo Kate, or Zeitgeist Kate,” for old friends it might be a nickname (which will not be mentioned today), and for others I’m saved as “Mama Kate, Mommy, Child No. 3, or Best Sister Ever”…okay, maybe I made that last one up. But I AM super close with my three siblings! Regardless of what name I’m called, I fit every single on of them. I am the third born of four children to my parents whom have been married for 48 years.
Growing up in rural Colorado was such an important part of molding me into the smart, common sense having, people reading, hard working tattoo artist that I am. One week after my 19th birthday I became a piercing apprentice in northern Colorado, 6 years later I became a tattoo apprentice, at 26 I moved to San Francisco for nearly a decade where my career took off and I discovered what kind of art I prefer to design and tattoo, and here I am at 40 (shhh) one year into co-owning Zeitgiest Tattoo in Denver with the renowned, Heather Reynolds.
Inspiration has come in all forms throughout the years. Sometimes it’s literal, like when I’m camping or hiking in nature and see some gorgeous flora. Other times it’s more obscure, and inspiration slow rolls into my mind after a hardship or loss. But so often, it comes from the freedom and purity I see in my children and their incredible imaginations. When I hand a child a crayon or a marker, they don’t second guess what they’re about to draw, they just go wild with circle scribbles and zigzag madness that are really quite lovely. Have you ever wondered where those scribble shapes come from in my tattoo art?

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Like many of us tattoo artists, we started with an apprenticeship. Mine took place in the very early 2000s, a time when women were not a regular sight in the industry; it was also a time when we were taught that it was not appropriate to enter other tattoo shops. Ever. There was this feeling of, whatever the opposite of camaraderie is…like your guard always had to be up around other tattooers. When I moved to San Francisco, it was the opposite. I went into grandfather shops that were near ours like Ed Hardy’s Tattoo City, and Lyle Tuttle’s. They welcomed us to the neighborhood and we understood the etiquette of being the new kids on the block near these historic landmarks. But there was that split second before I walked in the door where I worried I may get dragged out and kicked to the curb and maybe even get a brick through our tattoo shop window the next day. Realizing that everything I had been taught was antiquated, and perhaps even a geographic anomaly.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

As a woman, I get so tired of hearing, “You’re so resilient. You’re so strong.“ That sets a bar, a bar that we have no control over. I want the work that I do, and the progress I make be admired because I’m a bad ass, not because I’m performing to or above society’s shitty expectation of what a woman can or can’t accomplish.
That being said, I have shown this attribute my whole career. Within a year of starting, I became pregnant with my first child, at 20 years old. It would be the easy move to go back home, or closer to home to have family be next-door to help me raise this baby. I did not. I became a single mother when that child was very young, but I made choices that moved us forward and was able to start my tattoo apprenticeship. When we got to San Francisco, my first paycheck was $146. When I talk about resilience? The Bay Area is not a cheap place to live, but we made choices to make it work. Even today, I have recently come back from being on maternity leave off and on for the last three years. My client list has dwindled incredibly, and for the first time in a decade, I don’t have a waiting list. I know there are other factors beside my time off, like the unknown outcome of the election, but I tell you what, now knowing that the we working class folks have an uphill battle for the next four years, I feel pretty damn resilient knowing I’m not alone in this fight. As an independent contractor, no work means no pay and that is a tough reality. Here I am again, making choices to make it work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.zeitgeisttattoodenver.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katie.g.z/ & https://www.instagram.com/zeitgeistdenver/