Although most students can only imagine their teachers as teachers, some faculty members have had other jobs that may come as a surprise. Art teacher Jeff Seidel is one of those; having worked in a tattoo shop as a flash artist.
“I went to a tattoo parlor with a friend who was getting a tattoo, and they had a pool table there and I was playing pool with the owner,” Seidel said. “He found out I was an artist while we were visiting and he said he would love for me to try [tattooing] because his tattoo artists couldn’t carry on a conversation with professionals. He could tell I could talk about a variety of subjects. Most of his guys were bikers and if you didn’t want to talk about drugs or motorcycles they would get pretty lost. That’s the main reason he wanted me to come. Starting in 2000 was the first time I did it in New Braunfels. Then I worked in San Antonio next, and finally in Austin. That was probably within a four year span.”
While Seidel worked in tattoo shops, he didn’t tattoo the customers himself.
“I did mostly flash art. I would draw the designs and other people would tattoo it,” Seidel said. “I had a really hard time when it became my turn to tattoo… I had a hard time getting the depth of the needle right. The machine is really top heavy and it’s hard to control since its bouncing around all the time. I just didn’t adapt to it very well and I think part of it too was that I was always nervous about sticking myself, it bleeds a lot, and part of me was always leery of that part. You have to get your hands pretty close to stretch the skin, so it gets pretty close to the needle, and that made me nervous too.”
Seidel’s co-workers in the visual art department did not know him at the time he was working in tattoo shops, but they have heard about his experiences and understand his decision to not pursue the career.
“He could of kept [tattooing] but he didn’t feel like it was the direction he wanted to go in at the time. He told me that he felt like teaching was a better fit for him.” Brice McCasland said.
Fellow art teacher Amanda Beller was quick to agree.
“It’s just something he didn’t want to do anymore,” Beller said. “Sculpture and ceramics is what he likes to do, it’s his passion.”
Although Seidel doesn’t regret his work as a tattoo artist, there were problems that came with the job.
“It was an interesting experience,” Seidel said. “I think I realized it wasn’t for me because a lot of the older artists had carpal tunnel, and that’s something I didn’t want to deal with. I want to be able to create art for my whole life. And they were having a hard time just because of all of their tendon problems in their arms and hands.”
That wasn’t the only drawback for Seidel.
“Drugs was a big part of it,” Seidel said. “In every place I worked, there was somebody there who either did drugs or sold them out of their space. It just didn’t really fit my personality as much as I thought it would. Also, to be a tattoo artist you need a lot of tattoos, and I really didn’t enjoy my first experience, it hurt a lot. And when I knew there was a cleaning issue, it just made me nervous about getting more. All three places cheated on cleaning their equipment. I have a tattoo and it bothered me that when I sat in the chair they could have been lying to me, saying, ‘Look, the needle is clean,’ when there are really ways around that.”
