ATHENS, Ohio — Charlie Vieregge has come a long way from giving high school classmates Sharpie tattoos for lunch money.
The founder of Tattoo Motel on Richland Avenue in Athens — launched in 2021 as Charlie V. Tattoo — did their first real tattoos at a shop in their hometown. But after just two days, Vieregge had to leave because they “ended up being homeless.”
Years later, Vieregge moved to Athens and decided to focus solely on their art.
“I was doing housekeeping, and I just kind of quit,” they said. “I said, ‘I’m just gonna do art.’”
Vieregge joined a tattoo shop as an apprentice, but their experiences there made them realize that Athens had no explicitly queer-friendly place to get tattoos.
“I saw the need for safe space in the area and I didn’t feel like I could really join someone else’s shop to do that,” Vieregge said. “It didn’t feel safe enough for me or the people that I was working with. So I knew I needed to make my own space.”
Last year, Tattoo Motel expanded by welcoming another resident artist to the team, Felicity Gunn, aka Last Draft Studio. Gunn said she and Vieregge realized quickly that they would work well together because of their mutual admiration for each other’s art and their alignment in “core values.”
Vieregge said their shop has a more horizontal power structure with no boss; just artists working together, like a co-op. They also set ethical standards for their shop to ensure both clients and colleagues are treated with respect, agency and care.
“There’s not a lot of regulation when it comes to tattooing,” Vieregge said, “There’s no HR [human resources]. How the clients get treated is always up to the owner. So I wanted to make this a space where the artists and the clients are getting advocated for, because they both deserve a lot of respect, and [tattoo shops are] not a place to play around with how people are treated.”
Those standards include training in trauma-informed care for interacting with clients and artists, as well as Vieregge’s choice to only hire queer artists. The idea is not made to exclude people who are not queer, but rather to ensure that queer tattoo artists and clients in the area have an affirming space.
Gunn also takes steps to ensure an affirming, secure environment and experience for her clients. She said she always asks clients if it is okay to touch them, walks them through tattooing procedures in detail, and makes it clear that she is happy to readjust stencils as many times as clients would like.
“Also, you can walk into our space and see that we are really accepting of different body types and skin color,” Gunn said. “You hear horror stories of people who have walked into a shop and been told ‘No,’ because of something about their body that the tattoo artist doesn’t want to work with. So, we really do our best to make sure people know that, no matter what, we want to work with clients and make sure that they leave with a piece they’re happy with.”
Tattoo Motel is a safe space not just for queer people, but many groups of people, Vieregge said.
“It’s trans people, anti-colonial folks and people that are resisting in different ways,” Vieregge said. “Just letting it be known that this is a queer shop and we’re outspoken about our beliefs on things. … It’s not like I’m going to be mining into anyone’s lives or anything, but it’s pretty clear: No hate.”
Gunn stressed the same sentiment, saying that it is very important, especially now, to offer spaces where people can express their identities.
“In my experience — and I know that Charlie has experienced this too — it’s a great time and space to open up about different topics,” Gunn said. “A lot of questions come up about identity and how tattoos are a way to express yourself in a time where politically, there’s a lot of things on the line, especially for queer women, trans women, trans people in general.”
For Gunn, tattoos are one way people can express their bodily autonomy.
“I think tattooing is a great way to stand up to the man a little bit,” Gunn said. “I’ve had some really beautiful conversations — and people feel comfortable asking questions about my own identity and how I would define myself — and I start to see people really taking form, especially some of my returning clients. I love watching their confidence in themselves and their bodies — and all of that comes along with tattooing. That’s always what we strive to have in this space.”
In the future, Vieregge would like to turn Tattoo Motel into a “community shared space” where artists can access education on safe tattooing practices. They even want to attach housing to the shop for tattoo artists.
Eventually, Vieregge would like to have multiple Tattoo Motel locations for artists to “check in and out of” so they can travel while knowing they have a safe space to stay and work.
“It’d be fun for Tattoo Motel to have branches everywhere, so artists could just travel in between all of them,” they said.
To Vieregge, tattooing means expression and care for one’s body. They hold the practice in high regard.
“I think [tattoos are] a beautiful way to share art with each other,” Vieregge said. “A lot of people feel affirmed, and they do it because they care about themselves and their body and they want to be confident or express themselves with tattoos.”
More information about Tattoo Motel can be found on its website.
Note: A type-O of Vieregge’s last name has been corrected.
