A look inside body art and piercing at PTI.

Take a good look around PTI one day; I'm sure you'll notice a few people with body art.  Not sure what body art is?  Body art is anything that is done to the body that isn't naturally there, such as tattoos and piercings.  Branding can also be placed into this category, but I don't think too many people at PTI have branded themselves.

Why has body art become so popular?  I asked several students what they thought, and if they think it's trendy.  Nikki Rosensteel, a fourth quarter Travel and Tourism student, said she thinks it may be trendy for some people:  "For some people, they have meaning, for some of those girls out there, they're just getting them to be cool."  Nikki has a few tattoos herself, all of which she says tie together, but she also said that she's having one removed: "I'm just getting tired of it."

For Jason Hull, a third quarter graphic design student, his tattoos have meaning.  "I'm a very spiritual person," he says, as he shows off his tattoos of Jesus and an angel.  "I'm going to get a collage of angels on my back."

First quarter electronics student Chris Edison got his first tattoo when he was fourteen.  He says he and his friend decided to do it themselves with just ink and a single needle.  He also said he gets his tattoos based on things he sees and likes, and is unsure of how many he currently has.  Other students, like Mark McCourt, also first quarter electronics, get them because he is addicted.

I asked John, a thirty-eight year old tattoo artist who works at Wild at Heart Body Arts in Millvale, if he thought tattoos were a fad. He explained, “Definitely not! Tattoos are the oldest art form known to man. They might be trendy now, but they definitely will never die out.” John started his career as a tattoo artist fourteen years ago, about a year after he got his first tattoo. He believes that there are some things that people should consider before getting their tattoos, such as making sure that the artist uses an autoclave, which is a steam heat sterilization unit that cooks the equipment, and to see photos of tattoos that the artist has done. “There were too many times when people came in with the ugliest tattoos I’ve ever seen asking me to fix them. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can’t.”

If there are any words of caution that I may offer, in my own personal opinion, know what you are getting on your body. If you plan on getting words in other languages on your body, especially due to the recent popularity of Japanese kanji, do some research so you know exactly what it says. There was a girl I went to high school with who wanted “eternal love” tattooed on her back, but she got “water love” instead. I know, I could read it.