A fledgling artist with one claw wrapped tightly to tattoos and the other one scratching the bark of the art tree, Jade Kerouac is creating a flutter in Shreveport. She was recently called upon to paint a violin for a promotion by the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra. She did not do it up tat style. She covered the instrument in paint, burlap, and lace and attached a romantic array of clock gears to it.
The Kerouac violin showed a sense of craft and of the market.
Is she symbolic of the young artist who is building a base in tattoo making while exploring the larger business of art? Making cash while testing options?
A lifelong sketcher, she says, “I haven’t had any proper secondary schooling.” Mentors and friends have been her sources for instruction. Plus tutorials on YouTube. “I’d have to say trial and error has always been my best teacher.”
More than a
n image maker, Kerouac has tuned in to narratives. She knows the stories via her work as a tattoo artist. “Every tattoo has a story. Each one has a specific memory linked to it; the piece you got because it was beautiful, the one you got when you were drunk, the ink you got in memory of your grandmother, the one you got just for shits and giggles. That’s part of why I love slinging ink, you get to be a part of someones’ story.”
Perhaps that’s why calligraphic tattoos show up frequently in her portfolio.
Challenges facing her development as an artist? “One of my worst habits is a lack of sketching when to trying to create a drawing. Rather than have a rough draft, I just dive in on a painting or illustration. My elementary art teacher always said there are no mistakes, so it’s been ingrained into me to just work through errors and make them work.” She admits that there are limits to this ploy. “This is not the case with tattooing. There is such a structure to it that being
that nonchalant in my own non-tattoo art is a bit of relief.”
She has won supporters via her skin work. Says Jessica Coburn: “Jade is a fantastic artist who specializes in the macabre and bizarre. She designed and tattooed a wine glass on my inner arm, which is my favorite tattoo. She has such a cool style and attitude; definitely one of my favorite Shreveport people.” Also in her corner is painter-illustrator Joe Bluhm. He sees her art mindedness as an aura, as an energy field.
In Shreveport, “I recently discovered the amazing new store/art gallery The Agora Borealis where my aunt, Wendy Tisdale, has some amazing unconventional yarn dream catchers and chairs,” says Kerouac. “Whitney Newson has some incredible pieces there as well.”
At day’s end, she remains entranced by the art of the tat: “Tattoo artists’ styles vary so vastly that even replicated images have a hint of your artist in the details, making each piece personal and unique. Depending on the tattoo, it can evoke emotions from amazement to laughter to sorrow and everything in between. The fact that your tattoos evolve with you is also inspiring. You can add to pieces, make them part of a larger piece or, cover them up entirely. They are worn for all the world to see on the canvas that is your body; making it one of the most literal and creative forms of self expression.”