Quarantine Skillshare: Juliana Freschi’s Dreamy Pokes

Juliana Freschi is a graduating fourth year sociology major and tattoo artist. While at UChicago she sang in Dirt Red Brass Band and was both president and an active member of Motet Choir. You can find more pictures and up-to-date info about her tattoos on Instagram via @dreamypokes!

Hand poke tattoos are the most accessible, self-created form of magic available in quarantine, says graduating fourth-year Juliana Freschi. They are at once affirming, adornment, and a positive change. Her tattoo imagery draws from a range of styles, from art deco to traditional to bold geometry to delicate stippling, all while remaining distinctively hers.

Working both within and outside of the broader Chicago tattoo community, Freschi enjoys the act of giving tattoos because of how they connect her to the individual. The edited conversation transcribed below covers Freschi’s start to tattooing, her thesis on sociological boundary work, and how stick and poking herself in quarantine has imparted the magical and transformational qualities of the medium.

Examples of Freschi’s Work via @dreamypokes

Ariana Garcia: How would you describe your style of tattooing?

Juliana Freschi: I don’t really have one. I like to stay open to all different styles. My artistic style and visual language stay kind of fluid. I’m definitely influenced by traditional tattoo imagery, which has been sort of a recent development. Probably in the last few months, hearts, cherries, and pinup girls have been coming up in my drawings more and more. I also have a strong affinity for geometry and clean lines and shapes. I’m trying to find a way to marry those two things.

How and when did you start to get into tattooing?

It was the summer before my third year and I had spent it drawing. I had just gotten my first tattoo in the April of my second year and it was by a former UChicago student who used to do stick and pokes out of their apartment. It was this homemade style and the DIY experience: in their living room, their roommates were drinking beer right next to us, and me draped over a chair. It was a really ideal first tattoo experience. I really liked it and I started following more and more tattoo artists and realized how accessible it is. It’s even more accessible now than it was two years ago. Now, everyday new stick and pokers are popping up with new Instagram accounts. A lot of people could get into it, find relative success, and just have fun with it. So I ordered some really basic materials off of Amazons (a 100 piece variety pack of needles and really shitty ink) and practiced on a banana first, then myself, and gave my roommate a tattoo on her ankle.

Also, when I am getting a tattoo, I just ask the artist a ton of questions about what they’re doing and their experiences. That’s how I’ve learned a lot of techniques because, when it comes to DIY tattooing, there is not that much solid information available, other than some YouTube videos and old articles of just super basic information. So, if you want to learn the more advanced stuff you have to go out there in the field to talk to other artists.

From Flash Drawing to Ink, accessed via @dreamypokes

Do you think that your attitude towards receiving tattoos on yourself has changed since that first one?

Definitely. Especially considering how many tattoos I have now, I started getting them really late. I mean I got my first tattoo in April of 2018 and I was 20. But then after that I just really liked the way it became a part of my body and I got so used to looking at it.

What drew you to stick and poke tattooing specifically?

That's sort of like a comfort thing. It's not like in a studio where it feels sort of sterile, but it's like kind of a hang out, right? Also, hand poking is really great for starting out because tattoo machines are really, really expensive. First of all, they're $300 to $600 and then you have to buy a power supply, which is like $200 and then all of the different cartridges and grips and everything. Stick and poking is way more economically feasible. It's not a huge investment if you're not really sure how seriously you want to take it. So that was pretty great for just wanting to dabble in it. When I first started I bought supplies off of Amazon.

As an art form in and of itself, hand poking is a much slower pace. A tattoo machine is like having a pen and drawing a line, whereas hand poking you have to make that line out of many tiny individual dots. So it probably takes four times as long. But that said, you have so much more control over the piece that you're making. I kind of feel more connected, a lot more present, and a personal connection with the pieces I make because I'm bringing them to life, one tiny dot at a time.

And then working from home is very chill, and I think it's just really welcoming for people. Not to say that shops can't be welcoming because a lot of people that I know have really beautiful and relaxing spaces that they've made, [like Time Being], which is a newer shop where the residents all have DIY backgrounds as artists.

What is the process from moving from a tattoo design to actually putting it on a person, especially when you’re making something specifically for them, and not for a flash sheet?

When people have an idea, it becomes a collaborative process. For example, sometimes people will already have a drawing that they've made that they want me to tattoo for them, which I really like doing. Any tattoo artist is going to say that making your own designs or your own flash is really gratifying because it is. But then I also enjoy making other people's art come to life as well because that's clearly so special for them, which I love. Then some people will bring an image they want, but ask me to put my personal spin on it. Like this one guy wanted some skis, but he wanted me to put a little geometric flair on them. This type of collaboration is definitely a challenge for me, but it's fun to stretch my creativity and think about how to conceptually apply my visual language.

Tats courtesy of @dreamypokes

How does it feel for you to give a tattoo? What are you thinking about when you do this?

It's a lot of pressure, of course, because you don't want to mess up somebody's body. It's simultaneously really relaxing because the process of a hand poke tattoo is very meditative for me because of the type of brain that I have. I've always been able to focus on detail-oriented things for a long time. So I can just zone in on a tattoo for three hours and it feels like no time has passed. I love to get into that zone and make something happen.

It's important not to take that all lightly because like you are permanently altering somebody's body, and there's a lot of different elements and facets [of technique] that you have to take into consideration. Not only is the final piece a thing that they're going to carry with them forever and you want it to be as good as possible, but I think that the experience of receiving the tattoo is just as much imprinted into that image.

Who or what inspires you?

On Instagram, I follow so many inspiring tattoo artists, so it’s hard for me to narrow it down because I like so many different styles. I am drawn to people who make bold, traditionally-inspired tattoos and know their style as artists. Recently because of quarantine, I have been seeing all of these tattoo artists translate their designs to canvas, paper, and clothing, which is an exciting experience because I feel like I'm getting to know a different side to all of these artists. For example, there's this one artist Emma Bagley over in [Santa Fe, New Mexico] who takes traditional imagery, but then makes them a little more psychedelic and warped.

I'm also inspired by people who know a lot about tattoo history. There are two Chicago artists who come to mind: Sema [Graham] Tattoo and Kyle Butler. I love them. They just know everything there is to know about tattooing and they think it's the most amazing art form in the world. Like they are obsessed with it. And I think it really comes through in their practices and the art that they make because they are so invested.

But, you don't have to be obsessed with tattoo history to be an amazing tattoo artist. There's a million and one ways to be a tattoo artist. I'm excited when people are clearly passionate about the art they're making or when they're doing something new, something inspired.

Reworking
The Traditional

Featured Tattoos by:
@kybut
@emasesame
@sema.tattoo

How do you engage with tattoo history? Is there any sort of facet there that you identify with?

For my thesis, I actually interviewed 17 tattoo artists. Before this, I didn't really have any appreciation for traditional tattoo imagery or culture, and I just kind of thought it was all sort of boring or too old school, et cetera. Through doing this research and seeing how passionate these different artists were about it, I also gained more appreciation for it. [Traditional imagery, as a result,] started to come up more in the things that I'm drawing and the things that I want to get on my own body. I wouldn't say that I know a ton of history, but I could name drop old school artists who were foundational. I think they're just so badass. There's absolutely a reason that [those designs] have lasted so long and yeah, it's made me want to incorporate it more into the art that I am making.

What was your thesis about?

It was using all of these tattoo artists as a case study in boundary work, which in sociological literature is basically like gatekeeping. So, I'm talking about how all of these tattoo artists construct their individual identity as artists by comparing themselves to others, and either validating or invalidating things that other people in the tattoo community do. I think that gathering all of that research was the most fun I've ever had. I made so many friends by just talking about tattoos. If I had to give some thesis advice, I’d recommend that you do it on something that you are actually really passionate about, so you can talk to people that you think are awesome.

Chicago has a really amazing, strong, tightly knit tattoo community. What’s it like being a part of that? Do you feel a part of that?

Being in Hyde Park makes it harder to feel included because all of the shops and most of the client base is on the North Side, but that's okay. Tattoo artists are the nicest people in the whole wide world and it's the most welcoming community ever. I don't even have to have met some of these people in person for them to be people I would consider friends. Everyone's just really supportive of everyone else's work . We're always commenting on each other's stuff and sharing it and just being like, yo, that's sick. Like the response that people had to my thesis research was heartwarming because everyone was really eager to participate and talk about tattoos. They were just so accommodating. I really love everybody who's a part of the community. I wouldn't say that I'm super in it, but the connections that I have made with people have been very important to me, and really pure and wholesome. That's what I would say. Tattoo artists are just wholesome.

How has quarantine affected your work or how you engage with it?

I miss tattooing people, but it's also kind of been amazing because, to be honest, I didn't really know anything about art when I got into tattooing. I've never had formal training and I didn't know a lot of basic technical stuff, which I always felt was a disadvantage. Sometimes I look at other people and I'll be like, damn, like y'all just like, know how to shade something. And I'm over here being like, everything I make looks wonky, in my head. So quarantine has been this incredible opportunity for me to just learn. I've been experimenting with a lot of different media like oil pastels, soft pastels, colored pencils, charcoal, graphite, painting and it's been the most fun ever. Quarantine has been a great time for me to really figure out more deeply what truly inspires me and what the art is that I really want to be making. So, yeah, I've just been able to like think about that and engage with it a lot more.

I have some t-shirts in the works. Um, I did this really dumb thing. I bought a pack of tee shirts and then I got home and realized that they were children's t-shirts. Yeah, they are boys large. But, you know, actually it's not that bad because the boy's large is kind of like an adult small, and they just sort of fit like baby tees...whatever. Hopefully somebody will wear this anyways. So, yeah. I've been painting t-shirts.

1/2 Self-Poked Quarantine Tats via @dreamypokes

Have you given yourself any tattoos during quarantine?

Yes I have tattooed myself twice in quarantine. Both of those pieces that I made were exciting for me because I was trying out a different technique. Especially the most recent one I made, which is lips with a cherry, was a bit of a challenge because it had a certain type of detail that I had never really attempted before. But I was really happy with the way it came out and I was like, yay, we're making progress. And I felt like it was a step forward in what I want my sort of look to be.

For some reason, though, I am more afraid or more hesitant to tattoo myself than other people. I have some friends who tattoo themselves constantly and that's great because you're practicing so much. But I'm always afraid to mess up my own body. Doing it has been a good exercise in trusting myself. I also really like the power to customize my own body. I've tattooed myself one, two, three, four, like seven, no eight times. I started really small and I slowly got to doing bigger and bigger things and I'm really happy with the way they've turned out.

2/2 Self-Poked Quarantine Tats via @dreamypokes

It's also made me feel more confident in my own ability and in my body. Tattoos are amazing for making you love your body and your skin, which is huge, especially during quarantine because it's been such a rough time for people who struggle with their bodies or have disordered eating.

It's just been a really brutal time for all of us out here. Tattooing myself has been a great way to check in with myself and take some time, zone into this work, and then make something that I'm really proud of, on my own skin. I also like tattooing myself because I can take however much time I want and I can always go back and make changes to it later, which is nice because I am a hyper perfectionist.

What would you say to someone who is currently in quarantine and thinking about picking up hand poking?

I say like, definitely go for it. Like I said before, tattooing isn't something that you should take lightly because it's both a psychological and physical change in your body and other people's bodies. But I think in quarantine, if you want to poke yourself, it's your body, so like go off. It's really fun to have control of your body and make something that you're proud of and happy with. I would say, though, maybe practice on something that is not skin first. The first thing I ever tattooed was a banana. I think it's kind of important to get the basic feel of it without permanent repercussions. Now's a great time to start.

Tattoos mean so many different things to everybody. I don't really think that the first thing that you get tattooed has to be super meaningful. Some people approach it that way and that's fine, but in my experience, I find that the meaning is going to change and go away. Whereas if you just get something that's really beautiful, you're less likely to hate it later. Definitely don't try to imbue some meaning into it cause you think that it has to have meaning. I've gotten some tattoos that were a snap decision. I just walked in, knew that I was going to get something from somebody’s flash, without seeing it, and then saw a piece that looked cool and they're some of my favorite tattoos.

I just think that tattoos are super, super magical and there's no [other art form as immediately transformative]. This quarantine has sent me to hell and back again a hundred times because I just have to be with myself and my brain and my body all day, every single day and it's made me feel crazy. But being able to customize and have control over your own body is the most special and important thing that tattooers offer the world, in my opinion.