Korrina Bastion, mother and tattooist. 12 years down the track as a keen artist whose beginnings were from her husband Rick, who was so impressed with her ability to draw, decided that such fine work should be treated to some form of showcase and what better place than his own skin. So off to their local studio in Palmerston North for the transformation into Living Art. Not too long after that the next obvious step was to have Korrina do the whole deal, so with a homemade gun and some serious pain, the first masterpiece took shape. How popular would you be with your mates if your wife was tattooing? As you can imagine there was no shortage of canvas.
A shift to south of Christchurch and it was time to look for some sort of training to polish up some pretty reasonable self-taught skills. Having fought her way through the offers of training in exchange for certain favours etc. As a woman trying to break into this particular trade during this era which was fraught with such perceptions of your character. The break finally came in the form of John, then from Skin Show, Stanmore Road, Willy from Black Rose, Ferry Road, and Ken from Black Dragon, Blenheim. New equipment and some fine tuition. After a total of seven years working from home it came time to separate the family home / work place and the clean spacious Living Canvas Studio became the reality of today.
Although Korrina now works alone in the studio, the past fine years have seen Brad and Kyle work alongside, performing piercing, scarification and branding. Now Korrina has undertaken the piercing side of things herself and is aiming to increase her skills and knowledge in this area to further enhance the service she can offer her clients.
Korrina has a passion for work by English/European artists due to the realism and subtleness compared to American styles that tend to be bolder and more colour intense. (Not, of course, to say that a large proportion of her work comes from this area as demand dictates). Inspiration plays a major part in some of the originals available from Korrina; such artists as Kerry Barber (although American) are a continual source to feed the ever-creative mind. Whether it be dragons and warriors, angels and demons, a portrait of a loved one, the fine intricacies of a Celtic piece, Korrina�s repertoire is surely able to cater for most tastes.
Day to day clientele in the shop range from the late teen years right through to folks in their sixties, so you�d be surprised who may just be hiding a masterpiece by this artist somewhere under that perceived norm, in fact as Korrina sees the changes over the years it�s more and more noticeable the clientele are getting older and having a tattoo no longer carries the stigma it once did. Hey, we all need to make our own statement in one way or another and what easier way than to wear it! Tattooing is seen by Korrina as a very personal thing, hence her personality, of which is amicable and always attentive to the needs of the customer, holds her in good stead with her clients, and brings them back just for that one more expression of creativity that sets them aside from their peers. Addiction, obsession, no words really describe the sense that comes from the right person creating your very own masterpiece and the need to have more.
One of the more memorable creations as Korrina recollects is the full back piece with an Egyptian theme. This piece was completed in fifty hours over a three-month period, starting with four-hour sittings, but as the body can only take so much, towards the end, half-hour stints were as much as could be tolerated. Needle shy? Ouch, I would say so, happy to say totally recovered now though. Then the stag�s head in Celtic form, twenty hours of intricate depiction coming to life as living art.
