Surrah Keen
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 I’ve always held onto art because it’s very natural to me. Being a home schooled kid from the country, I've had more free time than average to figure out my talents. Out of 9 kids, I am the pivotal number 5, haha, so my siblings were my friends and we had access to arts and crafts all the time. We were barefoot and free, making forts in the woods and having no clue what our parents were trying to hide us from. My mother was an occasional artist, always leaving little designs while she talked on the phone, and I loved watching her create abstract by pen. This is one of my favorite memories of her. She worked on the internet so, I was exposed to a lot through that. It was an outlet for me, a huge place for me to find friends and learn about the world.
My canvases were everywhere. Paper, walls, people, myself…anything I could get my hands on could potentially become a place for me to create. We didn’t spend a lot of time in art stores so I tended to use pencils and pens instead of colored pencils or paints. Using color is something I’m still learning and experiment with every day. I draw very intuitively. This probably comes from not having your typical art education background where you learn all the rules like coloring inside the lines and so I learned by doing things the wrong way and having to adjust. Most all I know is by pure imagination or picking up on different details among other artists.
Construction, hippy shops, an eye surgery center, fast food, a radio station, a cafe, these are some of the odd jobs I’ve had since I started working at 15. What bothered me most was that, when you work for someone else, they have the ability to put a price on you, the owners are only working toward making more money, and I don’t believe you can find yourself that way. I was the rebel of my family, the first to get a tattoo or body piercing. Mom wasn’t exactly thrilled but very supporting and open to whatever I was serious about and driven by. I was 18 when I was offered my first apprenticeship at this run down tattoo shop in a local college town. I’ll never forget the feeling as I put needle to skin. The idea of placing art on a person forever blew my mind. I look back on that whole experience and kind of laugh to myself. How badly I wanted to learn and do well, but the environment prevented me from getting a proper apprenticeship. After that experience, I knew I had to start from scratch with tattooing, so I started saving my money. In the meantime, I met my husband, had our daughter and ended up in Virginia Beach. I now know that everything happened exactly the way it should have. It may have been a rocky beginning but it allowed my eyes to open to possibilities, and the day where I could see myself becoming a phenomenal artist. I've carried this hope for years. I have a large range of artistic styles that I dabble in. From portraits, to figures, to abstract, I can go all over the place at any time, but I’m always testing my hand in all sorts of ranges and angles. I enjoy realism and the ability to bring things to life on a canvas, whatever it may be. I draw basically every day and what comes out is either dependant on my mood, my experiences, or what I’m being given as an assignment. If I look back on old drawings, I can see progress happening. I hope to create a style that hasn’t been done before and apply that to my future tattooing career.
Today, I’ve been taken under the wing of one of my favorite artists, Gabriel Cece, who's a true tattooer to say the absolute least. I remember reading his bio about being self-taught which really inspired me. Soon there-after I began getting tattooed by him and pursued him for an apprenticeship. He gave me a list of requirements and, slowly but surely, I chipped away at them. After helping to put together Studio Evolve, I was granted my apprenticeship with Gabriel and have been part of the family ever since. I wish I knew how else to say this without sounding cliché, but, I am honored to work alongside these artists, tattooers, and learn everything they are willing to teach me. They are sharing something so valuable with me that I can't fully express... The words I'm searching for I believe haven't even been invented, but, I know in good time it will come and I believe I am exactly where I'm supposed to be. |
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