“It was stressful. Very stressful,” Ryan
says. “The most stressful thing was getting
designs done within the amount of time that
you needed to get it done — like, ninety min-
utes maybe?”
She didn’t think she’d make it as far as she
did. “I had no idea who I was going up against,
and I was expecting to not be able to keep up,
at all,” she says.
Most other contestants wrote Ryan off
because of her comparative lack of experi-
A Warren tattoo artist earns runner up on “Ink Master: Battle of the Sexes.”
ence. Some contestants had more than twenty
By Alyssa K. Anderson
years behind the needle, whereas Ryan had
only been tattooing for two and a half years.
“[Before “Ink Master”] I was only doing things that people were
Because of a strange law about tattoo parlors in the Ocean
asking me to do. I showed up like, ‘Yeah, I do some flowers.’ Nothing
State, 1001 Troubles Tattoo is the only tattoo shop in Warren. One
I had been doing was particularly threatening. It wasn’t like any-
of its most popular artists is twenty-eight-year-old Dani Ryan, a
body cared that I had been to art school.”
modest, down-to-earth, raven-haired RISD graduate from Acush-
Ryan, with her RISD degree, was in good company; the winner of
net, Massachusetts, who recently claimed the runner up spot in sea-
season 12, Laura Marie, also has an art degree. The show helped Ryan
son 12 of Paramount Network’s “Ink Master: Battle of the Sexes.”
learn new skills and apply them to her career as a tattoo artist.
1001 Troubles Tattoo is filled with light coming through the
“The show really forced me to work on color. I was so used to
front windows and walls are lined with work from other artists.
doing black and gray, linework and that sort of thing....” she says.
Normally, punk or metal music from the early 2000s plays in the
“I was open to it, and I didn’t want to stick to black and gray forever,
background, the sound bouncing off the ocean-colored walls. Ryan
but I was afraid of it. It forced me to step out of my comfort zone
could easily double as a makeup artist with her “Unicorn Blood”-
and try this whole new thing and now I love doing color.”
red lips and expertly highlighted cheekbones and eyes. She has a
Ryan didn’t just step onto the “Ink Master” stage for her own
few tattoos of her own, but aside from the small, tasteful ones on
benefit.
her hands and wrist, the rest are hidden from plain view. On the
“The more attention I get, the more attention the shop gets,
far wall of Ryan’s station within the shop is a massive poster of
which was the goal. Not just bringing attention to my work, but
her own design of a Valkyrie (a female maiden who handpicks
to bring attention to each of the artists here,” she says.
warriors slain in battle and decides who will ascend to Valhalla).
Dani Ryan’s appointment book is currently closed, but she plans
She reflects on her experience on the show, now that the season
on reopening it soon. 1001troubles.com
has already aired and she can fill in the blanks.
Dani Ryan
18 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l
JANUARY 2020
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