40 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY OCTOBER 24-30, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com FACE TO FACE Marielle Reynolds, who goes by her middle name, Avalon, is a Seaside resident and owner of Autonomy Tattoo. Originally from Santa Cruz, Reynolds learned to tattoo while she was living in Oregon. Growing up, art was a big part of her life. Reynolds’ mother is a florist and her father a musician. She was part of “The Art Kids”—a neighborhood group that met every Friday to make projects. “If I can make it with my hands, I’m into it—always,” she says. Before adding any ink to a person’s skin, Reynolds talks with them, takes notes and makes sketches. She then creates a stencil and measures it against different parts of the body to make sure it is the right size and in the right spot. She also discusses how the finished tattoo will change overtime. “They give you this trust to change their body forever,” Reynolds says. “And that makes it really gratifying almost every time.” Autonomy Tattoo is Reynolds’ first solo enterprise, and she’s been successful so far by promoting the business through postcards and word of mouth. “It’s just all been grassroots—people having positive experiences and sharing that with other people in the community,” she explains. Weekly: What has been the most challenging aspect of becoming a tattoo artist? Reynolds: The hardest thing to learn is valuing—figuring out how to get paid, what you need to get paid, how to hustle, how to be self-employed. I was younger. There were not as many females, and I would get hustled constantly by people. My coworkers— these big dudes in their 50s—nobody would ever challenge what they would say. To me, somebody would come back and try to bargain a lot more if I just set a price. Do you have a specialty? I’m a little bit of a jack of all trades. I really like doing fine line work. I really love doing botanical work. I’m leaning a lot more toward black and gray these days than I ever used to. I do like traditional Americana-style stuff, and a little bit more of a bold approach sometimes. Why do you like botanical tattoos? They are really beautiful. They work really well as far as content material for tattoos. Botanicals are a really good option, because they’re so flexible and malleable. They can move with your body. You can throw a leaf over here, a leaf over there, and when you move, it twists and turns with you. It just works. And they’re really organic. And there are so many wonderful things in the world. You have several tattoos. What percentage of your body is inked? I don’t know. I’ve never really considered it like that. [The] most empty part of my body is my feet. Do you have a favorite? That’s a real tough one. Probably my back. It’s kind of the whole world watching it go down, and in the middle, it says, “It takes a village.” That’s my favorite one. I had to make a miniature one on my hand. You mentioned you’ve always gone by your middle name. Why? My sister’s Mara. My name is Marielle. And she’s three years older than I am. So when I was born—“Ah, it’s the same name.” So they just called me my middle name my whole life. I was enrolled in elementary school as my middle name. They didn’t even know. Avalon is who I am. You started your career in Oregon. Is it different in California? I found that regulations in California are totally different than Oregon. I’m licensed in both Oregon and in California currently and, sheesh, it is totally different, as far as I’m concerned. All you need is an infection prevention control plan, which is essentially a giant document about how you clean, what your steps are when you’re going through setting up and breaking down and what you do in the event of whatever sort of incident. But that’s almost all you need to get your license here. There’s no practical test. If you are not making body art…? I wanted to be an animal handler for big cats. I’m really into animals. I used to volunteer when I was a kid at Wild Things in Salinas. Animals have always been a passion of mine. Steve Irwin and Jane Goodall were my heroes growing up. Irwin was a fucking angel. He was incredible for our planet and preserving it. That’s why I love tattooing plants and animals the most. Autonomy Tattoo, 346 Roberts Ave., Seaside. 7605661, autonomy-tattoo.com. Body of Work Seaside tattoo artist Avalon Reynolds is passionate about plants, animals and creating. By Celia Jiménez Avalon Reynolds says part of what makes a tattoo successful is thinking ahead to how it will change as a body changes, and how it will look while the body is moving. DANIEL DREIFUSS
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