Today we’d like to introduce you to Kyra Verry.
Hi Kyra, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
My name is Kyra Verry, and I have been a tattoo artist located in the Cleveland area for 6 years. Throughout that time, I also apprenticed and became certified in Piercings, Permanent Cosmetics, Web/ logo design, and nude modelling. I worked for many tattoo shops in the Cleveland area, starting off apprenticing under Rodney Rose at 252 Tattoo, before eventually beginning my own private studio located at the Lakewood-Cleveland Border this year.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I studied art and design at Polaris Career Tech Institute but was drawing professionally for years before that. Teaching myself to paint and design at home ever since my parents would stick me in front of an easle with fingerpaints since before I was old enough to walk. I realized that tattooing was the career for me back when I was 18, and I decided that I wanted to be an artist but also do something meaningful. Learning to tattoo was the most challenging thing I’ve ever experienced. Throughout my journey, I have been sexually assaulted, had rumors spread about me, been threatened physically, let go for false claims, and gone through a domestic violence situation. But one of the things that keeps me in this exceptionally tough and oftentimes dangerous career is being able to make people feel more beautiful in their own skin when they might have been feeling ugly, more at peace when they’ve experienced a loss and needed closure, and helps people find their strength after a rough event in life such as surviving domestic abuse or cancer.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I specialize in black and white dark art/ realism, henna-style sacred geometry tattoos, fine line work, and single-needle tattoos. I am also proud of my work in fine art modelling, nude modelling, and my small side business making my own paintings, prints, and dark-style clothes. I love the ways that different forms of creative expression can flow together and complement one another. I experienced lots of traumas as a child, such as having to undergo brain surgery at 10, and every form of art I do empowers me and helps me to work through the difficult aspects of life in the healthiest ways I know how.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I have always been a weird kid since I was little. I tended to sit in the corner, ditch gym classes, get in trouble often, and never do my homework. At the end of the day, though, my unique personality ended up shaping my success later in life because every time I was supposed to be paying attention in math class, I was usually compelled into drawing intricate portraits of my classmates or teacher instead.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Instagram.com/tatsbykyra
Image Credits
Mike Beach Photography
Saint Even Photography
Black Honey Photography
