Central Arkansas is home to a vibrant tattoo community and some of the best artists in the state, with dozens of shops in the metro area providing the popular service.

An estimated 32% of people in the United States have at least one tattoo, according to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2023. The study also found that 22% had more than one tattoo.

Tattooing represents an enduring fascination with altering one’s appearance and quest for individuality that has evolved throughout history, with the display of body art becoming more intricate and colorful, offering a glimpse into the world of the person who has tattoos.

WHY TATTOO?

For some, their tattoo design is chosen simply for aesthetic purposes. Others take a more philosophical approach to their chosen art. Tattoos can tell stories of tragedy, triumph, trauma or accomplishment.

“It can be a confidence boost, or sometimes it’s the rebel cause or trying to make mom mad,” said Josh Chambers, owner and resident artist at The Parlor Tattoo.

The Parlor, at 112 Main St. in North Little Rock, is a storied local shop and boasts more than 28 years in business plus a 4.8-star rating online, with more than 340 reviews as of May.

Another standout local shop is Black Cobra Tattoo Studio at 2323 N. Poplar St. in North Little Rock. It is owned by artist Matt O’Baugh, has been in business for 10-plus years and has a 4.8-star rating with more than 330 reviews.

Like Chambers, O’Baugh speculated that one reason people get tattoos is to rebel — to “see how much I can p*** my parents off.”

Bradley Labelle, who is having a traditional Norse tattoo worked on by Black Cobra artist Breezy Tucker, said he wanted his tattoo to reflect his beliefs, and the tattoo he chose is a spiritual tribute for him.

As artist Josh Henderson tattooed on Austin Mauney part of a stylized character from the Zelda video game franchise at Black Cobra, Mauney explained that he decided on this design to continue his pattern of other characters from the same franchise. He said he has an emotional connection to those characters.

Tattooing also has a deeper meaning for some of those running the local shops.

Chambers explained that tattooing is more than just a profession; it is a craft that saved his life. He shared his humble artist beginnings — the inside of a prison cell in 2016 — and how he was encouraged to pursue tattooing while there.

In 2023, after years of hard work, he took over at The Parlor Tattoo.

“I could always draw like the Simpsons characters, all of us as the Simpsons or whatever,” Chambers said. “Everyone (in prison) assumed that I tattooed already.”

O’Baugh also entered the profession in the early 2000s, as an apprentice. Back then, the industry was in a state of experiment and change. “Everybody went through techniques to push the boundaries and seeing what would happen,” he said. “There were a lot of growing pains.”

O’Baugh said there was a “hyper realistic” movement in tattooing, where there was little or no line work. Effects were made by using color shading to make the tattoos look more realistic. “But, after a few years, we found that the designs just didn’t hold as well as they did with line work,” he said.

BODY PIERCING

Black Cobra and other tattoo shops also offer another popular body modification service: piercing. A survey conducted by Statista in 2017 found that at least 84% had their earlobe pierced, while 20% had other types of piercings.

Like tattoos, piercings can have a deeper meaning for those who have them.

Kyle Arkansas, a piercer at Black Cobra, said piercing can be a way for someone to cope with trauma.

Another Black Cobra piercer, Kade Oliverio, added that getting a piercing can offer that rush of adrenaline someone needs, or they might get a piercing to draw attention away from a part of their body they are uncomfortable with.

HISTORY OF THE CRAFT

Body modification and tattooing dates back thousands of years, and today’s tattooing is a far cry from the utilitarian version noted 19th-century professional artist, Martin Hildebrandt, practiced. It became more intricate and colorful, offering a glimpse into the personality of the person with tattoos.

Hildebrandt first tattooed Civil War soldiers for identification purposes. He opened his New York City shop in 1870.

In the same city, in 1891, Samuel O’Reilly was granted the first patent for an electric rotary tattoo machine. It was inspired by Thomas Edison’s electric pen.

There is no record of O’Reilly selling such a machine, however.

But the oldest known tattoos were discovered more than 100 years after Hildebrandt set up his shop, when the remains of Ötzi the Iceman was found near the Italian-Austrian border in 1991.

He had 61 tattoos, including several on his legs, arms and lower back, according to the Smithsonian Institution. Ötzi also had some of the oldest known ear piercings in the archaeological record.

Carbon dating estimates he lived around 5,300 years ago during the Copper Age, according to an article published in the Smithsonian magazine in 2023.

The remarkable preservation of Ötzi represents the best evidence and direct archaeological proof of the practice of tattooing. The amount of tattooing on Ötzi’s body indicates social practices that likely predate his life, according to the Smithsonian.

Whatever the reason people decide to get body modifications, the trend doesn’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon, and it has only become more beautiful as new colors, techniques and styles emerge in the world of tattooing and piercing.

CONWAY — Tom Courtway, former president of the University of Central Arkansas, “righted the ship, restored the faith,” and directed the university onto the correct path for the future during his tenure, according to current President Houston Davis.

In fact, without Courtway leading the “restoration” of soundness and stability, “I don’t think I’d have applied for this job,” added Davis. “His time as president was as meaningful and impactful as any in UCA’s history.”

On Thursday, UCA officially dedicated the erstwhile Health and Physical Education and Recreation (HPER) Center as the Thomas C. Courtway Student Recreation Center.

Having his name on that “magnificent facility” is apropos, because it’s a place where students cultivate healthy bodies and healthy minds, as well as making lifelong friendships, said Courtway, who led the university from 2011-2016. It’s “an incredible honor I will cherish all my days — my vocabulary (isn’t expansive enough) to truly describe what this means to me.

“I have so much pride in this university, a rock in Conway and a beacon of learning” for more than a century, added Courtway. During “tough times,” the UCA community — including members of the board of trustees, employees, students and families — “committed to changing the way we did things, and Arkansas families stuck with us, (rather than) losing faith.”

The UCA Board of Trustees approved renaming the building — a 72,000-square-foot facility that offers three basketball/volleyball/badminton courts, a pool, exercise studio, walking track, cardio fitness area and weight room area — for Courtway in October 2024.

Integrity, service, responsibility, community and dedication are all words that spring to mind when Davis thinks about Courtway, said UCA’s current president. “He helped re-engage students and alumni with pride in their university, and we are all eternally grateful.”

Courtway thanked his family Thursday for all their help through the years and noted that “UCA is in our fiber,” as numerous family members are graduates, including his parents.

“UCA is so special to our entire family,” and he’s grateful current university leadership “can see over the horizon” to plan for the future.

“I couldn’t be happier to see (UCA) now, with its young, dynamic leaders, and all the good it’s doing for Arkansans,” he said. The “next generation of students and families is very secure.”

Courtway, an attorney, former legislator and erstwhile former aide to members of the Arkansas congressional delegation, was also an administrator at UCA and Hendrix College, including serving as interim president of UCA before being named president. Courtway served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001. He was also an interim director of the Arkansas Department of Education.

Highlights of his presidential tenure included the 50,000-square-foot expansion to the Lewis Science Center, the expansion of HPER that included addition of the pool and racquetball courts and doubling the size of the weight rooms, the beginnings of the Donaghey Corridor project — a 67,500-square-foot, four-story building located on the corner of Bruce Street and Donaghey Avenue for retail and residential space — and completion of the Greek Village Phase I, which houses five sororities on campus and chapter rooms for National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) fraternities and sororities, according to Davis. “Lots of great things happened during his tenure.”

Courtway, 72, was born in Wynne, graduated from Conway High School in 1971, and his father, Bob, taught at Hendrix College for nearly 30 years, while his mother, Betty, was a public school kindergarten teacher. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and business from Hendrix in 1975, a Juris Doctor with honors from the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville in 1978 and a Master of Law and Technology from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in 1983.

Courtway was “always a great athlete, very smart, and Mr. Popularity, but chiefly I remember his humility,” a modesty that remained throughout his life’s various successes, said Michael Stanton, chairman of UCA’s board of trustees who has known Courtway “since I was 11.” Always “honest and full of integrity, that humility is why we love him so much, (and) I’m excited that now everyone will see his name” on the student recreation center.

The town where Arkansas prison escapee and convicted murderer Grant Hardin once served as police chief remains on edge, according to its mayor who is also the sister of Hardin’s victim.

“Anxiety is still high,” Cheryl Tillman, the mayor of Gateway, Arkansas, told USA TODAY in an interview May 28. “I think everybody’s still on alert, being vigilant, doing every precaution that they can.”

Hardin, 56, escaped from the North Central Unit in Calico Rock on May 25, wearing a “makeshift outfit designed to mimic law enforcement,” according to the Arkansas Department of Corrections.

Hardin had been serving time for the 2017 murder of James Appleton, Tillman’s brother, in Gateway and the 1997 rape of a school teacher in nearby Rogers. He was sentenced to 80 years on the combined convictions, according to court records.

Tillman described Hardin, who served as Gateway’s police chief while Tillman was on the city council in 2016, as “very arrogant” and “angry.”

“He’s an evil person,” Tillman said.

Hardin remains at large as of Wednesday night, with the FBI, Department of Corrections, Arkansas State Police and local police were working to find Hardin, officials said earlier in the day.

Sister remembers brother slain at hands of ‘Devil in the Ozarks’

Hardin pleaded guilty to in 2017 to murder in the first degree for shooting and killing Appleton in February of the same year, according to court records.

Appleton’s brother-in-law and Cheryl’s husband, Andrew Tillman, told Benton County Sheriff’s investigators that he was on the phone with Appleton when he was shot, according to a probable cause affidavit. Andrew was the Gateway’s mayor at the time of the shooting.

Cheryl described Appleton as a “very good brother” with a strong civic sense who obtained a license to work for the Gateway Rural Water Authority when asked by his brother-in-law.

“Everybody in this town knew James. They knew that they could call James if they needed help on anything,” Tillman said.

Tillman said that learning of Hardin’s escape brought back memories of the murder.

“Everything was happening all over again. From the time he shot my brother and the time we had to go to court with him,” Tillman said.

The 1997 rape was the focus of a 2023 documentary titled “Devil in the Ozarks,” for which Tillman was interviewed. She said that the interview was “tough to do.”

“We’ve since been in touch with the subjects of that film and law enforcement and are praying for Hardin’s immediate capture in the name of justice and the victims and their families’ peace of mind,” Ari Mark, one of the executive producers of the documentary, told USA TODAY in a statement May 28.

Tillman emphasized the need for residents of Gateway, a place she described as “a very quiet town” where “everybody knows everybody,” to remain vigilant while Hardin remained at-large.

“Lock their doors. If they need to, load their guns,” Tillman said. “Whatever they need to do, just stay vigilant and watch your backs.”

Contributing: N’dea Yancey-Bragg, Michael Loria, Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY.