Ben Shaw at Archetype Dermigraphis Studios/Gallery
Ben Shaw, CC, has never had a problem expressing himself with his tattoos.
“They’re not for everyone, but they’re a growing demographic,” said Shaw, co-owner of Albuquerque’s Archetype Tattoo. “It’s just a way for somebody to express their internal feelings onto their skin.”
For other forms of expression, he’s found Toastmasters.
Since first walking into a meeting in 2013, Toastmasters has helped the 36-year-old add educator, legislator and board chairman to the resume, plus change a bad law when others sat on the sidelines.
As a “professional new kid” in an Air Force family, Shaw found relief in tattoos early. He got his first tattoo on his 16th birthday — or so he tells his mother — and is now tattooed over 70 percent of his body.
“I fell in love with the art, started drawing on friends, and actually started putting tattoos on friends improperly very early,” Shaw said. “It’s just something I’ve never got away from. I just chased it from as early as trying to get an apprenticeship at 16 to finally starting my own tattooing at 20.”
After a few years, Shaw’s tattooing skills were so great he drew interest from magazines. But his interviewing skills were so poor one magazine editor suggested a public speaking club.
Shaw found the Albuquerque Weekenders Toastmasters club in a downtown art studio one Saturday morning. He went from terrified on his first Table Topics to joining three clubs and attending eight monthly meetings. He praised memberships that ignored tattoos and saw someone who needed improvement.
“In the beginning, he wasn’t exactly laser-focused,” said T.K. O’Geary, DTM, PDG, a fellow Weekenders member. “But he knew what he was passionate about and he was so eager to learn. It’s good to be around people are sponges. You could see improvement every single time.”
After improving his interviews, Shaw improved his industry. He helped create the Guild of Ethical Tattooists, a non-profit that warns adults and teens on the dangers of those improper tattoos Shaw told his mother he didn’t get.
“A lot of minors are now starting to collect tattoos, so I want to educate,” Shaw said. “They are a very pretty art, but they are also inflicting a wound on the body, and if done improperly they can cause some contamination issues.”
He then tackled tattoo regulation, which New Mexico in 2008 placed under the umbrella of the New Mexico Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists. Shaw saw the dysfunction soon after his appointment. Everybody got along, but barbers wanted to regulate tattoo artists as much as tattoo artists wanted barbers regulating them. The results were six-hour meetings where everybody left frustrated.
“It ran into a matter of just too much information, and nothing was ever solved efficiently,” Shaw said. “They cut hair and nails, and we cut flesh. It was two totally different worlds.”
It was an inconvenient marriage, but only the New Mexico Legislature could grant a divorce. Shaw found Sen. Jacob Candelaria, D-Albuquerque, and they drafted Senate Bill 275 to establish the Board of Body Art Practitioners.
Photo by Michael Spear
Ben Shaw tattoos customer Carlos Cordova at Archetype Tattoo in Albuquerque. Shaw chairs the New Mexico Board of Body Art Practitioners, which he helped create by testifying in Santa Fe during the 2015 state legislative session.
With Shaw as the expert witness, SB 275 sailed through both houses — 39-1 in the Senate, 69-1 in the House of Representatives. Shaw said the legislation garnered support because it was common sense, but O’Geary credits Shaw for making it common sense.
“I was surprised (it passed in its first year) because of the content,” O’Geary said, “but I knew if anybody had a chance to get that legislation passed, it was Ben. He really set the stage as a confident, knowledgeable individual.”
Shaw couldn’t meet with Gov. Susana Martinez, who still held the veto pen. Although SB 275 had veto-proof majorities, most bills are acted on following the session, and special sessions are rarely called to override governor vetoes.
“Using the body art community, we bombarded the office with calls,” Shaw said with a smile, “to the point that when she signed the bill, the office called me and told me to have people stop calling.”
The Body Art Practitioners Board was established July 1, 2015; Shaw was appointed and elected chairman. During his inaugural three-year term, Shaw is reaching out to other states for shared standards so body artists avoid red tape when they travel or relocate.
Shaw’s not sure where he’ll end up with his Toastmasters skills. He just knows where he’d be without them.
“I would still be sitting in my chair, tattooing my clients, wishing people would improve our regulations and that I’d stop seeing kids get tattooed,” Shaw said. “I’d wish a whole bunch, and complain a whole bunch, but without Toastmasters, I don’t think I would have ever set foot in that roundhouse or set foot in that school.”
