Known as “Blue Byrd,” fine arts junior Blue Carrier has always had a knack for creating art and is currently taking the world of tattooing by storm.
Since they were young, Carrier has been drawing the things they love. Their love for art evolved over the years and as their passion for art grew, so did their skills.
Carrier’s creativity and passion for art led to them dabbling in different mediums of art.
“Art’s my whole life. I don’t know what I’d do without it,” they said.
Whether it was photography, making music, or painting, they approached new things with nothing but zeal.
When starting off, Carrier said, “I did one stick and poke on myself, and it hurt! I hated it, and it hurt, and I could never finish it because it hurt.
Although they’re covering up all their stick and poke tattoos, they said they wouldn’t be where they are now if it wasn’t for that “weird, experimental phase.”
Carrier said at one point, they were renting out a private studio with their friend, Kai, a fellow tattoo artist who shares the same passion for tattooing as them.
“I started sharing a creative space with Kai,” Carrier said. “We did that, and I was like, ‘I need to step it up a little bit.’
Blue spoke about the stigma that self-taught artists face from not only other artists but themselves too.
“I felt like I was stuck at a point with tattooing and to get out of that creative funk, moving into a shop space surrounded by other artists has inspired me to take it more seriously and improve,” Carrier said.
Currently based in the New Orleans Uptown area, Carrier has been tattooing for about a year and a half now.
Starting off as a self-taught tattoo artist with a stick and poke kit to working at the local shop, Fun Tattoos.
Carrier said they love the work they’ve been doing and so do their clients.
“Putting art on somebody’s body permanently is such a blessing as an artist. It’s very affirming,” they said. “It makes you think, ‘Oh people want my work forever,’ like that’s insane.”
Carrier values a sense of creativity for the youth, and they want to help the next generation accomplish that.
“I do want to get my masters, and I want to be a professor. That’s my main goal,” Carrier said. “I’d love to teach upper level art classes. I just had such a good experience as a kid working under these people who were super educated in art, and I would love to be that for other inspiring young artists.”
