Thanks for your interest in Matthew's Party Tattoo. This is the part where we tell you a little about ourselves. Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Michael Pearson, proprietor of this tattoo studio, and this is my story. Well, I began to tattoo in the spring of 1995, and started piercing long before. I guess you'd say I was always interested in body art. Of course, I didn't start out in this field. From the time I was very young, everyone could see I had an artistic bent in my life. I had a private art tutor who helped me refine my skills. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Mrs. Jean Gallardy for all your help. Without your encouragement, I may not have had the chance to work in this field I love so much. Thanks again. From basic high school classes I decided to pursue art school. I hated it. I knew that this was not what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I had a free ride, so I decided to stay and learn what i could. It turned out to be a pretty good learning experience. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Of course, I am glad it's over and I never have to do it again. You know what's funny? I never sent a single resume for an art job. First, I entered the promising field of fast food. That was short lived. I think I stayed a part of Ronald's team for about three days. It was long enough to know that I wasn't cut out for food service. My next job was in a welding shop fabricating metal. I guess you could call that art in an abstract way (no pun intended.) In our city, there is this really ugly abstract metal art in the downtown section. Most of the stuff I made looked better than that crap. In September of 1993, I met the most important person in my life, Jesus Christ. At that point, all the art in my life had purpose, and I thank him for saving me everyday. Now he is the director of my life and my companies. In 1994, I married my soul-mate, Lisa Jo Taranto-Pearson. She is my best friend and business partner. Then we had a beautiful baby girl, Sunshine Sierra (the Bird.) She is our future artist. Soon after Suni's birth an apprenticeship opened up for me. It was a total God setup, and I am still extremely grateful to him for his divine appointments. The scripture says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Ps.37:4 Eventually, I grew out of the shop I was working in, and it was time to move on. The man who taught me shared what he could with me, the basics of the business. Which was all he had to offer. From there, Lisa and I were on our own. With only God on our side, we set out to open our own studio. We prayed the Lord would give us a name, and Matthew's Party was our answer. The name comes from Matthew 9:9-13...."As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. 'Follow me' he told him and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciple, 'Why does your teacher eat with sinners?' On hearing this, Jesus said, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means; 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." From there, in June of 1996, Matthew's Party Tattoo and Body Piercing was born. Around this time, our son, Zion Bartholomew Pearson (Krazy Ace), was born. This guy is our builder. One day he'll probably build his old man a new building to put our shop in. For now though, he will practice with Lego's. As I said, we opened in the small town of if St. Michael. We went the small town route at first to keep traffic low. Neither of us knew exactly how to run a business. So rather than go crazy, we started slow. Also, for the money, we got to have everything we wanted. Our lobby was really big, and we also had a private tattoo and piercing room. When I apprenticed I worked in an open-air shop, and I swore I would never work in a shop like that again. I think that every customer has the right to have privacy, and in our current shop, we have continued to put the customers comfort of the up most priority. My father-in-law, and a really good friend, Ian Dorofey, lent us the money to get started. And we used what was left of our wedding money, and also our income tax refund. One thing God impressed us on from the start was that we needed to make sure we had all the necessary equipment. For example, we couldn't open unless we had an autoclave. This is an expensive piece of equipment, but also very important. What is does is sterilize, using steam, heated to 121 degrees Celsius, and pressure to create a vacuum. Nothing can live in a vacuum, thus it kills all bacteria and microorganisms. These are the same kind of sterilizers hospitals use, of course ours was on a much smaller scale. We also bought inks, needle-making supplies, loose needles (Remember those days Lee?). New needles are an important part of this business, and because they are disposable someone always has to make more. Our awesome friend, Lee George, helped us out a great deal in this department. Another friend gave us some flash to get started; back then is sure seemed like a lot to us. Anyway, thanks man, you know who you are. We stayed in our little shop for nine months. We were out growing it fast, and we had to do something. Again we prayed. We were lead to look into renting our current location; back then it was a lot smaller than what you see today. The price was right and the landlord seemed cool. We moved in and we were off to a great start. When we started at our Scalp Ave. shop we had a tiny lobby, a tattoo and piercing room, and a restroom. We needed more space, we prayed. A year later we rented more space in the same building. The lobby got bigger, and we acquired enough  pace to have a sterilization room, and a two-station tattoo and piercing room. Another year, more space yet and so on. Now we are twice the size we started out with, and we have plans to expand more in the future. As you can see, the customer's comfort and convenience are our biggest priorities. We believe in making sure there is a large selection of design sheets to choose from. Really, I think we probably have the largest selection of flash in this area. That was sort of my goal. We also have artists who come into the shop and draw for the customers, helping you get exactly the design you want every time. One of my favorite things to tattoo is cover-ups. I love to help people be happy with the art they wear, rather than be ashamed of its quality or subject matter. I don't even charge extra to do cover ups, I see it as my privilege. Our jewelry selection is also second to none. We will even custom order certain pieces with a down payment. Our total goal is to make sure all your needs as the customer are met. All tattoo and piercing needles are disposable, along with the ink and some parts of the machine itself. The parts that aren't disposable are autoclaved. I also have over 100 different premixed ink colors to make sure you get the right color every time. On the off chance you want a color I don't have, I can mix it, it's that simple. This is going to sound really funny, but we even have a layaway plan for tattoos and jewelry. That way you can pay it off a little at a time over the course of a couple months. So anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this bio. Please come in and check us out. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Be blessed. Michael Pearson