It’s rare to find a female tattoo artist in an industry dominated by straight men. It’s even rarer to find a lesbian tattoo artist. Well, I found two. Nestled in the Arts District of Portland, Maine is Peek-A-Boo Tattoo, which opened on April 20, 2010 and is both owned and operated by business and life partners, Mel May and Anne Nault.
Peek-A-Boo Tattoo almost didn’t happen. A few years ago, the women were just a week away from opening the shop in a different Portland location when another tattoo artist in town harassed them. He stormed in with his staff and told the women that if they opened for business he would tear the shop apart. He also threatened them with physical violence. The police got involved and restraining orders were filed, but still fearing for their safety they walked away from the shop and lost every last penny they had invested. Everything they had worked for went down the drain.
A few years passed, and while life continued the couple still felt a nagging need to complete the dream they'd started creating together. So they summoned their courage, gathered their resources, and tried again. Finally, in a small, second-story shop overlooking Congress Street they opened Peek-A-Boo Tattoo... and waited for the potential fallout.
“Shortly after we opened we started getting ‘Welcome’ and ‘Congrats’ emails from other tattoo shops and artists in town,” Mel says, still pleasantly surprised by the response; they've heard nothing from their former aggressor.
“It was pretty great, as we were still a little nervous," Anne adds. "It’s a great tattoo community here in Portland.”
“Everyone seems to get that there’s room for all of us,” says Mel. “Most of our customers frequent other tattoo shops as well. Which is great. I love seeing other artists' work on someone next to mine.”
Mel fell in love with the art form eighteen years ago. She was doing a photo essay of Portland legend “Tattoo Ernie” and his work. While listening to him talk about his love for tattooing and the artistry that goes into it, she became smitten. Ernie gave her an old tattoo gun and explained the basics. His advice: “Practice on melons first, then yourself and then your friends.” That’s exactly what she did. Tattooing took her to Burlington, Vermont where she opened and worked in a few shops, but she was always a Mainer at heart. So Mel found her way back to "Vacationland"—as locals call the city— and set her sights on opening Peek-A-Boo Tattoo. But first, she met Anne.
“I fell in love with Anne the moment I laid eyes on her,” Mel says as smiles spill across both their faces. Their eyes remain locked as she continues, "I could tell it was true love. Seriously, I knew at that very moment, I was meant to spend the rest of my life with her.”
They met at a house party, and the next day Mel filled a jar with seashells, sand dollars, sea glass and sand and left it on Anne’s doorstep with an anonymous note that read, “Let’s go!”
“I wanted to be mysterious,” says Mel. “I wanted her to think she had a secret admirer.”
“Didn’t work,” Anne responds. “I knew right away they were from her. That jar and note just made my heart melt.”
Anne, already an accomplished artist, began indulging her interest in the art of tattooing by starting an apprenticeship with Mel; she's now been tattooing for over 3 years.
Peek-A-Boo Tattoo has been open for over a year and life couldn’t be better for the couple. Most tattoo appointments have to be booked at least a week in advance due to the high volume of tattoos they do every day. They use social media to their advantage, both for advertising and to keep in constant dialog with their customers via Facebook and MySpace. They boast over 3500 friends on Facebook and have had people drive over 3 hours just to be tattooed by them.
Whether or not you're looking to get inked, if you're in Portland, Maine you should stop by. On the first Friday of every month Peek-A-Boo Tattoo opens its doors for the First Friday Arts Walk. They throw a party in the shop with bands, beverages and tattoo giveaways. As Mel puts it, “[It's] our way of saying thank you to our customers and friends once every month.”
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