By Alicia Stemper/Vitamin O
Tattoo artist Meghan Magdalene’s favorite designs lean toward geometric, occult, astrology and “mystical kind of stuff.” She named her parlor, up a steep flight of stairs off Franklin Street, Ascension Tattoo because of the name’s somewhat spiritual connotation. “I am kind of the queen of the double entendre.”
From a blue collar background, Meghan didn’t think art was “a thing you do as a job.” But tattooing found her when another artist noticed her precision, attention to detail, and comfort with tools. She flourished as his apprentice, initially practicing on bananas. Meghan, licensed now for six years, loves working with her hands – “that’s kind of my happy place.” Recent work includes two commemorative Tar Heel basketball championship tattoos. Another recent project resulted in her favorite tattoo to date. A client brought her a poem to read. He asked her to interpret it and tattoo him with a design based on that interpretation.
100 years from now, Meghan hopes Orange County will still have some local flavor which she describes as “real people doing real things.” Learn more at https://ascensiontattoonc.com/