Gallery Tattoo plans to open second location on Woodward at Willis

Virgil "Joe Motion" Smith opened Gallery Tattoo on W. Seven Mile near Greenfield in 2004. He had just returned home after 12 years on the East Coast and determined that Detroit's "inner city was lacking a tattoo presence." Now, things are a bit different, he says. "They're popping up everywhere in the city now, but there is still not a presence on Woodward downtown." He plans to change that by opening a second location on the third floor of the building that once housed C-Pop Gallery. Smith was a C-Pop patron and sad to see the gallery close.

Gallery's second location will function as a school as well as a tattoo parlor. "I taught art for eight years, and I always knew I would go back to teaching," says Smith. He expects most students to be art school graduates, making the proximity to College for Creative Studies and Wayne State University all the more practical.

Students will study and practice in the mornings and early afternoons, while professional artists, as well as the trainees, will tattoo clients from 3 p.m. through the evening. Smith hopes to open in mid-March; he is waiting for formal approval from the city because tattoo parlors are considered a special use, similar to a bar or a strip club.

Gallery Tattoo is at 15728 W. Seven Mile Rd. Call 313-272-0123. Read more about the building at Woodward and Willis here.

Source: Virgil "Joe Motion" Smith, Gallery Tattoo
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh