Apprentice Appreciation: Jaia Samara
Jaia Samara is one of three apprentices at Green Light Tattoos & Art Gallery mentoring under the great founders of the brand-new studio in Downtown Cleveland. I booked with her for a small Chinese symbol tatt this past weekend; it being my first time in the shop myself, I was excited to see the new space myself!
Immediately I was greeted with high ceilings, sun peeking through the windows shining down on a few artists already at the shop. Brent Faiyez filled the space, creating a very relaxed environment. With the green and white color theme and the beautiful art, I’d decided this was definitely one of the most aesthetically pleasing tattoo shops I’ve visited in a while. The spot was decorated wall to wall with amazing paintings from both local and national artists.
I met with Jaia shortly after being greeted by the receptionist. We spoke a bit about her experience at Green Light so far as she sets up her cozy station. Her area was decorated with her very own painting, a surreal, droopy, multi-colored face made up of shapes and swirls. She shares that she has been mentoring under all the artists in the shop, picking up on things from each one and then learning from there.
We both bond over bad, past experiences with apprenticeships and all of the “weird shit” that comes along with it. For her, the weird shit consisted of having an absent mentor, and paying for an education she was not receiving. So, landing at Green Light made her feel very “lucky.”
“(Being independent) that’s what I was gonna do at first and say fuck an apprenticeship and just get my own little room at a salon. I was gonna teach myself everything. I wanted to do it by myself but then I learned so much on how to deal with different people and different characters.”
Sharing our apprentice war stories made me forget I was even about to be tattooed or that this was even an interview at all. I felt as if I was just chatting with a friend about life and art.
As it was time to place the stencil, Jaia went quiet to focus on centering the symbol on my chest. Tao, an ancient Chinese philosophy and religion I have been studying for years, was about to be the first piece to a full Yin & Yang concept I had planned. It was exciting for me to finally get it started, and have it be done by an apprentice.
When asked the most challenging part along her journey, she expresses frustrations about execution.
“When you understand the basics of everything it’s just like damn I want to execute this; it’s just all through practice though, the more tattoos you do.” She adds, “(it’s been challenging) finding people that really put their trust in you, and don’t disrespect your talent either.”
I’ve only been tattooed by one other apprentice in my tattoo journey, but it feels a bit different than it being done by an established artist. Being a part of their learning journey and supporting someone at the very beginning of something new for them is exciting to me. I see how it’s nerve-wracking for some, but that’s why I’m writing this post, to show that apprentices deserve to be taken just as seriously and have room to grow!
The time for the actual tattooing process has begun and I realized at that moment I was really getting my first chest tattoo. I’m a few months shy from it being a year since I’ve last been tattooed, so once I heard the machine turn on, I anticipated for a hot, painful sensation to take over.
Luckily, Jaia was fairly light-handed, and the pain wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The parts of the symbol that were closer to my collarbone and the shading were the worst parts. But the tat was done in about 5-8 minutes.
As an apprentice you’re expected to do pretty much anything that comes through the door, so I was curious to learn what Jaia’s preferred style of tattooing would be in the future; she mentions surrealism, which could be seen in the painting I saw when I walked over to her station. The swirls, split images, and optical illusion’s themes are shown through her other pieces, as well as flash designs. This style, I find, is more rare to come by in Cleveland, so she’ll definitely stand out and have a signature art style as she continues to elevate as a tattooer.
Samara doesn’t know the exact time when she’ll no longer be considered an apprentice, but based on the quality of my tattoo experience with her, she’s already considered legit in my book.
To support Jaia and her art, follow her on Instagram @jaiasamara.