Tattoo you: John Day artist wants people to feel good about their bodies

Published 2:45 pm Friday, August 26, 2022

JOHN DAY — Grant County got a tattoo shop this summer.

In June, Maitland’s Tattoo opened on Dayton Street in John Day.

Owner and tattoo artist Maitland Ridenour said Wednesday that she is surprised at the demand for tattoos in Grant County. Ridenour, 30 and a single mother of three, said that her waitlist is a month out.

For instance, Ridenour said that when she did her scheduling for September, it only took four days for her to fill up the whole month.

“I expected there to not to be as much business,” Ridenour said, “but there’s more than I can honestly handle at this point.”

Born and raised in Grant County, Ridenour said that before opening up her shop in John Day, she had worked as a tattoo artist in Bend.

She noticed that the building where her shop is located had been for rent for a while. She said her mother lives up the hill and she frequently drove by the location. One day, she said, she got fed up with having to pay half of what she made as a tattoo artist in Bend for rent and thought it would be worth seeing how much the rent would be at the location on Dayton Street.

Ridenour found out that her monthly rent in John Day would be equal to what she sometimes would pay daily to work in Bend. Plus, she said she likes the remoteness of Grant County.

“I like being in the middle of nowhere,” she said.

For her, Ridenour said, tattooing is not so much about art as it is about creating the design people want for their tattoos.

Ridenour said she is surprised at the number of people who have come to her with an idea for a tattoo that other tattoo artists have told them they could not have or would not do for them. She said she does not care what someone wants to be tattooed on their body.

“For me, it’s not about art,” she said, “(tattooing) is about helping other people feel better in their bodies.”

WHAT: Maitland’s Tattoo

WHERE: 150 S. Dayton Street

WHEN: Open by appointment only 

ETC.: To schedule an appointment, text owner and tattoo artist Maitland Ridenour at 541-965-9562