By: Jenny Kiefer
James Stanton
Pet: Diesel (English bulldog)
Artist: Ben Barnhardt at Five Star Tattoo (2208 Frankfort Ave.)
“Diesel was born in June 2005. He was with me till he passed on St. Paddy’s Day in 2012. Wherever I went, he went. I have a park by my house and we walked daily. I would take him to Feeders Supply every Saturday and let him pick out a bone. He loved baths. Before him, I’d never had anything that was 100 percent dependent on me. He taught me what unconditional love was. I got the tattoo because I just wanted to have him close to me.”
Rachel Denny
Pet: Oliver (gray cat)
Artist: Danny Stiles at Triumph Tattoo (964 Baxter Ave.)
“Oliver just constantly reminds me of how I overcame the difficult stuff. He kind of knew when I was upset. He would come up and cuddle next to me. Whenever I see him, he’s so goofy. I just wanted to get something that would always remind me of him.”
Image: Terrence Humphrey
Miranda Stooksbury
Pets: Quasar (kitten), Falcor (axolotl salamander), Diana Washington (gray cat), Caesar (black Labrador), goldfinches
Artist: Dennis Pase at Five Star Tattoo
“My dog and a really close friend passed away in the same year. The last tattoo that friend had gotten was this yellow rose, so I incorporated that and the dog. The dog and this cat always played cowboys and Indians — the cat all sneaky, the dog always telling on her. I never intended for it to be a whole sleeve. The dog was my buddy. When my daughter cried as a baby, he’d come and look at her and then look at me like, ‘I don’t have thumbs. Can you do something about it?’ It’s possible (that I’d start getting tattoos on my other arm). I have a thing for animals.”
Cecilia Nichols,
apprentice at Acme Ink
(2007 Bonnycastle Ave.)
Pet: Kubrick (pit bull mix)
Artist: Sean Barry in Philadelphia
“It is a redesign of a classic you see repeated from the 1940s. Normally, it’s a pig that’s underneath, originally by Sailor Jerry. Kubrick’s first home had abused him and sent him to the shelter wanting to get him euthanized, saying he was vicious. His second owners had him chained to a car for two years, and the city actually had to take this lady to court to get her to give up the dog. Seeing the dog he is now, it’s just wonderful.”
Cassandra Hope
Pet: Allie (poodle)
Artist: Amber Bananafish at Bananafish Tattoo Parlor (502 State St., New Albany)
“A big bunch of storms came through. Right afterward, they found Allie on the side of the road. My grandmother fell in love and brought her home. When my grandpa passed away and then my grandma, I took Allie in. I called her Poodle or Pig, all those kinds of nicknames.
“I think my mom was a little worried about this tattoo, that my body would become a reminder of sad things. I do have so many tattoos that are in remembrance of people or things. My body is kind of my scrapbook. There’s just certain things I want to have with me all the time. For me, it’s more like a happy reminder. I just wanted to remember the grumpy old lady Poodle.”
Maureen Keenan
Pet: Paisley (Boxer)
Artist: Travis King at Prophecy Ink (907 Baxter Ave.)
“I run (the dog welfare group) Saving Sunny, so it’s a lot of intense highs and lows. For me, the dog experience is so fundamental to who I am. And some of the things I’ve been through with them just run so deep and are so emotional that I can’t think of another way to honor them and communicate it. I had a couple of friends who’d had Travis do human portraits of their kids, and (his work) just blew me away. It’s so realistic; you would know these dogs if you saw them on the street. In the photograph, Paisley was extending a paw to the camera. Paisley passed away a couple years ago, but she was just the most excellent dog.”
Sarah Case
Pet: Little Man (schnauzer)
Artist: Lucky at Tattoo Charlie’s (7904 Preston Hwy.)
“I found Little Man in 2011. He was a stray. I thought he was 18 because he looked so bad. About three years later, we found that he had a tumor. I raised about $10,000 so we could do the surgery, and they told us he probably had two weeks to live after (the surgery) because the cancer had already spread. I saw a holistic vet here in Louisville and Little Man made it about four more months. During that time, we kind of changed his name from Little Man to Superman because he was so strong, which is why there’s the Superman emblem behind his picture. For the tattoo, I brought in a picture of Little Man in his sunglasses. It took probably 11 hours. It was painful, but the whole time I was just thinking about what he went through and it kept me going. I say, ‘He’ll walk with me forever because he’s on my leg.’”
This originally appeared in the September 2016 issue of Louisville Magazine. To subscribe to Louisville Magazine, click here. To find your very own copy of Louisville Magazine, click here.
