See the latest Downtown News.
Mitch Hodges, Dark Arts Tattoo Studio
It’s just me and him every day, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I moved around a lot growing up. Kansas City, Conway, Lebanon, Springfield, you name it. I went to a new school every year from third grade all the way through graduation. It was terrible, always being the new kid. You’d finally start to make friends, and then boom, you move again.
But it also helped me. I met a lot of people. I stayed friends with a lot of people. It made me who I am.
Now, it’s different. I’ve got a four-year-old little boy, and I want something better for him. I want him to have stability. I want him to grow up somewhere he can call home.
His mom and I were together ten years, from when I was about 17 to 27. It’s been almost three years since she passed away. I couldn’t stay in Springfield. I didn’t even go back to the house for six months. I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to be anywhere near it.
Lebanon made sense. We both had family here. We’d always talked about moving here. It felt like a way to get a fresh start and still have people around. It didn’t all go the way I thought it would, but it was the right move.
I’ve raised my son by myself ever since. I haven’t had a night without him in almost three years. Not one. I’m not gonna lie, it’s hard sometimes. Some days, by three or four o’clock, I’m just ready to lay down. But he’s my whole world.
I try to explain it to him sometimes, how lucky we are that I do what I do. If I had a different job, he might not even see me half the day. But because I tattoo, I can schedule my work around him. He gets to come up here, hang out, see me every day. He doesn’t get it yet, but one day he will.
Tattooing wasn’t the plan. I never thought I’d be an artist. I took art classes in high school, but it wasn’t until I got older that I really got into it. Now it’s everything. I tattoo seven days a week by choice. It’s not work to me. I love it.
I started out apprenticing in Branson, then I found a spot in Republic. Before I knew it, I was running a whole shop by myself. Thrown straight to the wolves. Sink or swim. And I figured it out.
I opened Dark Arts here in Lebanon by myself. For a while, I was tattooing here in the mornings and driving to Springfield to tattoo there at night. Two shops a day, every day. It was crazy. But eventually, I made the choice to stay here full time.
Now it’s me and my brother Mason running the shop together. We’ve always been close. We’ve lived together, lived next door to each other. Doing this with him just feels right.
Lebanon’s a good town. I really do love it here. People stick together. The community shows up for each other. It’s not like the city. It’s better.
Yeah, sometimes I get looks because of the tattoos. But that’s just how it is. And honestly, tattoos are becoming more normal now, everybody’s getting them. I love it. Everybody deserves to be who they are.
Life’s a little crazy. Between the shop, my son, Carlos the monkey, three dogs, two cats – it’s a zoo at my house. Literally. But it’s my zoo. And honestly, I wouldn’t trade it.
This life isn’t what I pictured, but it’s mine. I’m proud of it. And I’m proud that my boy’s gonna grow up knowing exactly what home feels like.
Mitch Hodges, Dark Arts Tattoo Studio
