It's Always a Great Day for Great Day Tattoo

We sat down with Bart Leonard (right) and Dustin Leach of Great Day Tattoo to talk about their work and their new shop here in Irvington. The shop itself is beautiful and spacious and decorated with all kinds of cool things. Right off, we noticed the Pee Wee Herman doll, and the Tara McPherson and Frank Frazetta artwork on the wall. Dustin was working on a tattoo for a client, and Bart warmly greeted us at the door. He pulled us up some chairs and we jumped right in.

Holly: Thank you for taking the time to talk with us. The shop is beautiful! First off, I’d like to ask for people who might not be familiar with your work, does Great Day specialize in a particular tattoo style?

Bart: We've diversified ourselves pretty well. Each of our tattoo artists has their own style. Everybody here could do anything if we set our mind to it. We could refer people to other artists if we didn't feel comfortable. As far as the shop, it's mostly American Traditional here. April does a more illustrative style, Sav has her own kind of style, and Dustin's definitely the American Traditional style.

Dustin: Woot woot!

Bart: And I just tell people I like doing tattoos that they like. I can do traditional, I can do realism, it's kind of whatever you want. That's why we made a shop that we could kind of fit everybody in there.

Dave: On Instagram, your bio says, "Efficient. Honest. Positive Tattooing". What does that mean to you?

Bart: It's a very intimate process if you will. You're one-on-one with this person. That's why we named the shop Great Day Tattoo because we understand that and Dustin and I both have the same kind of positive energy. We make the experience of getting a tattoo pretty fun in general. Efficient, I tattoo fairly quickly comparatively. Everyone has other stuff to do, plus you don't want to hurt someone longer than you have to. You want to keep it happy, efficient, and honest. If we don't want to do it or don't think we're a good fit, we'll just flat out tell you. Honesty is an important quality to have in today's day and age.

Dave: Why did you select Irvington?

Bart: That's a great question. Originally, Dustin's from Plainfield, and I'm from Franklin. But we've been tattooing in Fountain Square for five years or so, but we looked at other locations, but it was fairly close to home for both of us and there's not a lot of shops over here. There's not a lot of what we were trying to do. One of Dustin's friends told us there was a spot open here and we thought, Heck, yeah! We were super glad we chose Irvington. It's an awesome neighborhood. Why wouldn't anyone want to select this as their spot? It's a nice little hidden gem. And it's kind of up and coming.

Holly: It's definitely a good time to be here. We're super glad you're here. You had to jump through hoops to get zoning approval for a tattoo shop in Irvington. Could you please explain why the resistance and need for a variance?

Bart: So for the zoning approval we couldn’t have a tattoo shop in a historic district and had to get a variance of use. Which meant talking to the IHPC, which during Covid took about six months to get all of the paperwork together and have a meeting with them virtually. We couldn’t have done this without our lawyer Jordan Gleason who helped us out tremendously. We had to make up mock ups of our shop and a lot of the resistance came from parking so we had to explain how that was going to happen. But in the end it all worked out and we’re happy to be here.

Dave: How has the community support been?

Bart: The support has been awesome. Everybody's stopping by, saying things like, "Glad you're in my neighborhood." All that stuff has been great. And we're all well-established Indianapolis tattoo artists so we are a little busy, but we've been trying to work to get everyone in the neighborhood in who wants to get a tattoo, so it's been kind of cool. It's cool to be over here for sure.

Dave: What got you into tattooing in the first place?

Bart: Prison... Nah, I'm just kidding. (Everyone laughs.) I was always interested in tattooing and then starting to hang out with skateboarders in high school. Then luckily, Dustin got me into professional tattooing

Holly: So you credit him?

Bart: I have to, he reminds me all the time. (Laughter.) We could write a whole book about how that story happened. I didn't think I would do it professionally when I went to college for Graphic Design. But that wasn't really what I wanted to do. But the skills do come in handy.

Holly: Do you have a tattoo that tells a particular story that you're glad people ask about?

Bart: My mom did this one. (Shows his Mom tattoo.) Yeah, she did it on Mothers' Day, but I had to get her a little tipsy before she agreed to do it. But she did a really good job.

Holly: I love it!

Bart: So that one's fun.

Holly: Can you tell us a little about your Grand Opening coming up?

Bart: It's August 14th. There will definitely be some food and drinks. Local food and drinks, Dustin?

Dustin: Yeah, we're going to have a couple of bands playing. We're also going to be doing temporary tattoos for the kids. So we'll have a little station set up for the children where they can come get a nice little tattoo to remember the day. It should be fun. We'll be doing it out back and then Stage Door Theater is going to be teaming up with us as well and doing a fundraiser that same day. So hopefully we'll be able to raise some funds for them. Nate's going to join and maybe do a little pop-up shop. It's still in the works, but we're trying to get as many people involved as possible. The more the merrier.

Bart: Yeah, bands, food, drinks, it'll be a good time.

Holly: Thanks again for taking the time to talk with us. Anything else you'd like to add?

Bart: Thank you for doing the interview. It's been fun talking to you guys. People can follow the shop on Instagram at @greatdayindy. Also, my Instagram is @bart.leonard, Dustin's is @dustinleachtattoos. April's is @aprilnicoletattoos and Sav's is @tattoosbysav. Thanks again and we hope to see you August 14th. Have a Great Day!

Holly and Dave Combs have been Irvington residents since 2009. Both graphic designers, they formed the Department of Public Words to use positive words to empower people through art and education. They have created more than 100 murals and installations in and around Indianapolis. Their most recognized work is the You Are Beautiful installation on the Murphy Arts Center in Fountain Square. They hope to bring a You Are Beautiful installation or mural to Irvington soon. They also currently publish zines and books. More about Holly. More about Dave.