Snake Mountain Tattoo Recovery Fund for Ryan Mason

If you are here, you most likely know that my brother Ryan Mason is an exceptionally talented tattoo artist who has been working in Portland for the last 15+ years. You are perhaps a friend, a family member, or a fan of his extraordinary work.  Recently, Ryan made the big life decision to strike out on his own, and open his own private tattoo studio 'Snake Mountain' in North Portland. After many weeks and months of (very costly) renovation of the space, this new business was in striking distance of opening its doors to clients. Unfortunately,  Ryan's brand new and nearly finished studio was heavily burglarized sometime over the weekend of June 12th.

Most significantly, the thieves made away with the entirety of Ryan's collection of tattoo machines. Most of them were handmade, some were collector's items, some had primarily sentimental value, and most were unique and impossible to truly replace.  Other items stolen were steel tubes, tattoo ink, a Pelican travel case full of backup-equipment, brand-new power tools, a bunch of personal carpentry tools, original artworks, art prints, frames, a smart speaker and his thermofax machine.... among an-ever growing list of other things gone missing amongst the wreckage.

Monetarily, this is a devastating blow.  So far, the estimated loss of equipment and personal items is over $30k. Emotionally, this would cripple just about anyone opening their own business, particularly after trying to recover from the brutal uncertainty of the last year and a half.  To add insult to injury, Ryan was waiting on a facility license from the state of Oregon, so many of the normal safeguards for things like this weren't yet in place. And without a security system or insurance policy in effect to fall back on, there is little to no chance of recovering these items. Though he has expressed some embarrassment that much of his essential/irreplaceable art and equipment was left somewhat vulnerable, it's clear that the amount of work needed for thieves to access it is fairly mind-boggling.  

At this point in time, the local (and even not-local-at-all)  tattoo community has been incredibly helpful and supportive of Ryan's short-term needs, by lending both equipment and moral support to the cause. I've launched this GoFundMe campaign to help Ryan not only rebuild and open his studio with his very own essential tools of the trade, but also to reinvigorate the most talented person I've ever known after experiencing such an incredibly discouraging event. $10k will go a long way into getting Ryan across the finish line to complete the new shop, and get back to doing what he does best. 

Thanks for reading, and thanks for helping out.