Photo Credit: Breonny Lee
BY Taylor Adams Cogan
When Billy Jack Gunter came to Dallas by way Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 2003, quickly falling in love with a neighborhood where he never thought he’d be able to keep pursuing his art.
“I came to Dallas to hang out for a week, and I went to Deep Ellum, and it blew my mind,” he says. “But back then, there was a ban: no more tattoo studios in Deep Ellum. There was no way I was going to be there.”
So he focused his efforts north, first opening a studio in 2005 off Rosemeade Parkway, then launching Artistic Encounter No. 4 in North Dallas, followed by a fifth location at Lovers Lane and Greenville Avenue. He and the business were there through 2014, and then, he started working on how to become part of the Deep Ellum tattoo landscape.
“I knew that there was a huge possibility that they were going to deny me. I knew if I didn’t come into Deep Ellum with an art gallery, something different to add to it, it wouldn’t happen,” he says.
So he went for the Special Use Permit, known as an SUP, to open a tattoo studio at Main Street and Exposition Avenue. Nearly 10 years later, Artistic Encounter still stands with that proposal in effect: You don’t see tattoo artists bent over their human canvases, but walls displaying art: a tattoo studio with an art gallery.
“They loved it,” Gunter says of his application.
Deep Ellum looked different more than 10 years ago — for example, before people enjoyed a cold one and a game at Cold Beer Company, there was literally a pile of rocks, Gunter says. But Al Jernigan welcomed Gunter into the “rundown” corner where he’d plant his business and grow its reputation as a destination for quality body art.
In that time, the neighborhood has changed, but so has the studio’s — and Deep Ellum’s — tattoo work.
“It’s grown because of the evolution of the tattoo: the art has gotten a lot better, the artists have gotten better,” he says. “I think Deep Ellum before was known for the American-style tattoo, and now there’s more fine art tattoo, too.
“I still love and worship that lane; that’s where I come from. But it’s not so much now about being sleeved out. It’s just as powerful if a piece is tiny.”
Deep Ellum thrives because of the artists who weave a creative experience — we see that from the vibrant murals filling walls, we hear it from the live music pouring onto the sidewalk. We even see it on neighborhood-branded T-shirts or shaken and poured into a cocktail glass. But we also know this neighborhood’s beloved grit also comes through in the body work of its tattoo artists — whether it’s the line winding down Elm Street on Friday the 13th or the family legacy on Main Street.
For Gunter, being part of that tattoo fabric in Deep Ellum is something special.
“It’s the culture of Deep Ellum, being a part of that neighborhood and being a part of everything that goes down there — it’s been a life dream,” he says. “When I first came to Texas, it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
“It was a huge change to see the city life, and it’s so much different in Deep Ellum than Uptown or West End. Immediately, I fell in love with that culture.”
Today, Artistic Encounter has 14 tattoo artists, three body piercers, and four apprentices who help people tell their stories — whether by boasting beauty, memorializing loved ones, celebrating milestones, or adding humor to their bodies. Seven days a week, you can take your tattoo idea to an artist who will make it stunning.
It’s clear this work is a passion for Gunter, but it’s not his No. 1 mission, priority, or focus. That would be his family — his wife Stephanie works with him and also has a body art business (that’s entirely female-run, by the way), and the two have a 13-year-old son.
Gunter also says it’s partly thanks to his landlord that he’s still there: “Arvel’s father was really awesome. They’re really good people — I’ll be there another 50 years,” Gunter says.
How long does he really want to keep Artistic Encounter running on the east end of Deep Ellum? That’s an answer he’s quick to provide:
“Forever.”
