Flesh Hound: an artist's permanent story

"I tattoo people. I answer phones. I pay bills. I clean toilets," said Renee Roark Gordon, owner and artist at Flesh Hound Tattoo Studio.

Running a tattoo parlor isn't always glamorous, but it's what allowed Gordon to find herself.

"I've been an artist my whole life," Gordon said.

With a bachelor's degree from Southeast Missouri State University in interior design and a minor in architectural engineering, Gordon once hoped she could assist an architect; a way to make ends meet without denying her artistic roots.

There was never any question in Gordon's mind about where her passion was, but doubts arose when it came to an official degree.

When one of Gordon's friends posted a selfie, wearing a noodle strainer as a hat, Gordon later surprised him with an oil painting of the moment.Courtesy of Renee Roark Gordon

"I thought I was spending too much money on college to major in art," Gordon recalled.

Yet, an artist is precisely what Gordon became. Twenty-one years ago, Gordon strode into Flesh Hound, 716 Broadway, then under different ownership and a different title.

A year into her apprenticeship, Gordon bought the place.

At the time, it was a choice of buying out the business or becoming jobless. But as apprenticeships go, Gordon's tutelage under the former owner was not one she remembers for defining her.

Even without prompting or formal training, Gordon was oil painting by junior high school. The level of her work, however, did not transform until Gordon started taking classes from the mentor who would change her life.

Renee Roard Gordon painted this portrait of a terminally ill child and gifted it to the boy's family, allowing him to see it before he passed away. Gordon said she was told the child smiled when he saw the painting.Courtesy of Renee Roark Gordon

"A lady named Cleda Curtis out of Oran, Missouri," Gordon said. "She basically changed the entire direction of my life and my art. She took up my art by 100 levels and gave me the education and tools that I really needed. Without her, I don't think I would be where I am today."

Curtis, a private artist with a studio in Oran, was also commended by the prolific painter Don Sahli, whose paintings are now on display at the Crisp Museum.

"Good artists around here? They came from Cleda," Gordon said matter-of-factly. "She really had a huge influence in this area."

Gordon's brother-in-law happened to be Curtis's neighbor.

"Once I got to meet her, I realized that everybody knew Cleda," Gordon recalled. "She's just an amazing lady that has made all the difference in my life and I feel like she has never gotten the recognition that she deserves."

Gordon said she met Sahli when he first met Curtis. Sahli went on to hold a seminar at Gordon's studio.

"He also came out and did a painting of my barn," she added.

St. Louis influence

Gordon was aware of how St. Louis has remained a dominant tattoo destination for Southeast Missourians. Locals, desiring high quality tattoos, often take trips to St. Louis. Ink, however, flows both ways.

Just last week, one of Gordon's clients drove down from the city to get his tattoo at Flesh Hound.

Having a client drive all the way from St. Louis just for a tattoo, Gordon said, was "real flattering."

Gordon elaborated that customers have commuted from as far away as Arkansas, Illinois, Tennessee and Kentucky. Yet Gordon's personal journey began in an old trailer on the outskirts of Marble Hill, Missouri. Instead of a booming business, Gordon had an old tree stump.

"That was before I started kindergarten," Gordon recalled. "I remember getting in trouble because I took one of my mom's bills, and placed it on an old tree stump. I didn't know what an easel was, but I must have seen somebody use an easel, because that's what my tree stump was. I was using markers to try to paint with. We didn't even have a full set of markers, we were really poor."

The artist could not be suppressed.

"It's always been in me," Gordon said.

The young girl would often disappear for hours on end, quietly coloring, painting and drawing in her room.

Looking into the future, Gordon expressed excitement about Flesh Hound's new artist -- Amanda Gwinn.

"This is my first time working with another female artist. It has been just the best experience. We have a connection that I just didn't have with the guys in the past," Gordon explained.

Gordon's prized protege remembered taking her first tattoo store position in her early 20s.

"Back then, I worked the front desk more than being an artist," Gwinn recalled. "I had always been interested in tattooing but life took me on a different path. I'm a weird story. I am now 41 years old and have just become licensed as a tattoo artist. It took me until now to get back into what I love."

Gwinn used similar words as Gordon, explaining the passion for art was always with her, in one form or another, struggling to get out.

Compared to Gordon's interest in easel and canvas, Gwinn's focus had always been geared more toward furniture and crafts. But both women had similar stories of fighting to bring their passion for art into harmony with a 9-to-5 reality.

The intellectual partnership between kindred spirits has carved a cultural tattoo into Cape Girardeau's artistic landscape.

"We have a great dynamic in the shop," Gwinn explained. "We're all girls here, so it's a little different from the dynamic I was used to in other tattoo shops. It's always kind of been a man's industry."

Although Gwinn remembered toxic masculinity stifling her art in other locations, she said she hasn't encountered any in Cape Girardeau.

"It's just a changing time. Women are coming up and showing that they are powerful, in things like art," Gwinn explained.

The men that form a large part of Flesh Hound's clientele, however, are deeply cherished. Even as the women physically mark their flesh, the clients also mark the women.

"Other than working alongside a wonderful mentor, my favorite part of the job is my clients," Gwinn said. "Getting to hear their stories and where they come from. Those personal aspects that go into every tattoo. ... There's always a personal story. One of my favorite parts of what I do is being a part of that story and being able to express it creatively on their skin, being a part of every person's story in a very permanent way."