Tattooing in Colorado has a longer and more complex story than most realize. At the center of that story is Colorado Nick Wisner, a war era tattooer whose life played out across pool halls, barracks, mining camps, arcades and roadside stops throughout the American West. Though he spent much of his career working in Colorado Springs, Nick lived a restless and colorful life, traveling the country to practice his craft at a time when tattooing was still considered fringe and largely misunderstood by the general public. When we first began researching Nick over a decade ago, almost nothing was documented. His story existed in scattered pieces: a few sheets of flash in private collections, a small handful of photographs, and bits of local lore passed down quietly over the years. What began as a search for one tattooer slowly expanded into a much broader picture of early tattooing on Colorado’s Front Range and the artists who made up that world. The Colorado Nick book brings those fragments together for the first time. This large 9×12 inch, 320 page hardcover volume includes hundreds of sheets of rare and previously unseen flash, photographs, personal letters, and firsthand material documenting Nick’s life and the tattooers who worked alongside him across Colorado. It also profiles figures such as Leon Miller, Denver Don, Quincy Lee Cooper, Rocky Albin, Frenchie, and others. These were pioneering tattooers who shaped the culture of this region long before tattooing entered the mainstream. Many worked in the shadows and their contributions were rarely recorded as the front range and the craft evolved around them. This project represents more than ten years of research and is the most challenging and meaningful book we have ever produced. It is our effort to preserve a history that was always at risk of fading away and to acknowledge the artists whose work helped define a part of Colorado’s cultural identity.
