Meet Mikal Hansen | Tattooer/ Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mikal Hansen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mikal, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Honestly I didn’t fee like there was any other option. Everything I’ve done from a very early age was expressing myself creatively somehow, whether that was through drawing, writing, singing, acting, or anything else. I’m not built for the academic world, so “higher education” was mostly out of the question (after a failed attempt at giving it the old community college try). Once I realized that tattooing was an option that I could potentially provide for myself with, all of my time was spent pursuing it.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Making art is the most challenging, fun, and fulfilling practice I’ve ever been a part of (sometimes but not always in that order). Making a career out of a creative practice like tattooing is even more all consuming. Early on I felt an immense pressure to push aside all semblance of a personal life that didn’t involve getting better at the craft. I was grinding like crazy those first few years. I think that’s not uncommon in most art-adjacent industries, but it feels especially prominent in tattoo culture. There was certainly benefit to spending my time entirely dedicated to this one skill, but I don’t think I really learned to love the work until I let go of all of that.
There was a point during the pandemic where, as I’m sure many people did, I had several epiphanies resulting from being forced at an honest look at my life. The most important lesson I learned is that it’s not only okay, but in fact healthy, to make art for fun – and to do it for no one but myself sometimes.
Now I love both my job and the process of creating more than ever!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
One of my favorite things to do with people who are visiting is drive them through the mountains. Living at the foothills of Horsetooth myself, I find that an easy start is to drive around the reservoir and walk around a bit. If its a nice day, maybe we go all the way to Estes. If we have enough time I always love to spend time in some of the deeper mountain towns as well, I’m a huge fan of Breckenridge and Vail especially.
There are too many great restaurants here to name all of them, but I definitely would be remise without mentioning Bawarchii, Elevated Sandwiches, Little Bird Bakery, Fionas, My Empanadas, and Kujira – some of my favorites in Fort Collins.
If there are any shows that week that appeal to us, Red Rocks is a must.
Beyond that I always love to keep it simple and take a night to walk around Old Town Fort Collins.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Huge thank you to both my family, my resident shop Tribal Rites in Fort Collins, and all of my wonderful friends in the tattoo industry.

Website: Tribalritestattoo.com

Instagram: Denyxyourself