Krista (she/her) is the founder and owner of Witch of the West, where she also works as a resident tattoo artist. She has been tattooing for six years, beginning her career in Oregon before returning to her hometown of Fort Collins to build the studio she had always envisioned. Krista’s tattoo brand is named “SunHound Ink,” which reflects her love for the desert, the sun, and her doggie, Cassie ♡
She is an INFP, an Aquarius (sun and moon, RIP), and an Enneagram type 4. When she’s not tattooing, Krista enjoys spending time along the dusty backroads of the Southwest in her converted van - an old Beaver Creek ski shuttle. Krista lives with chronic illness and disability, which has created a unique journey for her as a tattooer and in life. She believes that tattoos can be transformative and a powerful way to reclaim our bodies.
Krista is especially drawn to ornamental work, desert and Western imagery, animals and birds of all kinds, large-scale botanicals, folk art influences, and fantasy-inspired pieces. She works primarily in black/gray, but loves to add a pop of color!
Krista prioritizes creating a safe and inclusive tattoo environment, minimizing pain, and making the whole tattoo process as comfortable as possible.
Thavy ថាវី (she/her) is a Cambodian American artist born and raised right here in Colorado! As a little girl, she was a barefoot, flower picking, bug handling, trinket collecting child that enjoyed making backyard potions, pretending to be a mermaid-fairy-hybrid, and drawing on anything she could find. She strives for the art she makes to capture that feeling. Her favorite subject matter to tattoo includes flora and fauna, vintage trinkets, ornamentals, anything you could find on a forest floor, and all things witchy and whimsical of course!
Thavy’s family immigrated here fleeing the Cambodian genocide and she has grown up navigating the experience of being a second-generation immigrant in this country. Through this, she recognizes that tattooing can be a really beautiful way to process emotional pain, grief, and trauma through reclamation of the body and bodily autonomy. She believes that social justice and art are inextricably linked and the practice of tattooing is inherently political. She finds passion and purpose in the intersection of the two.
Thavy began her apprenticeship at Witch of the West in 2023 and has been here ever since! She is incredibly grateful to be part of a collective that supports and reinforces the importance of creating a safe space for EVERY BODY. POC, queer, ADA, neurodivergent, and friends to them are always welcome in her chair! Thavy believes that the practice of tattooing should be built on mutual trust, communication, and compassion. She is here to help you feel more like you <3
Ariel 麟 Lee (she/they) is a Taiwanese American Queer artist, born and raised in the dirty Jerz. Brought up by her non-English speaking grandparents and first-gen immigrant parents, Ariel's inspiration is heavily based on reconnecting with her Chinese culture while also recognizing the duality of being raised American. She takes inspiration from traditional Chinese painting, Asian-American experiences, and things she thinks are pretty :)
Her father, who had a Master's degree in Fine Art, was her first teacher and taught her to appreciate the catharsis of creating. After his death, Ariel got a number of tattoos to memorialize his legacy. It was through this that she experienced the immense power of tattoos as a way of bookmarking one’s life. She decided to try tattooing to give others that same feeling and tattooed her first person in September 2022. Since then, she has joined the humans at Witch of the West and has guested all over the country and even internationally! Ariel is so proud to be pursuing a career as a tattoo artist and fully recognizes the degree of trust and safety that is needed to honor this special practice.
Hannah (she/her) was born and raised in small town, corn country Iowa. Growing up she always loved drawing and creating. She was fortunate to be encouraged by her family and community, leading her to Nebraska to study art. After graduating with a BFA in Studio Art, Hannah and her partner landed here in Fort Collins. She began teaching herself stick and poke at home with her cat, Banks, as a trusty supervisor. Her background made for a gentler learning curve - she practiced on herself! After about three years of learning, she expanded her practice to include machine tattooing and updated her name to “Suffice Tattoo.”
Hannah’s inspiration comes from bones, nature, flora, fauna, art nouveau, and folk art. She also dabbles in a variety of creative avenues including jewelry making, wood burning, and cutting her own hair, and she loves a miniature of any kind!
Hannah joined Witch of the West at the beginning of 2025, after being a regular guest artist at the studio. Getting to tattoo folks in a safe, inclusive, and comfortable space with a group of like-minded folks has been a dream of Hannah’s since her tattoo journey began.
Julia 子雅 (she/her) is a queer Taiwanese-American and midwest native, who has been handpoke tattooing for over six years. She is fully self-taught, and learned to tattoo by practicing on friends and family. Raised in close connection to the outdoors, Julia’s work is heavily inspired by found nature objects and her desire to navigate her Asian-American diasporic identity through tattoo work.
Julia finds joy in tattooing objects collected from the natural world, such as sticks, leaves, rocks, or wildflowers. She also feels drawn to subject matter that evokes nostalgia, and likes to work with objects found at specific places or moments in life. She specializes in fineline minimalism and patchwork compositions.
In her practice, Julia strives to create a safe and empowered space for everybody, deeply valuing open communication, informed consent, and a trauma-informed approach to client relationships. Her practice revolves around being gentle and honest, and these are also the reasons why she continues to love the handpoke, or machine-free, method. She is honored to share her art through the ancient and body-affirming practice of tattooing.
Julia graduated from Indiana University Bloomington with a BFA in graphic design in 2023, and transitioned into tattooing full-time from her private studio that spring. After working solo in Bloomington, Indiana for 3 years, Julia is excited to join the artists at Witch of the West Tattoo and begin her journey within a collective.
Born under the big Texas sky and shaped by a life lived in eight different places, Allison Shuckman (she/her) has always been a wanderer with anything that could make a mark in hand. Her art journey began with doodles that couldn’t be contained to paper. In high school she began practicing henna with friends. After studying graphic design in college, she followed the pull of something a little more magical — tattooing.
Now a self-taught tattoo artist with over three years of professional experience, Allison creates fine-line, ornamental, and illustrative tattoos infused with intention and heart. Her inspiration flows from the stars above, the rhythm of the earth below, antique treasures, soulful travels, and the wonderful humans they meet along the way.
She believes tattooing is body magic— a co-creative ritual meant to amplify your natural beauty and connect you to your most authentic self. Whether the design is deeply meaningful or playfully weird, it’s all made with purpose and love.
When not in the studio, you’ll likely find her chasing bodies of water (she’s pretty sure they were a mermaid in a past life), flowing through yoga, dancing to live music, petting dogs, or planning her next adventure. She strives to create a safe, welcoming space where clients feel seen, comfortable, and truly themselves.
Mason (she/her) is a Midwest-grown artist from St. Louis, Missouri. She grew up with a love of crafting, dancing, recycling, and the great outdoors. The joy of creating and learning about new art mediums has always followed her wherever life has taken her. After receiving her BFA in sculpture, she moved to Colorado and began her tattoo journey in 2022.
Her favorite thing to tattoo is black linework, playing with wiggly line weight and negative space. She loves organic, drippy, abstract shapes that hint at botanicals, critters, and other things from the natural world. Inspired by the ever-changing human form and mother earth, she has no interest in straight lines or perfect circles and loves to create designs meant to complement the body's individual topography. She believes that part of tattoos’ magic is that they get to live and grow with us, providing adornment, armor, or serving as an act of bodily reclamation.
Mason is very excited to be joining the wonderful witches at Witch of the West and the welcoming and safe studio environment they foster. She considers it an honor that people would choose her art to live on them forever. Choosing to get a tattoo is the ultimate form of showing artists support and patronage, and she is very grateful to be part of so many humans’ journeys.
August Moss (they/he) is like a plant with many leaves! Their origins in art-making can be traced to growing up doing drawing exercises at the dining room table with their dad, being surrounded by their grandfather’s paintings, grandmother’s pottery, and their mother’s love for a variety of mediums and movement. Fueled by a love of learning and adoration for all art mediums, August explored concept art, painting, printmaking, and pottery before dipping their toes into tattooing in 2021 - slowly learning and exploring as they built up to a private handpoke tattoo practice and began regularly taking on clients in 2023.
August now describes their tattoo style as “whimsical black and grey.” Their subject matter varies, but often reflects the flora and fauna of the Northern Colorado landscape where they live, as well as eclectic objects that tell a story. Their commitment to handpoking reflects their need for calm, sensory-friendly spaces and the desire to share a moment of calm with others. August views tattooing as collaborative art-making, as a way to heal and reconnect with the body and ultimately a form of self-expression!
When they’re not tattooing, you can find August birding, teaching drawing classes, hanging out with their two cats, spending time in nature, and working on art at local coffee shops. Although they live in Greeley (aka Cow Town), August is excited to work within the magic of a shared art space and spend more time with the Fort Collins community!
Aysha (she/they) is a Cambodian-American queer tattoo artist who began her tattoo journey in Dallas, Texas, where she was born and raised. Growing up in a family where tattoos were completely normal—some family members even being covered from head to toe—Aysha was surrounded by tattoo culture from an early age and always thought tattoos were pretty cool. Art has been a constant throughout Aysha’s life, and she always knew that whatever path she chose would need to be a creative one. Tattooing felt like a natural fit, giving her a way to turn her love of art into something personal, collaborative, and lasting.
Aysha enjoys working across a range of styles, from doodly, cottagecore-inspired cartoons to large-scale, whimsical pieces with an abstract, painted feel. She primarily works in black and grey and especially loves incorporating dotwork shading into her designs.
When she isn’t tattooing, you can probably find Aysha hanging out at one of the local skateparks, hiking with her two little Chihuahuas, Mocha and Buddy, or playing video games with friends. On slower, cozier evenings, she’s happiest working on a puzzle with a movie playing in the background.
Above all, Aysha is incredibly grateful for the clients who have trusted her with their ideas, stories, and skin. Their support is what allows her to continue pursuing a career she loves, and she’s so excited for this next chapter of her tattoo journey with Witch of the West.