1. the word “tattoo” traces to the Tahitian word meaning “to mark or strike”{ }
Inklinations
your townie
Name:Donald Burke
Age: 21
Job: Tattoo artist
Fun Facts: Until the age
of 6, Donald was basically raised
in a country-western bar. Plus, he
sported an eye patch for a year in
grade school to cover his lazy eye.
54 | 515magazine
Inked by fellow Des Moines
tattoo artist Kool-Aid, the
greedy businessmen and
slain cows symbolize “how
we’ve kind of created a
global economy off of
killing things. Money is a
representation of sacrifice.”
Donald’s first tattoo is the
only one he designed.
“This whole arm’s theme
is actually music and
movies. I got a Queens
of the Stone Age piece
back here, and it kind of
incorporates ‘2001: A
Space Odyssey.’”
The cherub on his
forearm is from the
cover of Smashing
Pumpkins’ “Melancholy
and the Infinite
Sadness,” the first
album Donald
ever bought.
“I got it living in Amsterdam,
working there, and I say
‘awesome’ all the time. It’s
part of my dialect, not part of
theirs, so they thought it was
quite amusing and started
calling me Awesome Donald.”
His “Cat in the Hat”-inspired
tat matches the wallet his
parents gave as a 20th-
birthday gift. “They’ve been
giving me Dr. Seuss stuff as
long as I can remember.”
Written by Jim Smylie
Photographed by Christine Feller