Sinclair · Maine · 47°N
Tattooingin the Far North.
Some places are worth the drive.
Aroostook Ancient Art is a husband-and-wife tattoo studio in Sinclair, Maine, built around good artwork, honest conversation, and the belief that a tattoo should be worth keeping for the rest of your life.
We're a small, private studio in the far north of Maine. There is no crowded waiting room, no assembly line, and no rush to get you back out the door.
You come with an idea. We sit down, talk it through, draw it properly, and make something that belongs to you.
The shop
A small studio, on purpose.
We're not interested in becoming a tattoo factory.
Aroostook Ancient Art was built to give each client the time and attention that good tattooing requires. One appointment at a time. One person in the chair. One piece of artwork receiving our full attention.
We believe the best tattoos come from taking the time to understand the person wearing them.
Sometimes you arrive with a finished idea. Sometimes you arrive with nothing more than a story, a photograph, a strange thought, or a half-formed sketch. That's enough. We'll take it from there.
Kocha
Tattooer · Artist · Co-owner
Kocha began learning the craft of tattooing in 2008 and has been tattooing professionally since 2012.
More than a decade later, his approach is still rooted in the same things that drew him to tattooing in the first place: good drawing, strong fundamentals, thoughtful design, and doing the work properly.
His work moves across blackwork, American traditional, ornamental, Japanese-influenced, geometric, sacred and illustrative work, with an emphasis on strong composition and artwork that holds up over time.
Every custom piece begins with drawing. The goal isn't simply to put an image on your skin. It's to make the image work on your body.
Cait
Apprentice Tattooer · Co-owner
Cait is an apprentice tattooer at Aroostook Ancient Art Tattoo Co., but her education in tattooing started long before she ever picked up a machine.
For years, Cait traveled alongside her husband, Kocha, learning the tattoo world from the other side of the station—building experience in shop management, client communication, scheduling, booking, and all the behind-the-scenes details that keep a tattoo shop running. Somewhere along the way, after raising seven kids and collecting what feels like a lifetime of tattoo-industry experience, she decided it was finally time to pick up a machine for herself.
In 2025, Cait officially began her tattooing journey. She's currently focused on building a strong foundation, learning the basics, and discovering her own artistic voice.
She has a particular love for the work of Greg Irons and is becoming increasingly drawn to Japanese Traditional tattooing, especially designs with movement, rhythm, and strong flow. Water, fire, wind, and other elemental imagery are right up her alley—anything that feels alive and moves naturally with the body.
Cait still manages much of the day-to-day behind the scenes at the shop, from scheduling and booking to client communication and inventory. But these days, she's just as likely to be found obsessing over a tattoo design, talking about placement, or figuring out how a piece can flow perfectly with the body.
Basically, all Cait wants to do is talk tattoos and geek out about perfect placement and flow.
Inside the shop
Flash on every wall, guitars in the corner.
The work
Tattoos made to be lived with.
We don't believe in chasing whatever tattoo style happens to be popular this month.
We believe in good drawing. Good composition. Good placement. Good technique. And artwork that still looks like itself years from now.
Our work includes
American Traditional
Bold lines, deliberate color, and the visual language of classic tattooing.
Blackwork & Ornamental
Strong shapes, pattern, geometry and carefully considered composition.
Fine Line & Illustrative
Detailed, lighter-weight work with an emphasis on drawing and precision.
Japanese-Inspired
Traditional influences interpreted through original composition and contemporary tattooing.
Sacred & Geometric
Symbolism, structure and geometry developed specifically for the body.
Cover-Ups & Reworks
Old tattoos aren't always mistakes. Sometimes they simply need a better solution.
Not sure where your idea fits? That's what the conversation is for.
The process
Start with the idea. We'll figure out the rest.
You don't need to know exactly what you want before contacting us. Tell us the story. Show us the references. Send us the terrible sketch. Tell us what you absolutely don't want. From there, we'll work together toward something that makes sense.
01 · The idea
What are you carrying with you? A person, a place, a memory, a symbol, a tradition—or simply an image you can't stop thinking about. Start there.
02 · The style
You don't have to speak tattoo. Tell us what you like. We'll help translate it into something that works.
03 · The body
Placement matters. Scale matters. How a tattoo moves with your body matters. We'll help determine what makes sense before we put anything on skin.
04 · The plan
Some tattoos take an hour. Some take several sessions. We'll give you an honest idea of what we're looking at before you make the drive.
05 · The tattoo
Then we sit down and do the work. No rush. No unnecessary distractions. Just good tattooing.
The chair
One person. One appointment. Our full attention.
Aroostook Ancient Art is a private studio. That means when you're in the chair, you're not competing with a room full of other appointments. We can talk. We can work. We can take our time. And if something needs another ten minutes of thought before the needle touches your skin, we'll take the ten minutes.
Why Sinclair?
Because we're worth the drive.
We're way up here. We know.
For some people, that means we're their local tattoo shop. For others, it means making a trip out of it. Either way, we think there's something valuable about getting away from the noise for a while.
Come north. Take the back roads. Walk the woods. See the lake. Get tattooed. Go home with something you'll carry with you.
Start a design brief
Tell us what you're thinking.
You don't need a perfect idea. You don't need to know the exact style. You don't even need to know whether you're ready to book. Give us the starting point. We'll ask the right questions from there.
What do you want to carry?
A sentence is plenty. Nothing is too strange, too small, or too unfinished.
Finding us
122 Sinclair Road
Sinclair, Maine 04779
The far north of Maine.
Appointment only.