Up Close … with Andy Alvis, teacher and artist |15 April 2014

‘Be strong and say no to peer pressure’

By B. P Damou

Remembering what my parents and grandparents told me about how life was in their young days, I cannot help but wonder about how drastically our way of living has changed compared to back then. Nowadays young people tend to follow European and American fashion.

Rambling around town one will notice that most of the young people sport a tattoo. A tattoo being a permanent body paint, I have always asked those who wear it why they do it. Their reasons are varied; some say a tattoo has meaning in their lives, it tells their life story, or there are those who claim that it is fashionable.

Never having had the chance to meet a tattoo artist before, my luck changed when one of my colleagues suggested that I interview Andy Alvis for our Up Close column.
Andy, who is 33 years old, was born on September 29, 1980. He comes from a family of four kids. He is the second child in his family. He has one elder sister and a younger brother and sister. He grew up in the Plaisance district and did his primary and secondary studies at this district’s schools.

He then went to the National Youth Service (NYS), following which he moved to The College of the Arts  where he did three years and then spent two more years at the National Institute of Education (NIE) where he earned a diploma in teaching.

“As a child I was never quiet but I never misbehaved. I remember my days as a child were always spent by the sea. Most of my weekends we would go to the beach and since some of my relatives lived on Cerf Island we would spend our weekends there. My family never thought that I would develop a liking for art. They thought I would end up into fishing or something that has to do with the sea,” Andy said smiling, as if he was reliving these days in his memories.

“However, my love for the sea gave me inspiration whenever I took a pencil to draw. And I do not know if my art teachers have had an influence on me but ever since I was in primary five or six, I’ve wanted to be an art teacher,” Andy recalled.

Andy has been teaching art for the past three years at the English River secondary school and he helps out with the topic fisheries. Before he was moved to English River secondary, Andy taught at primary level where he was not satisfied, to the point that he resigned. But he felt that teaching is what he wanted to do, so when he was asked by the ministry to come back, he agreed but on condition that he teaches at secondary level.

The primary schools where Andy taught included La Retraite, Mont Fleuri, Bel Ombre and Beau Vallon.

“Teaching is fun as I personally try to minimise indoor lessons. I tend to go more towards field teaching as my students get more exposed to nature. The only setback for me is when I do not have any teaching periods as I am someone who does not like to sit around with nothing to do,” he said with a frown.

“While teaching my pupils I also feel a sense of gratitude towards my teachers who have made it possible for me to share my knowledge and to also live art every day. And it also gives me great pleasure to see my pupils progress,” Andy added.

Andy has been in love with art since he was a child and he paints not only on canvas and paper but has also done murals. In fact he was the mastermind behind the mural at the English River school dedicated to the value ‘Respect’.

 “As long as I can remember I have enjoyed painting, but during my studies at the NYS I developed another kind of artistic talent. It all came about when some friends and I dabbled at putting tattoos on each other’s bodies. At that time we experimented with the old fashion way of using the Chinese ink,” Andy explained.

After leaving NYS, Andy kept on tattooing his friends on demand and in the traditional way.

“Being able to do the design it did traditionally make me wonder what I could do with proper equipment. It was then that I decided to get proper equipment and that was in 2002,” Andy recalled.
Before Andy accepts to do any tattoo on his client, he counsels them first. They discuss what the client wants and then he designs the tattoo.

“I advise my clients not to tattoo their boyfriend or girlfriend’s name on them. If they want, I do put children or parents’ names. Each tattoo for

each client is original and as I discuss with them I try to produce the design to their liking,” Andy explained.

“Personally for me a tattoo should have a personal meaning before anyone decides to put a tattoo as it will mark you for life,” Andy stated.
As any artist will have their pride and joy piece, Andy was all excited to tell me about his.

“My favourite is the one I did for my supplier who lives in the UK. I did a long sleeve for him that tells the story of his life. Since he is a gambler there are things that relate to gambling. He also has his children’s and wife’s names. As a Seychellois living in a foreign land, he misses his country and so he asked me to include the map of Mahé in the sleeve, with detailed features such as the clock tower and others.”

Apart from being an artist Andy still harbours his love for the ocean. From time to time he goes out to sea to fish or just to spend time on the beach where he gets his inspiration for his work.
Married for 11 years to Samantha, Andy has two daughters.

Being a father and husband, what impact does being a tattoo artist has on his daughters, I asked him.

“Having two daughters – Cael, 10 and El, 5 – my life is quite exciting. My eldest tends to have her mother’s character; she is quiet compared to my youngest one. She is always asking me to have her body tattooed. I do those with body paints that can be washed away. I always tell her about the consequences of a tattoo and I tell her that she will be able to decide when she comes of age,” Andy explained.

“To be able to balance my time between work and my interests can be quite difficult. I sometimes get in trouble with my family. But although I have a busy schedule I try to make time for my family and communication plays a big role in my family,” Andy added.

Since Andy has a close working relationship with young people, he has the following piece of advice for them: “Be strong, and say no to peer pressure. It is a vicious cycle that tends to get the young people nowadays into trouble. When I was at their age we did have peer pressure but we always had the will power to say no as we did have a lot of things to do. Nowadays young people get carried away or let themselves be influenced by technology and all sorts of gadgets. I bet there are many of them who do not know the traditional games that we played.”
Andy took the opportunity to thank all those who have helped him to be where he is today.

Fancy a tattoo on your body, a mural or a painting to adorn your living room?  Why not give Andy a call on 2579055!