About Cory Pierce
On June 15th 1970, I was the first of seven children born to Cornelius and Danielle Pierce. I have three brothers and three sisters. My father was a career Marine and my mother a Nurse/artist. I suppose I got my artistic genes through my mother (she's an amazing painter) though I'm not much of a student so college just wasn't a direction I was headed.
So, I joined the Navy. In 1990 I went to bootcamp and photo A school directly after. Photography was always an interest, but after years of working on cameras attached to the bellies of F-14 Tomcats, I became very disinterested. Five years of the Navy went by fast and after a couple fun filled deployments... I signed up for four more years! I promptly went on another deployment to the Persian Gulf and came back to go to Instructor Training School. I received orders to teach at Sub School and came to Groton, Ct in July 1996.
During my military career, my artistic side pretty much was on hold except that I was collecting tattoos during this time and drawing most of them myself. Shortly after getting to Groton, I met a girl... Not just any girl, the most awesome girl in the world! And I married her six weeks later and we have two beautiful daughters (Enna & Maeve) to show for it.I'm not sure that ,without her, I would have come this far.
My wife, Robin, has been my backbone, my rock for nearly 15 years now and when I was offered the chance to apprentice at a little shop in Montville, she said "go for it!" I spent a few months at this shop and it didn't work out, but got into another shop in Groton shortly after. I'm certain I wasn't ready for it, but was thrown into a full time position.
Well, this didn't work out either and I almost got out of tattooing altogether. But, a friend of mine talked to Steve Tefft (formerly of Flats Tattooing) and got me a job here at Flats. Steve taught me alot about tattooing technique, art, and generally how a shop is run.
Although Steve and I don't speak anymore, I owe a lot to him. He taught me how to tattoo. A few months after getting my job here at Flats, I got out of the Navy and have been here for over 13 years. I love my job and hope to be creating art for many years to come!