In 1983 Dave was serving in the Marine Corps where he was exposed to amazing tattoo shops and artists. He knew he wanted to tattoo one day, but it would be years later when he learned a local shop was looking for an apprentice that the opportunity arose. After completing his apprenticeship in 1990 at the age of 27, Dave opened American Art Tattoo at Five Points on Maryland Ave in Wilmington, DE. In 1994 he decided to downsize and move to Newark, closer to the University of Delaware.



Dave at the Maryland Ave shop circa 1991


Maryland Ave. 1990-1994


        Dave purchased a property and opened his current location on January 2nd 1995. After 9/11 Dave decided to honor those lost and commissioned an American flag mural outside the shop. When it began to peel he replaced it with a tribal art mural in 2006, which remained until 2018. After a drunk driver smashed into the fence and building, a new mural was commissioned by master artist Derrick Noel.



Current location opened  Jan. 1995


While Dave still occasionally tattoos he’s passed the torch along to some very talented artists over the years and now mainly does the piercings. American Art is a well established studio serving the Newark area and University of Delaware, standing the test of time since 1990!



First mural 2001


Second mural 2006


Current mural 2018