Jason Hanna

Professional Tattoo Artist, founder of What’s Good? studio

Education:
Bachelor of Fine Arts, UNC Charlotte (2007)

“I was always the kid drawing in class and I naturally gravitated towards comics to learn how to draw on my own,” Jason Hanna told Associate Professor of Art History Jim Frakes in an interview. Early on, he knew he wanted to be an artist and found the support and training he needed at UNC Charlotte.

“I found a group of professors that quickly became a second family to me,” he told Frakes. “They were the mentors I craved and the people that really inspired and shaped a lot of who I am today. From teaching art at the jail with Francis Hawthorne to preparing gallery shows with Dean Butckovitz or watching Jeff Murphy’s dogs while he was out of town, I really did feel at home.”

In 2011, Jason began to tattoo professionally, working at a number of studios before opening his own, What’s Good?

For the Generations exhibition in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Department of Art & Art History, Senior Lecturer Kristin Rothrock invited Jason to exhibit work with hers.

“Kristin was a true mentor throughout my time at UNC Charlotte,” Jason told Frakes. “From foundation classes to my advanced studios, she was a constant. She knew when to gently push me in a direction or when to challenge my stubbornness. Kristin opened up a way of making art that truly allowed me to be myself. She taught me it could be cathartic and a place where I could speak my truth.”

For the exhibition, he created a new mixed media work, “Identity Crisis in Infinite Earths (2024).”