PENDLETON — Seth Finch’s road to running a tattoo business on Main Street started on the inside of prison walls.

“I was always just drawing in my life,” the Pendleton man said. “Then being incarcerated, you know, I hadn’t had enough to do there but draw. And I used to make an income with my drawings there.”

Finch sat at his station inside his tattoo shop, Lighter Shade of Grey, in downtown Pendleton. He worked on his client and friend Shay Holt, who had a large tracing of a wolf on his arm. Finch dipped his needle into a tiny cup of black, slathered barrier gel on parts of Holt’s arm and began working on the wolf’s paw. Holt laid back on the chair, sipping a cup of coffee.

Growing up in Pendleton

“My mom kind of worked a bunch of different jobs,” Finch said. “My dad wasn’t around. I don’t know where to find him. And I don’t really want to.”

Finch attended elementary and middle school but never reached high school. At a young age he was running into problems with the law.

“I got incarcerated at a very young age,” Finch said. “I was already getting in trouble and I was on probation and stuff. I got arrested for criminal mischief like tagging on the wall, spray painting and stuff like that.”

His mother also found herself in immense hot water with the state, he said.

His mother was dating a drug addict. One day while in the house, the boyfriend dropped some methamphetamine on the floor. Finch’s 1-year-old sister discovered the drug and ingested it. She was rushed to the hospital and saved. The law and Oregon Child Protective Services got involved to investigate, Finch said, and the courts determined his mother was unfit to be a parent.

“They thought my mom was a drug addict, which she wasn’t,” Finch said. “She just was with a boyfriend who was a piece of work. So the state didn’t find it safe for me to be home.”

As a result Finch was admitted into Oregon Youth Authority, which operates juvenile corrections.

“I was incarcerated for about four years,” Finch said.

Prison education

This was the first time Finch was put through the system. The program worked on assimilating him and his peers back into society. Although the courts had removed him from his mother, he managed to remain in touch with her.

“She was doing pretty rough because all her kids got taken away,” Finch recalled. “The system said she was a drug addict, but she wasn’t. She passed every urine drug test with flying colors.”

The Oregon Youth Authority guided and helped him get a job until he got released at the age of 18.

Although the program aimed to turn him into a productive member of society, their teachings didn’t stick, rather something else stuck with him.

“It really would have helped if I wanted help,” Finch said, “but at the time I was more like fake it until you make it. I’ve been in that criminal system for so long and honestly it made me worse. You know being around all these criminals and being taught all this new stuff by other troubled kids, you know, and just kind of just strengthening that criminal tie.”

Finch didn’t last long in society before he was hurled back into the system with assault charges. According to Finch, he and his friend got into a fight. His friend stabbed a man during the altercation. Finch said law enforcement offered him a deal to avoid assault charges.

“They said, ‘Rat out your friend or go to prison for three years,’” Finch recalled. “So I went to prison for three years.”

Now Finch had graduated from the juvenile system to Snake River Correctional Institution, Ontario, where adults operate differently around each other based on gang affiliations and race.

While serving his time Finch focused on drawing and befriended a cellmate named Clavo who provided him tips on how to get into tattooing.

“He helped me with my process because he was actually a tattoo artist,” Finch said. “So he gave me a couple of pointers and kind of what he taught me prepared me for helping me start tattooing out here.”

Finch began gaining a reputation for his drawing and traded goods for his work. Some of the inmates encouraged him to start tattooing.

Supplies are scarce for prisoners, so they make the best with limited resources. Finch used a guitar string for the needle and the inside motor of a CD player to build a makeshift tattoo machine.

When he got out of prison he said he didn’t feel confident about his work, but he was determined to start getting into the world of permanent ink.

Trouble set him free

Once out of prison, Finch said he found passion burning inside. But he fell into some vices — drugs, drug dealing, drinking and fighting. One of his fights landed him back into prison with another assault charge.

As he served a minimum sentence, he had no access to tattoo supplies so he focused his attention on drawing. He learned portraits, realism and other techniques to hone his craft. When he got out he started tattooing on the side but he returned to his vices, ran with the same crowd and got into more trouble.

At one point he ran away from the law and was in hiding until the Oregon State Police along with the help of the FBI tracked him down.

“I went back to jail,” Finch said. “I started to think I definitely was hungry to change. I just didn’t know how to. I just started picking up that Bible. And really, I couldn’t even understand it at first. And then I just started praying to God, like, man, I really want to read this, but like, I don’t know how.”

The road to salvation began for Finch. His friend Joey Adair Crooke gifted Finch a King James Bible and helped him understand the word of God. He served his time and was released from prison.

With his newfound freedom and outlook in life he moved in with his girlfriend, Mikyla Ureno, and he began attending church. He worked a few odd jobs but his desire to dive into tattooing was itching inside him.

“I was working these nine-to-five jobs,” Finch said. “I’m already driving an hour for a dumb job. I might as well drive an hour and try to go to Tri-Cities and get in at a tattoo shop.”

He went to Dark Zeros Tattoo in Kennewick, Washington, showed his portfolio and was hired.

“Tim Flanagan, the owner, he’s just an amazing guy,” Finch said. “He really helped me out. I couldn’t have done it without him. They knew my story and didn’t judge. It was a blessing.”

Spiritually, Finch said he found a beacon of light on a dark lonely road, which led him to salvation and peace in his heart. He continued attending church, got baptized and now is walking the straight and narrow path.

“Nobody is perfect, man. We all struggle with something,” Finch said. “And I believe that God made us that way. And he made us broken. And he made us feel like there’s something missing, just so that we could have a relationship with him and find wholeness in him. I think you’re never going to find that. You’re never going to find that total peace without him, that’s what I believe.”