Norfolk officer leaves his mark on tattoo scene

NORFOLK

A year ago, Jason Armstrong wasn't sure how his business, Ocean Mystique's Ink Gallery, would fare in Ghent.

The police officer, a member of the Norfolk department's Special Operations Team, didn't know whether a tattoo shop would be accepted. But with a year under its belt and more than 5,000 tattoos etched into customers' skin, Armstrong believes he can call the business a success.

"It's been an amazing year," said Armstrong, who himself is not a tattoo artist. "It's still a work in progress."

He credits the success of the shop, which he owns with a partner, to the artists and customers. His Ghent Business Association colleagues have been welcoming, and some have even become customers, he said. Others credit Armstrong, a whirlwind with a Master of Business Administration who also has a passion for people.

"The one thing he's great at is networking," said Eric Newman, executive director of the Roc Solid Foundation, a nonprofit for children that Armstrong works with. "He actually, honestly, genuinely cares. If he decides that he's going to do it, he is going to do it with passion and drive."

The officer/businessman, a husband and father of two young girls who teaches homeland security classes at Tidewater Community College, did his homework before getting into business. While scouting the location, he would stop by the empty building at Monticello Avenue and 21st Street at different times of day to watch the passing people and traffic. He scrutinized other businesses and talked with people about their experiences at other shops.

"People said they didn't feel welcomed," he said. He set out to make sure they wouldn't feel that way about his place.

The shop, which he calls a studio and not a parlor, has modern decor and is open and bright. Funky art hangs on the walls. There are sparkling cases filled with piercing jewelry. Comfy couches beckon customers who want to relax while they wait.

The drive to start a business grew from a desire to have something to fall back on if he was injured and had to leave police work. He knew people with tattoo shops and was an enthusiast who wanted to help change the perception of the skin-based art. Tattoos aren't just for sailors anymore, he said. His customers include police officers, lawyers and business people.

"You never know what they do now. They could be your surgeon, they could be defending you from going to jail, they could be the one doing your mortgage. It's not the industry of old."

Some customers are law enforcement colleagues who get tattoos memorializing other officers who have died. One of the seven contract artists who work at his shop designed a tattoo in memory of Victor Decker, a Norfolk officer killed in October in Virginia Beach.

Armstrong got his first tattoo when he was in his 20s. He and a female friend drove to Carrollton and, because he had been certified in scuba diving, he pointed to a shark and told the artist he wanted it on his shoulder.

When his companion changed her mind, he offered to pay for her tattoo. Later, he recalled with a chuckle, he got a call from her father, who took a certain tone.

"He said, 'I'm disappointed.' "

In the front of the shop, beside the ATM, there recently were two donation boxes with food and toys. Above anything, Armstrong said, he wants his business to serve as a reminder to people to be giving.

He wasn't always as passionate about giving, but his daughter, Riley, helped change that.

At a doctor's appointment, about the time Riley was 2 months old, Armstrong and his wife, Heather, learned their daughter had cerebral palsy and a condition in which her brain hadn't developed completely.

It helped to talk with other parents who knew what they were going through. Armstrong also was buoyed by other officers, but he struggled until reality set in.

Riley, now 6, inspires him daily.

"She just allowed me to see something I was meant to see, and that was that you can sit around and take from the world all you want, but at some point, you have to get up and start giving back." 

Cindy Clayton, (757) 446-2377, cindy.clayton@pilotonline.com