PUNTA GORDA — Tony Kelly, owner of the private tattoo studio Eyes of Eve, believes people are the culmination of all of their experiences.
“It kind of found me,” the North Port resident said of tattoos. “I was an artist but I didn’t know what I wanted to do with it (my skills), just like most artists in their teens. I had friends who had tattoos and they talked me into doing it.”
His feelings evolved from “It wasn’t like I wanted to do tattoos” to “I’ll stop when people stop coming,” 33 years later.
Kelly thought he was destined for a different career. His grandmother, Opal Voight, was the first female owner of a NASCAR team.
“I thought I was going to design cars. I love cars. I love hot rods. That’s the world that I grew up in,” he said. “Being inspired by her, I thought that was where I was going to go. But then tattoos found me.”
Some people, Kelly has learned, “struggle through life, trying to pick our paths. Sometimes you have to realize that that path is already chosen.”
A native of East Peoria, Ill., he moved to Southwest Florida about five years ago to be closer to his parents. During that time he met the woman he would marry — local hairstylist Remi Kelly — and, in January 2023, opened Eyes of Eve in downtown Punta Gorda.