Ever since we first started working on our building at 520 E. Pikes Peak Avenue, we envisioned making use of the extra wall space we have to offer towards local artists to hang their artwork. We reside in the downtown area that hosts the monthly First Friday Art Walk. Our neighbors at The Machine Shop and Cottonwood Center for the Arts are big in the First Friday scene, and now we are getting into the fun too!
This Friday, February 7th from 5-8pm we will have local wildlife and underwater photographer, Jeff Mallo present his amazing photos in our place. We are so excited to have Jeff as a part of our first art display, because he is also a U.S. Army veteran, and a heck of a good guy.
There will be photos of fish in our Private Taste Room, and delicious fish being served by Roc and Ro Sushi On The Go out front. Of course, we will have our entire cocktail menu available for visitors too.
Jeff's art will remain on display the month of February.
More about Jeff:
I enlisted in the Army as an Infantry Soldier and attended Basic and Advanced Infantry training at Ft Benning where I was an 11C, mortar man. After attending Airborne School and the Ranger Indoctrination Program I was assigned to Alpha Company, 2nd Ranger Battalion in Ft Lewis, Washington. I served 8 years with the Rangers participating in a combat jump into Panama during Operation Just Cause in 1989 and was involved in Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti in 1994. I served three combat tours with the 1st Cavalry Division in Iraq from 2004 to 2009. I also served as a Mortar Platoon Sergeant 101st Airborne Division, and taught ROTC twice, once in Cleveland, Ohio and once in Cookeville, Tennessee. After a one year tour in Kuwait I was assigned to the 4th Infantry Division at Ft Carson and served almost a year at Ft Carson before retiring with over 27 years service to our great Nation.
While teaching ROTC I learned to dive and started taking images underwater to show my family who thought I was wasting my money on dive trips. I started winning local dive club contests. When I retired I started showing my photographs more as a hobby, but it has since turned into a business that has also expanded into landscape and wildlife photography.