John was born September 20, 1945, one of two twin boys to Santo DiNaro, an American army gunner of Italian heritage and Lily Victoria Blackmore, a North-Londoner turned farm hand serving in the British Women’s Land Army.
In early 1946 John and his twin, Santo Jr., came to the U.S. in a woven basket on the oceanliner, Queen Mary, with their war bride mother. Santo Sr. greeted the boys for the first time at the Port of NY.
The proud father took his new family home to Bellport, LI, NY where John grew up, made his home and currently has his art studio.
Traveling to California with a pop-up trailer in tow, John attended Humboldt State to work on his degree in Oceanography. John’s always had a love of the outdoors and especially the sea. He spent many years as a commercial clammer, working on his art after the day’s catch was taken care of.
In the 70s, John’s sculpture was often sought by large companies to enhance their corporate offices. John spent several years creating large scale sculptures for high profile clients in the financial, insurance and real estate industries, mainly with collections in Manhattan. In Manhattan, the offices of Marsh & McLennan and the Handler Real Estate Organization were major collectors.
John was involved with the Reagan Legacy Project, producing a larger-than-life-sized sculpture of a bald eagle that resided at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.
As John got older and wiser he found himself wanting to share his talents with others. He began a long standing career as an artist-in-residence in the public school system. John would spend a few days to a week or more in each school, guiding students in grades K-12 in his programs on murals, sculpture, artistic benches, pastels or art in the environment. He has also taught in-service programs to teachers wishing to expand their art knowledge and credit hours.
I was always a daydreamer and doodler, all through my elementary and high school years.
When I became a biological oceanographer at the University of California at Humboldt, I was following the plans of others and what they saw in me. In my heart, my dreams showed the path to my soul, which was the world of the dreamer.
For years my everyday was split between being a commercial fisherman and a sculptor. As time went on, more time was spent in my studio, creating. I fell in love with the world of art and creativity. With passion and commitment, finally my own life started to unfold.
Following my dreams, I began to sell my sculptures, murals and educational courses. Over the past 30 years I have worked with Arts-in-Education in Nassau and Suffolk Counties and even in upstate NY, teaching a variety of programs in creativity.
John’s hope for the future is to create a “Circle of Arts” School with the masters in various creative mediums teaching their craft to eager, willing but perhaps, underprivileged, apprentices.
John has always had a strong desire to give to the local community and that motivation guided him to an art therapy program at Mercy Haven Medical Center working with the physically challenged.
More recently, John has been working with local high school students on community beautification projects which help to fulfill the students’ scholastic community service requirements, as well as enhance the esthetics of the community.
John has been exceptional in his results of teaching youth-at-risk. In a collaborative effort with Project SOAR and Cornell CoOperative Extension, John has helped these students in an alternative studies program, allowing them to continue working toward their high school diploma in a non-traditional classroom environment. This work is especially rewarding for John as he is able to keep students engaged and learning, against the odds and in spite of the learning and disciplinary obstacles that they face. The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Bellport Area has contracted for John to use community reinvestment funds to teach underprivileged youth how to turn art into jobs.
My painting skills were learned by a most unusual event. 35 years ago I was on a sailing expedition in the Abacos, an island chain in the Bahamas.
While exploring the nearly deserted island of Man-O-War Cay, I came across an old man painting on the beach. To my surprise, his art supplies were nothing conventional; brushes were feathers, pine branches, sticks, rags and cardboard. His canvases were worn plywood, plucked from the ocean; paints were gotten at the local boatyard. With these items he was creating the most beautiful 2 dimensional work I’d ever seen.
I asked if he would teach me, so I spent three days with him. During that time he taught me how to work with both my left and right hands at the same time. In his instruction he set my hands to a rhythm, often pointing to his eyes, then to the painting for emphasis. I had become aware that he was deaf and dumb. I also gained appreciation for the method of apprenticeship; learning skills from a master and by watching and shadowing their acts.