- November 18, 2024
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The Burroughs Drive home of Biaggia “Betty” Carra is overflowing with artwork created by her late husband Giovanni Carlo “John” Carra. Each ledge and table top is adorned with painted, fired clay sculptures, most of which with a Native American influence; a bow and arrow a reoccurring element.
Settled under an entryway table is a small statue of a Native American man teaching a young boy how to shoot a bow. Carra’s son Robert looked at it fondly. He said the piece brings him back to when he was a child and his father, who was an avid bow hunter, taught him how to use the bow.
“The only difference is he created it as a Native American,” he said.
Carra, who signed his artwork “Giovanni” but everyone knew as “John,” died April 27, at the age of 87.
Carra lived most of his life in New York with his wife and they relocated to Palm Coast in 1990. He was a U.S. Navy Veteran and a carpenter by trade. He also worked for the New York City Department of Buildings as an inspector before his retirement.
In retirement, Carra taught himself to sculpt, and after many years of showing his work at the Flagler Home and Lifestyle Show, he was asked to teach a class at Flagler County Adult and Community Education.
“He was always very proud of his students,” Betty Carra said of her husband. “There are a lot of people in Palm Coast that studied under him.”
Carra was the founder and president of the Millennium Art League and was very active in the Flagler art community before becoming ill in 2004. After spinal surgery, he was unable to use his hands anymore.
“I know that he did want to leave all of this behind,” Betty said looking at the abundance of her husband’s art work that decorated her home. “He would spend time sitting and looking at, frustrated because he couldn't do it anymore.”
Carra fell ill in February and entered rehab at Flagler Pines. All the nurses learned about his artwork. That’s all he talked about, his wife said. He eventually got the nickname “Smiley” for the constant whistling and singing he did as a resident there.
Carra was buried last week at a Veteran’s cemetery in Jacksonville, but his family is also planning a Palm Coast memorial service and hope to get in touch with some of Carra’s former students to attend. There is no date currently set for the memorial.
