Positive Spin: Spokes of Hope
Words: Kate Monahan
Shawn Ortolano is a native New Yorker, full time tattoo
artist, involved parent, as well as a role model in charity
work and bringing a neighborhood together. It all started
with a love for tattooing. At 16, Shawn ordered a machine
out of a catalog and was tattooing himself. His grandmother
wasn’t happy with this, so Shawn put it aside for a few years.
When he started out, tattooing was banned and illegal in
New York City. Prior to 1996, people were getting tattooed in
someone’s living room or garage if they wanted work done
due to the nonexistence of tattoo parlors. Many years ago,
when Shawn was getting tattooed, the artist working on
him could see his interest and after the session, gave him
a machine. At the time, there weren’t many opportunities
for apprenticeships and Shawn was told he’d have to learn
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on his own. Being self-taught and watching the tattoo world
grow, Shawn worked on his own outside of a shop for five
to six years. Not having an apprenticeship or a mentor in
an era that practically required one wasn’t easy. In that time
of working solo, Shawn’s confidence grew and after years
working by himself, he landed himself in a shop in Staten
Island, where he has been tattooing for the last eight years.
One of the other differences in how things were done back
then and now was payment in the form of the barter system.
For those like Shawn who came up tattooing when this was
a prevalent payment system, they still continue with it. He
would trade tattoo time for various things—rent, cars, bikes,
et cetera. In his 15 years of tattooing, Shawn traded for a