Friedsam Memorial Carousel Central Park, New York

New York City boasts eleven carousels, including the Bug Carousel in The Bronx and two still underway to be opened very soon. Yesterday I visited the carousel at Central Park here in New york. The last time I was here, the carousel had closed for the winter, which was so disappointing. I must admit this carousel is the least favourite of the ones I have visited so far. I just don't think it is as opulent as I want a carousel to be, but the folk art skill is amazing nevertheless. I ended up standing on the horses saddle for half a turn today, just to feel what it would be like. I wanted to do a full circle but had to sit right down as the carousel was going past the operator. I didn't want to get kicked off, but let me tell you, it was a total thrill!

The carousel at Central Park has such a huge history (read this great article). The current one is the fourth that has been placed into position at Central Park since the original in 1871. The first was powered by a real live horse or mule who would spend it's days hidden under the carousel waiting for the operator above to signal with a stamp of his foot to start walking around in circles. It has been said the animal was blind. This carousel was used until 1924. The following two steam powered carousels both had an abrupt ending due to fire. The replacement of the last carousel to burn down in 1950 is the one that stands today. It was discovered in an abandoned old trolley terminal on Coney Island and was made by Brooklyn firm Stein & Goldstein, who were Russian immigrants in 1908. It is the one of the largest carousels in the United States and features 57 hand-carved horses, two decorative chariots and four rows of 'jumpers' (horses that go up and down during the ride). This was very impressive indeed.

The operator's room in the center of the carousel was covered in sculptures recreating a story amoungst naughty clowns. This would be the influence of the carousel being made for the Coney Island area. The images below show the operators room in detail. I snapped as we went around and then put it all together in photoshop so you could see the fun that surrounds the mechanism. You can see the painted and sculptured band organ that accompanies the carousel.  

The clown theme was carried on over to the pillars inside the building. This isn't a great phot but you get the idea.

Cherubs lined the outside top of the carousel, creating their own little world above.

 









While swans graced the inside top of the carousel in a flustery fashion.












There are some antique carousels that have real horses tails as their own (which I will make a post about soon) but these horses had carved wooden ones, which I do find disappointing, even though it is a creepy story behind where the real tails actually come from.

The cage surrounding the carousel had cute cast iron mini carousel horses, which I thought was a lovely touch.




Coloured lights lined the top brackets of the carousel. I'm not too fond of coloured lights on carousels but I do understand why it was decided on this one. The carousel itself is full of bold colour and I suspect the coloured lights are placed there to enhance this. The center bars of each carousel was a plain steel. I do like the brass 'rope' style much better.

My favourite part of this carousel was the tongues of the horses. Almost all had them hanging out as if exhausted from riding fast and hard. Extremely expressive in their emotion, all I wanted to do was touch all the tongues of the horses.

Just outside of the entrance to the carousel were these two pillars (shown below). One is a lullaby written in 1934 and the one is a memorial to a little girl who died in 1987.

Hushaby,

Don't you cry,

Go to sleepy, little baby,

When you wake,

You shall have

All the pretty little horses,

Blacks and bays,

Dapples and grays,

Coach and six-a little horses,

Hushaby,

Don't you cry,

Go to sleepy little baby

All The Pretty Little Horses,

From American Ballads and Folk Songs

1934 John A. Lomex and Alan Lomex.

Michelle Bernstein
March 25, 1984 – June 19, 1987
The Carousel Landscape
was restored in 1991
in honour of Michelle
who loved
all the pretty little horses

This was strange indeed to come across. I did a little research but could not find who this little girl was, why this memorial was made for her nor how she died. It just made the experience even more strange.





The Central Park Carousel was featured in such movies as Up The Sandbox, I'm Not Rappaport, The Spanish Prisoner, and The Producers. I'm yet to watch these movies but will surely make a post about them soon enough.

Carousel Museum

I've been stuck indoors for two days in New York thanks to Irene, so I thought I would do a little investigating into what to see and do when I am finally able to get out of the house and the subway is back on! Here is a list of carousel Museums that are scattered across the States. I don't think I will get a chance to visit any during my time here right now in New York but I do plan a visit to most on my return trip next Spring, when I will be back for the International Artist-in-Residence Program at NARS.

Herschell Museum Building

Herschell Museum in North Tonawanda, New York is the only carousel museum in the world located in an original carousel factory building. It occupies the building complex which housed the Allan Herschell Company, founded in 1915, and still has the large carving shop where 50-75 carvers worked. They offer wood carving classes, which I'm so onto when I come back next year. Google Maps

C.W Parker Carousel Museum

The C.W. Parker Carousel Museum is in Kansas and has three working carousels and a master carver doing demonstrations on-site. One of the carousels is the oldest operating wooden carousel in the United States. Simply named the Primitive Carousel, it was built circa 1850-60, and is owned by the National Carousel Association. It is on permanent loan to the C.W.Parker Carousel Museum. Visitors cannot ride this carousel as it is extremely rare and fragile, but can see it being operated by two men cranking the wheels by hand for it to turn. Google Maps

Primitive Carousel

Kit Carson County Carousel

Kit Carson County Carousel is the sixth of 74 carousels manufactured by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC) between 1904 and 1933. The carousel is housed in a 12-sided frame building. They have an exhibit on the history of the carousel, including a formative display on how a carousel horse is carved called 'plank to pony'.  Google Maps

The Merry-Go-Round Museum

The Merry-Go-Round Museum in Sandusky, Ohio offers live sculpting shows and houses various events throughout the year. Their website offers an extensive range of videos of the museum experience. Google Maps

The New England Carousel Museum

The New England Carousel Museum in Connecticut has an extensive educational program, my favourite being a sleep over within the museum (probably not for adults though). They house one of the largest collections of antique carousel pieces in the country and are dedicated to the acquisition, restoration and preservation of operating carousels and carousel memorabilia. Google Maps

International Museum of Carousel Art

International Museum of Carousel Art is temporarily closed as they are relocating into another space. If you go to their website, you can attend Carousel College where you can learn all sorts of Carousel trivia, from restoring to it's history. 

Running Horses Studio

And last but not least, Running Horses Studio in Irwindale, where I am currently holding a volunteer position. Lourinda Bray is hoping to collect enough funding to set up her museum over the next few years, but for now, you can visit on a Saturday for a personal guided tour of her collection. She owns a full carousel but it is in storage as there just isn't enough room.

Max Sudhues, Carousel (2006)

http://www.maxsudhues.de/luna_park_carousel.html

I came across Max Sudhues along my research travels recently and was completely struck by this work. Sudhues is a Berlin based artist and what I love the most about this particular work of his is it's simplicity. When one thinks carousels, we think of the over-the-top grandiose decoration and craftsmanship, lots of gold, lights, colour and music. This work strips all that away and creates a carousel as if straight from our childhood imagination, simply and effortlessly. It makes me think of a child who has come home after a day out on a carousel and wanting to recreate the experience with whatever materials are lying around the house.

The title of the work is Carousel and it was created in 2006. It is made of plastic toy animals, a fans front facing, a drinking glass and a record player. Projected onto the sculpture is a slide photograph of a sunset, creating an eerie shadow onto the wall. The animals turn backwards, confusing our natural inclination to see it going forwards.

I wish there was video documentation on-line somewhere of this work moving in the space, but I tried to find one to no avail. We are left to only imagine the carousel moving and turning, creating it's shadow onto the wall. Sudhues exhibited Carousel with another of his works, Luna Park. The images below are the two works together in the space. 

http://www.maxsudhues.de/luna_park_carousel.html

http://www.maxsudhues.de/luna_park_carousel.html

Where Carousel lacks colour, Sudhues has definitely added it to the accompanying video. "Strongly colored, sometimes wiggly and blurry, appearing to be almost dreamlike shots of a deserted, but noisy amusement park, with varicolored play toys, under palmtrees," Max Sudhues. Carousel's meaning is deepened with the addition of Luna Park. It acts as a metaphor for the mind of the person who created Carousel, a visual representation of what was going on whilst creating the work. It's as if the child who we imagine may have created Carousel after their day of experiencing a real one, is imagining freeing the animals into the wild whilst playing with his creation. The boundary of reality and fantasy is beautifully captured and complimented with the combination of these works

Experiencing this work with the sound element would definitely change ones perspective of the work, deepening it's experience for the viewer. Pity we can't.

You can check out more of Max Sudhues work here.

Horse race on a carousel?!?!?

I just came across this and thought it was too funny not to share! Enjoy!

"Improv Everywhere is a New York City-based prank collective that causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has executed over 100 missions involving tens of thousands of undercover agents." Here is a link to the people behind the prank.

Round And Round

http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/round_and_round

Round And Round is a nostalgic documentary film created by UCLA students in 2009 about the eccentric characters behind the antique carousels, their personal experiences and it's rich history in California. These passionate lovers of the carousel all have strong emotional attachments that seems to stem from childhood. Lourinda Bray from Running Horses Studio features in the film and big boy Buster, who I love sooo much.

Scott Ringwelski has a very romantic and poetic way of speaking about the carousel. Below is a transcript of him describing how the carousel 'holds' our memories.

"We're shaped, we're molded by those people and interactions that we have in our lives. We hold onto those things, those memories and such and they mold and shape us. Wood, apparently is the same way. It holds sound vibrations in the fibres of the wood. And as a result, looking at a carousel, what the carousel actually is it's a repository of generations,  of all the hopes and the dreams and the laughter and the memories of all the people that have ever ridden it. So when you're on a carousel horse, yeah it seems like it has a personality. Well it does. It seems like it has maybe a heart and soul. It might. It has all the memories of all the people who have ever ridden it and you are contributing to it every time you ride one." Scott Ringwelski, Former Guardian, Historic Looff Carousel.

Click on the link below the picture above and give yourself a lovely 24 minute trip into the world of antique carousels within California. Enjoy!

Running Horses Studio

Once I committed to the theme of the carousel to influence my art practice,  I did a little research and came across an antique carousel restorers studio here in Los Angeles and simply wrote to them asking if I could volunteer once a week to learn techniques such as gold leaf gilding. It has been nearly two months since I first walked into Running Horses Studio in Irwindale and have not only been listening to some amazing facts and stories about the history of the carousel in America by an industry professional but getting my hands dirty with oil paint, gold leaf and sanding dust! Feels great to be getting dirty again! By the way, the studio is a two hour public transport ride, one way, from where I live in Los Angeles, but a 35 minute drive! Gotta love Los Angeles public transport system....NOT!

I wanted to share a visual of Running Horses Studio so you could see what the inside of a warehouse studio with nearly 400 carousel horses looks like. As you can imagine, it is out of this world! The first day I walked in, I nearly needed a slap to get over the awe of the place! 

Lourinda Bray owns Running Horses Studio, has been in the business for 30 or so years and really knows her stuff. She has her own personal collection of nearly 400 hundred horses here at the studio, including a complete carousel in storage. Crazy! She is the one sitting on the right while Caroline is sitting on the left, who has her own small collection of horses. She comes in to help out sometimes and has some wonderful stories to tell of working at carousels throughout her life.

Below are some random shots of the studio. I have taken hundreds of photos within the studio as every turn is a really great photo opportunity!

  

 

 

In future posts, I will share the techniques I have been taught at the studio. I'm really looking forward to hitting the studio on my return to Melbourne and get playing with gold leaf and oil paints!