Time to Party!

The horses on the carousel are now complete!

Come on down to the park Saturday the 11th at 2pm for a ribbon cutting and some good carousel fun! 

Free carousel rides from 2-3, music, icecream for sale!

It's going to be a blast!

Progress!

Three freshly painted ponies! Let me introduce them. 

The first was a request by a very sweet woman who loves Stewart Park, particularly the swans who used to live in the pond next to the boathouse. With natural colors (all which can be achieved from natural dyes), local plants (Dame's Rocket-the pretty purple wildflowers in bloom the past few weeks) , and kissing swans, I hoped this horse might look as though she'd hopped right out of a fairytale. 

The next is a tribute to one of the best writers of all time, (in my opinion) Dr. Seuss. As a child and since, I have loved the insanity of his made-up words, never-seen-before creatures, and the color and pattern. Who can say no to some good Dr. Seuss absurdity, or to green eggs and ham? 

Lastly, here is my final horse of the project. As a child, (before the environmentally conscious part of my brain kicked in) I loved to let go of a balloon and watch it float up and into the clouds, getting smaller and smaller until it finally was too far away to see. You could call this horse a tribute to all those lost balloons, or just one last sunny, happy horse to wrap up one of the best projects I have ever worked on. 

Stay tuned for Christi's last horse, and news about our ribbon cutting/re-opening party! One horse to go! 

Another freshly painted horse!

Free Carousel Day: June 10th!

Hey All! Have you heard? 
Tomorrow is Free Carousel Day! 
Sponsored by the Child Development Council, come take a ride on the newly painted horses, free of charge. With only 4 horses left to be painted, the carousel is looking super fresh. Ride each and every horse if you like! The carousel will be open tomorrow 11-7:30. See you at the park!

GiveGab

Friends of Stewart Park has set up our project with a GiveGab account! 

GiveGab is an online fundraising system that has helped many non-profits achieve their fundraising goals. We're hoping that as we wrap up the project, GiveGab will be easy and user-friendly, and that we can meet our fundraising goals by the end of June! I want to thank everyone who has donated to our project already; it's been such a wonderful gift to Ithaca, and I've been honored to work on a project that has taught me so much about our community. 

Here's the link! 

https://www.givegab.com/nonprofits/friends-of-stewart-park/campaigns/carousel-crowdfunding

                                                                                                                                          -Julia

Hot Wheels

The carousel is running again for the summer! What a spectacle to see it being re-assembled! It was a special moment for Christi and I to see the horses reunited after a winter of pulling one out of its crate at a time. (Please enjoy the picture below of Christi and I looking like we are 5 years old while we take a ride!) So it's official..Happy Summer! There are 5 more horses to paint, but we have plenty of excitement and ideas left. Keep an eye out for news about our grand re-opening party, which will hopefully happen in July, with fun for both kids and adults! 

With that, I'll introduce our newest horse, Hot Wheels. I had many requests for flames, so I decided to theme this horse like a race car. I think he's got a lot of personality- check him out! 

-Julia

Robin Hood

As I said in the last post, I've been painting a lot this month as time allows, and as the deadline to putting the carousel back up is approaching.  In contrast to the winter horse, here's a nice summery steed.  I was inspired by the story of Robin Hood, and of childhood dreams of camping and roaming the leafy woods.  She has acorns on her bridle, and arrows shooting ahead.

First, here is a photo of the original paint.  I'm trying to take these as I go, to preserve some record of Annie's work.

Oh, the look on their faces!  It's really hard to get photos of these horses from the inner ring, they tend to look a little panicked.

Thanks to Kayla at the History Center for looking up photos of pinto horses for me, and pointing out that they often have black streaks in their manes.

-Christi

Not Frozen, but definitely freezing

The winter of 2015 turned out to the coldest on record in Ithaca.  Loads of snow, ice dams on everyone's eaves, negative temperature nights.  This turned out to be a good source of carousel horse inspiration!  Here's my winter horse, a pretty white pony with the winter constellation Orion on her saddle and icicles and snowflakes.

These blues also happen to be one of my favorite color palettes.  I'm sure the legions of little girls who love that current favorite movie will be calling this "Anna's Horse," but I really didn't intend any of that.

We will continue to paint at the History Center now through the end of April.  Plans are afoot to put the carousel back up in the middle of May, and we starting to think about a big party at midsummer!  More about that as the time approaches.

-Christi

We Made The Ithacan!

http://theithacan.org/life-culture/stewart-park-carousels-horses-receive-needed-makeover/

We made the paper! Here's the link to a beautifully written article about the project in The Ithacan, Ithaca College's newspaper. Written by Colette Piasecki-Masters, I think the article captures all the angles of this project. The interview was such a nice surprise in the middle of February, and it's great to see the support and interest of another part of Ithaca's community.


-Julia

     

Of Bondo and Bees

Some of these horses have been in quite bad condition, and the maintenance guys once again have been amazing with all of their expertise and cheerful help.  There's a handful of horse that have been so corroded by time and use that the aluminum was pitted and chipped, way beyond simple sanding and priming.  This horse was the first that needed Bondo, a putty usually used for car body repairs.  They were able to fill, sand and prep the worst spots to make a good smooth surface for painting.  Here is a photo taken after reconstruction and before painting, to give you an idea of the work behind the scenes:

But then the fun began.  We are in the heart of winter here, a long string of below-zero days and deep snow.  Myself and all of Ithaca are eager for spring, and so I made a nice spring-y, summer-y horse, with apple blossoms, bees and honey comb.  This also illustrated the cycle of pollination, of flowers to fruit and honey, and the importance of our local farming ecosystems.  Ithaca has a huge unique agriculture system of which we are quite justifiably proud.

I'm really happy with this one, I think she's really pretty, and I've nicknamed her Honey.  You can see the next horse in line in the background, another Bondo special, and in contrast that horse is going to be a winter horse (which has nothing at all to do with a certain movie involving lots of snow and ice and princess sisters and letting go and so on), all whites and blues and snowflakes.

You can see all of this in process at the History Center through the month of March as well, they have graciously extended our stay and I must say it's a great place to work.  They are open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 11-5.

-Christi

A trip around the world: the carousel goes to India!

We had a really wonderful time painting at the Tompkins Trust Co., talking to many people and gathering lots of good comments and donations.  Thanks to everyone for that great experience.

Now we are also having a great time at the History Center!  We will be painting there for the month of February, and the people there have been so enthusiastic and welcoming.  We had a program last weekend where the Mays (former owners of the carousel) and Annie Campbell (the last painter) told their stories and put some of the history of the carousel and Stewart Park together.

I finished a horse this week, which had been in process both at the bank and the History Center.  This is a horse inspired by the colors and patterns of India.  I chose hot orange and pink colors for the saddle blankets, like colorful saris, bordered and patterned with bright gold.  For the saddle, I used traditional henna patterns, also called mehndi.  I had a great time working with these colors, although one technical problem came up.  Some of these paints really don't cover well, especially on the red end of the spectrum.  Both the orange and pink took about 6 coats of paint, with some layering of other colors to try to get a solid cover.  These are definitely not fine art paints...

The last photo shows the next horse, primed and ready to paint, on location at the History Center.  That one needed serious structural reconstruction...thanks to Rob at the the park and his expertise with Bondo.  Photos of that one to come next week.

The History Center is located at 401 East State St, in Ithaca, and is open on Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturdays from 11:00–5:00.

-Christi

Yellows And Blues

Our 16th horse was originally a black horse, but had faded so badly that many of the colors had turned a frightening green. While painting in the atrium at the bank, a woman passed and told me that this horse had been her favorite as a child, and that she remembered the yellows, blues, and the purple saddle that had been there before. This one is for you! I decided to give in to the lace and floral temptation I've been feeling since the summer, and keep the color palette similar to the original. 

Painting at Tompkins County Trust Company

This past week, Christi and I have been painting in the Tompkins County Trust Company's Atrium on the Commons in Bank Alley. By far our most public painting spot, we've met a lot of really nice people and have had some really interesting conversations. I love to hear from people of all ages that they have great memories of riding the carousel, whether last summer or fifty summers ago.

(We've been loving all the light in here!)

We'll be painting at the bank through the end of January- stop by and say hello!

-Julia

American Cavalry Horse

Hey Everyone,

Despite the dark, chilly weather, exciting things have been happening! I'll start out with our American Cavalry Horse, painted last week at the park. Traditionally, a cavalry horse has a leather saddle and bridle, and a navy blue blanket with a gold trim. I took a few artistic liberties and added some stars and stripes, but we hoped this horse could honor all those Ithacans who have served our country.

                                                                                                                                                  -Julia

(This is our 15th horse-halfway around the carousel!)