Carousel art reflects Sandpoint community

SANDPOINT — When Spokane’s Looff Carrousel curator Bette Largent first learned of the Golden Age carousel rescued by Reno and Clay Hutchison of Sandpoint, she was astonished at the find.

“They are so lucky that this was uncovered,” Largent said. “You just don’t come across a whole carousel that’s been hidden for 60 years — it’s just unheard of.”

The 1920 Allan Herschell carousel, dubbed by the Hutchisons as the Carousel of Smiles, was revealed to the Sandpoint community two years ago. Since then, that community has made it their own, with many volunteers and supporters taking on the task of restoring the historic carousel.

When it is complete, the entire carousel will be a work of art done by the community. The ponies and art panels have been under restoration, with Largent helping in the pony painting portion. With more than 30 years of experience as a carousel preservationist and horse/animal painter, Largent has been involved in saving and restoring dozens of carousels around the country and abroad, and has personally painted hundreds of carousel horses and menagerie animals. While she is helping with establishing things such as color schemes, style and techniques, local artists are doing the painting, she said.

“There were a lot of techniques they had to learn,” Largent said. “I was amazed at the talent that we have.”

Before painting can begin, however, the wooden bodies of the ponies have to be restored. The woodworking is important, Largent said, because if the ponies don’t have a good foundation, they will break down over time. The woodworking teams have “done their job well,” she said. The sanders have been dubbed the “angels of the carousel,” Largent said, because they have to do all of the sanding by hand. Another team is known as the “Godfather Squad,” because they have to remove the heads of the ponies to ensure proper restoration. Once the woodwork is done to perfection, then comes what Largent said is the “fun” part — painting the ponies.

Three of the ponies are nearly complete, with just some finishing touches needed in the painting stage.

“It is kind of exciting, but we’ve got lot of work ahead of us,” Largent said. “... It is going to be amazing when it’s done.”

The other painting portion comes in the form of the art panel project, which local artist Gabe Gabel is in charge of as the Carousel of Smiles art director.

“We got some wonderful work — absolutely wonderful,” Gabel said. “It’s amazing. You put each one of those (paintings) inside the panel and they just get electric. So I think it is going to be a marvelous collection, and we are still getting more artwork in.”

A call for local artists went out in September, followed by a workshop for the art panel project. The artists were given free reign to submit artwork of their choosing, with only the guidance that it should represent the Sandpoint community.

“We want things that are iconic, so that the carousel is uniquely ours,” Gabel said. “The carousel belongs to the people here, it should reflect it.”

Some of the pieces submitted so far include representations of area wildlife, the City Beach Statue of Liberty and the City Beach gateway. Four of the paintings were done by local artist Jeff Rosenkrans, who said he was inspired by the carousel project.

“I love the whole thing about the project,” Rosenkrans said. “It’s a small town, small community, and jumping on board is just a privilege.”

The ponies were on display over the weekend in downtown Sandpoint, and Reno Hutchison said several hundred people came through the open house to see the progress on Sandpoint’s carousel.

“It went incredibly well,” Hutchison said, adding a “ big thank you” to all the carousel volunteers, supporters, donors and the community at large. “The generosity of our community never ceases to amaze me.”

The next big news for the Carousel of Smiles is that it is moving to a location where the public will be able to stop and see the progress throughout the restoration process, she said.

The carousel is currently stored and being worked on in a workshop in Ponderay, but as of Jan. 1, will be moved to the Cedar Street Station building at the corner of Cedar and Fifth Avenue.

“The ponies are coming to town,” Hutchison said.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.