tagged: berkshire carousel, carving, painting

Carving a piece of the city – Berkshire Carousel Inc.

Posted by Kaitlyn in Arts & Culture, Family

Berkshire Carousel's Workshop in Pittsfield - Photo by Kaitlyn Squires

Can you imagine heading to downtown Pittsfield with your family or a special someone to enjoy shopping, food, exhibits, and a ride on a beautifully hand crafted carousel covered in scenes of Berkshire County? The people at Berkshire Carousel Inc. can, and they have been actively working on this project since it was conceived by Jim and Jackie Shulman beginning in the early 2000s. The Goal of Berkshire Carousel is to create a form of family entertainment and work of art by building an authentic classical wooden carousel that involves the entire artistic community. Artists from across the Berkshires will be creating original artwork for the 28 panels that will feature some of Berkshire County’s most recognizable scenery as well as carving and painting each of the carousel figures. In 2007 when local resident Maria Caccaviello came on board as the Berkshire Carousel Director she began the major task of raising the estimated $750,000 needed to fund the building of the carousel and the year round building to house it.The environmentally sensitive building will have large doors to be opened during the Berkshire’s summer months and when the cold arrives the carousel will be enclosed but still remain visible from the outside. Exhibit areas, concessions, gift stands, and restrooms will all be featured within the building to be built in downtown Pittsfield.

A donated piece of equipment used for gluing. - Photo by Kaitlyn Squires

Berkshire Carousel has been recruiting volunteers, both experience and inexperienced, that would like to learn and devote their time to the project. Master carver Walt Ruess and painters such as local artists Laurie Blore & Jane Crawford work side by side with the volunteers to provide a great learning experience while creating the stunning figures to be featured on the carousel. Each figure will be sponsored in order to raise the needed money for the project. The sponsors information will be placed on a plaque on the carousel floor under the figure of their choice. All of the ponies are being modeled after classical figures made in the U.S.A. during the Golden Age of Carousels and reflect the styles of the major carvers of 1880 to 1930. The “trappings” on the sides and on the saddle can be customized by the sponsor to reflect a cause, a pet, a special person or any other project or organization they might want to honor. In addition to the ponies, chariots, rounding boards, panels, benches, and other parts are also available to be sponsored.

Local artist Laurie Blore hand paints one of the horses. - Photo by Kaitlyn Squires

Located on a small side street in Pittsfield is the workshop of donated tools  used by the volunteers that are working on the figures. The process of creating the ponies starts with gluing wooden blocks together to form the large block that will be hand carved and sanded into the body. Throughout the shop delicately carved horse legs with real horse shoes and beautifully detailed heads cover the table tops. Most of the volunteers that have created these meticulously carved pieces have never carved anything in their lives and have learned everything during their time with Berkshire Carousel.

The first horse completed for the carousel - Photo by Kaitlyn Squires

Director Maria Caccaviello also felt it was very important to get the children of the Berkshires involved in the largest moving art project in Massachusetts so she created an educational program for students grades K-5. The program brings students through the workshop to choose colors, paint, and learn about the history and the different styles of carousel horses. The different schools will have their day at the workshop to learn about the project and some of the processes involved in bringing this magical piece of art to life by the end of 2012. For more information about the project, volunteering, or sponsoring a pony of your own please visit BerkshireCarousel.com, call 413-499-0342, or send an e-mail to berkshirecarousel@yahoo.com.

Saturday December 11th from 11 AM – 4 PM Berkshire Carousel, Inc. will have an open house at its new Exhibit Hall/Shop at 170 North Street, Pittsfield next door to Bagels 2.

Carvers and Artists will be doing demonstrations of their work on the project and displaying completed carousel figures. Bring your camera and from 1:30PM – 3:30PM take your photo with Santa and some of the beautiful ponies including “Baby Blue,” “Homer” and “Sandy”. Santa’s presence will be reminiscent of the England Brothers” Santa of the past.

Click here to visit the Berkshire Carousel Inc. Photo Gallery