My love for horses extended to wild horses when I moved west, and even to the beautifully carved (around 1920) carousel horses in the historic Elitch Gardens amusement park in my Denver neighborhood.
Last year the Historic Elitch Theatre group suggested that I make art celebrating Historic Elitch Theatre's 130th anniversary. Although the amusement park was moved into the Platte River valley some years ago the historic theatre and the carousel shelter stayed in my neighborhood. I received permission and photographed the two buildings and began working on ideas.
Nothing really inspired me until I realized that what I wanted to work on was the idea that the carousel horses from both the first and second carousels in Mary Elitch's gardens had been relocated, the first to Kit Carson County and the Second to the current Elitch Gardens along Denver's River Mile. Four of the steeds from the earlier carousel had even been stolen from their new home, found in Kansas, and returned...in horse trailers!
Cattle rancher Dayton O Hyde's wild mustangs had been relocated by Mr. Hyde from an auction pen where they had been headed for slaughter. He fell in love with them and created a ranch near the Black Hills of South Dakota for American and Spanish mustangs to live out their wild lives.
In my universe, the beautifully carved animals on the Philadelphia Toboggan Company carousels that graced Mary Elitch's original gardens (and still prance in circles today) are spiritually connected to the beautiful and free wild horses on the ranches like the late Mr. Hyde's. And I want my works of art to embody that spirit.
I will ask permission to take photographs of the carousel in today's Elitch Gardens amusement park, which is closed because of COVID-19. With my carousel photos, my wild horse photos, and my photos of the (empty) original carousel shelter and the historic theatre for reference and inspiration, I'll see if I can make something that embodies that spirit.
Two wild mustangs on Dayton O Hyde's ranch in South Dakota
