Case Study

First Time in History

Objective:

When the Silver Beach Carousel Society designed its new carousel, it wanted to showcase the area’s rich history on the rounding boards that circled the top of the musical machine. Rounding board scenes are typically hand-painted by carousel artists. So we were asked to provide reference photos for the paintings.

Insight:

When we submitted the first montage of computer-colorized historic photos for the “House of David” rounding board, the committee was excited by the dramatic realism. They asked us if the montage could be printed instead of painted. We found a printer that was able to produce long-lasting prints that could be trimmed to fit the rounding board frames.

Results:

For the first time in known carousel history, we created rounding boards made with prints of actual photographs. This technique opened up more possibilities of what could be shown and the rounding boards became a powerful educational piece on the carousel. We worked with a local historian to record each of the 18 rounding board’s stories and published a book so teachers and visitors could use the carousel to explore local history.