Ken Means has been working on creating an entire hand-carved, working carousel with the hopes of locating this carousel in the Coquille Valley since the early 1990's. Ken is a former professor of painting and drawing at Pasadena City College and the Otis Parson School of Fine Arts in Los Angeles, who migrated to wood carving when he began creating carousel horses for his young daughters.

Realizing that the art of hand-carved carousels would soon be a thing of the past, Means began work on his dream of a complete car and conducts annual summer workshops in wood carving of carousel animals at his studio in Myrtle Point. Means’ students come from all over the country, to spend 3 weeks working on their own creations under Means’ guidance. Ken hopes to open a gallery of his creations to the public in 2009.

In 2005, 19 of the planned 28 colorful carousel animals were on display along with Means’ sketches, life-sized drawings, carving tools, and the mechanical blueprints for the entire carousel. This exhibit was supported in part by a grant from the Oregon Arts Commission at the Coos Art Museum in Coos Bay.

Many thanks to Ken Means for his approval of this web page and photographs, which is a compliment to his own website,
KenMeansCarousel.com, and to the Dynamic Recording Studios for the use of their carousel graphic from their "Carousel Memories" CD.
"Twenty-three tunes bring back the sounds of summer from Seabreeze Park - the whirling carousel and prancing horses spin around to the music of childhood, and this fabulous recording captures the wonderful memories."

For more information on carousels throughout the United States that are being built or restored, visit the National Carousel Association

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