Oregon artists bring carousel creatures to life

ALBANY, Ore. — The sponsors had ideas. The carvers and painters brought them to life.

But the designs for each of the animals that will one day hold a place on Albany’s downtown carousel came from just two people: Terryl Whitlatch and Kurt Christensen.

Whitlatch was the original lead designer, creating 17 of the menagerie members currently waiting for riders. As of Tuesday, four more waited to be finished.

When Whitlatch moved from the area in 2006, Christensen got the nod. Thirteen of the waiting animals and the “cat” chariot are his, with other critters waiting in the wings.

The two designers haven’t met, but both say they admire each other’s work. Now that Whitlatch has moved back to Oregon, both say they’re excited about continuing with the carousel as the project continues to unfold.

“There’s nothing more magical than a carousel,” Whitlatch said.

It was that magic that got Whitlatch involved in the first place. In 2002 Whitlatch was checking out a gift shop at Two Rivers Market. She saw a sign at the store asking about interest in creating a carousel for Albany and knew instantly that yes, she was.

Whitlatch grew up in California, in both Oakland and Walnut Creek, where her mother, Joan Martens, also is an artist.

She enrolled at Sonoma State College, and later transfered to the Academy of Art in San Francisco.

As a student she connected with LucasArts, the video game division belonging to “Star Wars” filmmaker George Lucas and later with his film studio, Industrial Light and Magic.

Her work can be seen in a variety of ILM productions, including “Jumanji,” ”The Indian in the Cupboard” and “Dragonhart.” Perhaps her best-known creation is Jar Jar Binks from the first of the “Star Wars” prequels.

Whitlatch brought all her knowledge of animal anatomy to the carousel project.

She was to avoid anything scary to young riders — she gave Honey Bear, for instance, a friendly smile and a butterfly perched on his nose — and was careful to help keep a balance between horses and other exotic animals.

Once the sponsor and the board had each signed off on the creation, Whitlatch’s design would go to the carvers.

The hippocampus — a horse with a fish tail, named The Guardian — was chosen for the carousel’s logo and remains one of Whitlatch’s favorite designs.

These days, Whitlatch is back working with the carousel.

Two passions

Christensen, too, grew up in California, in Orange County.

He worked six years in the animation industry, in television shows based in Los Angeles. The “Iron Man,” “Jumanji” and “Dragon Tales” shows all feature his work.

It was a custom fit, he said: “It felt like all the planets were aligned and I felt like I was doing exactly what I was designed to do.”

When the craze for Japanese-style animation hit, the bottom fell out of Christensen’s part of the industry. His company went out of business and he decided to move north to be closer to his father.

It was 2006 when Christensen saw an ad seeking someone with art skills to help design a carousel and was immediately sold.

“The moment I saw it it was like, that’s my job,” he said. “I knew it was mine.”

He credits his design for the horse that became Vincent — a dark gray pony with a Van Gogh-style, “Starry Night” theme to his saddle blanket — for getting him the job. To this day, Vincent remains one of his favorites, but his real joy has been designing the animals whose sponsors have a story to tell.

Take Marcy, for example, a sweet-face unicorn still in the carving studio. Bill and Nancy Mickelberry adopted her as a tribute to their 18-year-old daughter, killed in a car wreck, who bore the same name. “I really poured my heart into that,” Christensen said.

Cricket, currently awaiting carousel riders, is another favorite. Based on a real horse that had belonged to her sponsor, Frances Sweet, Cricket existed only in a black-and-white photograph. But Sweet had saved tufts of her beloved pet’s mane and sorrel coat, so Christensen had a good idea of the color. And he knew Sweet had often braided daisies and buttercups into Cricket’s mane and tail, so he added those to the sketch.

“The moment she saw it, her whole face just lit up,” Christensen recalled. “It was such a joy to bring that to her and have her childhood companion, her childhood buddy, come back to life, in a way.”