The Flying Horses carousel has always held a special place in the hearts of countless children — and many adults. It was with great glee that riders and onlookers alike flocked to the carousel on opening day, April 4. They were greeted with a treat: Artist Margot Datz has just finished an 11-year project that transports us back to the late 1800s, with her delightful recreations of the decorative panels that now grace the carousel.
Built in 1876 by Charles Dare of New York Carousel Manufacturing, the Flying Horses is the nation’s oldest operating platform carousel. The Vineyard Preservation Trust acquired the property in 1986 to prevent it from being dismantled and sold piecemeal to antique collectors.
Datz has been hard at work since 2015, recreating the original slim, rectangular spreader boards and small upper and large lower panels, many of which had been lost or altered in the past 150 years. Throughout its history, different owners have changed the carousel’s panels. From the late 1940s to the 1960s, they featured a Howdy Doody cowboy theme. In the 1970s, the style reflected the Age of Aquarius, inspired by the Broadway show “Hair” and the 1967 hit song “Up, Up and Away.” When the trust took ownership, it decided to return to the original 1876 design intent, and hired Datz.
The artist’s connection to the carousel began when her children were born here in the 1980s: “Of course, the Flying Horses was one of the delights of the summer season for all of us. There was always this kind of mystery to me about why there were these blank panels. It was like looking at a smile with missing teeth. There were these gaps, but at that time, my work was residential … It was in the 21st century that my work shifted from mostly residential to mainly public. Step by step, I was privileged to create public works for the Island. My association with the Preservation Trust allowed me to apply my skills to the Flying Horses and the Old Whaling Church.”
With support from the Katherine Goodman Foundation, overseen by Timmy Goodman, Datz began recreating the original Dare panels. She emphasizes, “I’m not a restorationist working with the original pieces. I’m a recreationist, and start from scratch.” She studied surviving fragments, the single panel restored by West Lake Conservators, archival references, and comparable works from the period for inspiration. The goal was not a modern reinterpretation, but a faithful visual recreation of the carousel’s original aesthetic.
Datz’s process was meticulous, starting with building the stretchers for her canvas the same way the original panels had been constructed, using hundreds of small copper tacks instead of a staple gun to hold them in place.
For the large panels, she first painted the bold linear design surrounding the oval. She then addressed the vignettes: “No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t locate the original six out of the eight. So the challenge was to recreate historically appropriate images.” Datz noted that the subject matter of the existing pieces recalled the Hudson River School paintings, with their romantic, idealized portrayal of the American landscape: “But I needed to find a more folky style, similar to itinerant artists.” She discovered Thomas Chambers, who worked in the Hudson River School genre with a folklike flair.
Chambers often worked with maritime subjects, and water appears throughout the vignettes, including a boat sailing in a harbor, a garden pond, a winding river, a gushing waterfall, and a frigate on the open sea. Even in the mountain scene with the stag, we can see water off in the distance.
Datz says, “One of the questions I faced was whether to paint the panels with their original vividness or with a faded palette. I made a decision based on when they were restoring the Sistine Chapel. All different restoration crews were called in from around the world to do a sample restoration to show their individual techniques, before the final choice was made.” It turned out that all the teams, except for a Japanese one, chose to make it look aged and rather monochromatic. It was the Japanese team that won. Their sample restored it to its original, very colorful state.
Datz adds, “I tried to imagine that we hold on to these panels for the next 100 years. I want them to have structural and archival integrity, and to be something that could afford to fade. They’ll get old in their own sweet time. Meanwhile, we have something that has historical context for the next part of the carousel’s history.”
Today, a new generation of Flying Horses riders is making memories amid Datz’s splendid, historically authentic recreations. Datz says, “I love how the trust has been so invested in preserving these treasures. To be a part of it all has been a blast.”
Laura Pla, educator and exhibition coordinator for the trust, says, “Margot Datz has done something truly remarkable, recreating the long-lost decorative panels and spreader boards of the Flying Horses. I think everyone at the Vineyard Preservation Trust would agree that it has been a true privilege to work alongside such a dedicated and extraordinary artist. Seeing the carousel once again full of color and life, especially in its 150th year, is a powerful reminder of what thoughtful preservation can achieve.”