January | 2010 | Amusing the Zillion

Archive for January, 2010

March 14-17: Coney Island Sideshow Banner Painting School with Marie Roberts

Posted in art, sideshow, tagged art workshop, banner painting, Coney Island USA, Marie Roberts, sideshow banner, sideshow school on January 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Banner painter Marie Roberts in her Studio at Coney Island USA Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Beginning on March 14, Coney Island USA’s artist-in-residence Marie Roberts will teach a four-day, hands-on workshop on the art, technique and history of banner painting. For more than a decade, Marie has painted the banners advertising the Coney Island Circus Sideshow. You can view her work 365 days a year on the CIUSA Building at Surf Ave and 12th Street.

According to the course description “Each student will be furnished with one 5 x 4 inch blank, and the use of materials to execute it. Traditional banners will be discussed, sideshow banners from the collection will be on view for reference, instructor will be present at all sessions. Emphasis will be to help the student achieve his/her own large format composition, using the instructor’s years of painting experience. Professor Roberts will paint along with students to demonstrate method.” For more information on “Banner Painting 102” and other sideshow school classes– including fire eating, sword swallowing and glass walking!—visit CIUSA’s website.

The pix that appear in this post were taken on New Year’s Day when we visited Marie Roberts studio. The works-in-progress in the first photo are for a banner Marie is working on for Ringling Circus commemorating last year’s performance of the Coney Island Boom-A-Ring. If you look closely, you’ll see Justin Case riding through the miniature ring of fire on his tiny bicycle! The mermaid banner shown below will be up for auction at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s upcoming silent auction.

Mermaids of Coney Island Banner Painted by Marie Roberts for the BAM Silent Auction, March 18-28, 2010. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Zamperla-Ride-O-Rama: Swing in the Sky over Coney Island

Posted in Amusement ride, tagged amusement park, Coney Island, rendering, Vertical Swing, Zamperla on January 24, 2010| 1 Comment »

One of the new rides we expect to see in Zamperla-landia Coney Island in 2010 is the Vertical Swing. The tower ride is Zamperla’s version of the Star Flyer prominently featured in the CIDC’s renderings since November 2007. According to the company’s website, the Swing comes in both a 125-foot park model and a 102–foot portable model (top decoration included) that takes only half a day to set up.

We also found this spectacular 190 foot (58 meter) Vertical Swing (Kettenkarussell) in a vid of Wunderland Kalko amusement park in Germany. New for 2009, the ride is sited within the cooling tower for a proposed nuclear power plant which instead became an amusement park after widespread protests! The Vertical Swing is crowned with the park’s mascot Kernie. As you can see in a second video, the ride offers a 360 degree view of the surrounding area. Can’t you just imagine yourself swinging in the sky over Coney Island’s Beach and Boardwalk this summer!

Zamperla’s first portable Vertical Swing, pictured at left, was sold to Reithoffer Shows. It debuted at last year’s Florida State Fair where it was among the top ten grossing rides. The carnival calls it “The SkyFlyer.” The lighting scheme looks more colorful than our Parachute Jump! Other top carnivals that have purchased the new ride are Ray Cammack Shows (RCS) and North American Midway Entertainment (NAME). According to Zamperla’s website: “What makes the portable ride unique is the rotation made with the entire tower (instead of a rotating center only). It reaches a maximum speed of 12 r.p.m. The setup is easy and takes about half a day. Hydraulic extension: no cranes needed!!!”

The cost of the ride– $700,000 (park model) and $790,000 (portable model)– illustrates why Zamperla had an advantage over park and carnival operators going into the Coney Island Amusement Operator RFP. As the world’s largest manufacturer of rides, Zamperla doesn’t have to get financing to buy new rides or wait months for them to be built. If the ride is not already in stock, Zamperla can ramp up production in one of their factories around the globe. We expect the company to rotate the ride line up over the ten year lease, bringing in new pieces to keep Coney Island’s midway thrilling and profitable. As we wrote in “The Contenders from A to Z” (November 23, 2009), we also expect Zamperla to try out prototypes in Coney Island, an exciting prospect that calls to mind the heyday of Coney when the first models of any new rides would come here.

The Tower Swing Ride Was Prominently Featured in the CIDC's November 2007 Renderings of the new Coney Island Amusement Park

The Tower Swing Is Prominently Featured in the CIDC's November 2007 Renderings of the new Coney Island Amusement Park

Demolition Alert: Dreamland Artist Club Mural on Feltman’s Bldg

Posted in art, Redevelopment, tagged Coney Island, Creative Time, demolition alert, Dreamland Artist Club, Feltman's Kitchen, Rita Ackermann, Steve Powers on January 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

In our recent post about Coney Island’s soon-to-be-demolished Feltman’s kitchen, one of the photos taken from Jones Walk shows the mural on the west wall of the historic building. Take another look because the Rita Ackermann mural is said to be worth $250,000 and the building is not long for this world. Yesterday the City’s contractors were observed removing the roof of the hot dog inventor’s kitchen.

Mural on west wall of Feltman's Kitchen Seen from Jones Walk. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Ackermann painted the mural in 2004 for the Dreamland Artist Club says the art project’s founder and lead artist Steve Powers.

“I co-curated the Dreamland Artist Club and have happy memories of working with Rita,” Powers told ATZ. “Although I would estimate the value of the mural at $250,000, it is but a fraction of what Steeplechase Park, Luna Park and a hundred other monuments in Coney Island have been worth. The mural may meet its doom but its memory will remind us how dumb progress can be sometimes.”

It’s ironic that public art which was created in response to real estate development changing the landscape and character of Coney Island is itself endangered by redevelopment. Powers teamed up with Creative Time, the non-profit public art agency, to bring artists to Coney Island to create new signage for the stands along the Walk and the Bowery. The first year’s funding was $80,000. When the murals and signage debuted in June 2004, Powers told the Times: “A large percentage of them will be up forever.” Powers own work, including the Cyclone roller coaster seats and “Bump Your Ass Off” signs for the Eldorado Bumper Cars are thankfully still with us and look like they’ve been here forever.

Detail of Rita Ackermann Mural and Wonder Wheel Signage.. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

The Brooklyn Rail’s review of the Dreamland Artist Club included this description of Ackermann’s mural: “With an aura of danger and seduction, snake charmers, acrobats, and sword throwers return to Coney Island in Rita Ackermann’s 50-foot mural above Jones Walk. Graphically rendered in black, white, and golden yellow against the background of the Cyclone’s sweeping arcs, Ackermann’s femme fatales twirl and pose high above the crowds promoting a demonic carnival of darker, hidden attractions.”

ATZ contacted Rita Ackermann via her gallery, but we haven’t yet received a response. If you happen to know the artist, please tell her to get ready to add the word “demolished” to her resume.