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Last June, Gerry Holzman made what would be his last visit to The Farmers’ Museum. This trip, one of many, was to celebrate his 90th birthday betwixt and between the indigenous New York State animals he designed and, with a battery of fellow woodworkers, deftly carved, to carry museum visitors on a wild ride on the museum’s Empire State Carousel.…
Brunswick, ME—Gerry Holzman, Master Carver, creator of the Empire State Carousel, author, and teacher, died on December 8, 2023. He liked to say that his entry into the world in the early summer of 1933, as the first son of Solomon and Hazel Holzman, was a statement of optimism during the depths of the Great Depression. Gerry departed this life after a 90-year sojourn while still pondering Carl Sandburg’s mystifying questions: “Where to? What next?”…
HOLZMAN HONORED: Seventeen years ago, master carver Gerry Holzman donated the Empire State Carousel to The Farmers’ Museum and on June 3, he returned to celebrate his 90th birthday—surrounded by family, friends, as well as his masterpiece. In 1984, Holzman became the head carver and executive director of the Empire State Carousel Project. Created over two decades by more than 1,000 volunteer carvers, quilters, painters, and woodworkers from across New York State, the Empire State Carousel features a variety of…
HOLZMAN RETURNS ON 10TH Empire Carousel Carver Tells How Small Effort Grew Large…
Empire Carousel Creator Here For 10th Anniversary Gerry Holzman of Islip, L.I., reunes this afternoon with Freddie de Frogge, his favorite carving on The Farmers’ Museum’s Empire State Carousel in Cooperstown. Holzman, who pursued the carousel’s creation for 20th years, then negotiated its move to Cooperstown, is back for the 10th anniversary of its installation here, to be commemorated with a ceremony at noon Saturday at the carousel. Additionally, Holzman will be giving tours at 11 a.m., and 1, 2,…