As you walk around the streets of Haddonfield, it is almost impossible to go without noticing a number of sculptures and other public art displays throughout the borough.
From the Children’s Sculpture Zoo, a collection of bronze animal sculptures to the “Low-Poly Open Heart” on Kings Highway to “The Mailman” on Haddon Avenue.
The majority of these public sculptures and art installations can be credited to the work of the Haddonfield Outdoor Sculpture Trust or HOST, a public/ private partnership that aims to enhance the downtown landscape with figurative and abstract pieces and educate the public on art.
Stuart Harting is the founder and chair of the Trust. He first got the idea for HOST in 2012. From the late 1980s until 2004, Harting had a relationship with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA), running a scholarship and displaying the sculptural works of senior students in a riverside restaurant in Philadelphia.
When he wanted to resume the project in 2012, they informed him that the program the displays were initially run through had been completely disbanded.
He was offered an alternative by Rob Roesch, who was the sculpture chairman for PAFA at that time.
“I went back to them, and I said, ‘I’d like to resume the display that we had before.’ And they said we completely killed that program, but would be willing to help for public display of sculpture,” recalled Harting.
Haddonfield Outdoor Sculpture Trust reaches downtown and beyond with its sculptures and other public art displays throughout the borough.
The Trust was approved for 501(c)(3) status toward the end of 2013, the same year their first sculpture display, “Uno” went up, after being purchased by Harry and Judith Stainrook of the Stainrook Foundation as a permanent gift to the Borough.
The sculpture managed to earn the Trust a good deal of publicity due to its nudity and to its location.
“We wouldn’t have gotten 30 articles all over the region,” relayed Harting. “’Haddonfield had the first nude’ …(headlines) like that.”
Michael Willmann, Esq. is the co-founder and vice chair for the organization.
He spoke about the reaction of the mayor at the time and how that also added to the amount of media and public attention the sculpture and the Trust garnered.
“The mayor at the time said something like, ‘Because it’s right across from the Haddonfield Friends School,’ he wasn’t exactly sure that having a bare breasted piece of art across was necessarily the best idea,” Willmann said. “He didn’t oppose it, but he just sort of raised a question. It was a lightning rod for visibility.”
Both men said that without “Uno,” HOST would likely have not gotten the initial boost of attention that helped to get it off the ground faster.
“We couldn’t have bought that publicity,” said Harting.
HOST has a number of sculptures as part of their outdoor displays now, with a mix of permanent works and some that rotate.
Works have been collected through a number of different methods. Some are on permanent loan, meaning they will be on display in Haddonfield indefinitely, unless the artist sells them. At that point, the artist would contact the Borough, explain the situation and reclaim their piece to be given to the buyer.
Others, like “Uno,” were donated to the Borough or HOST, meaning that they are permanent displays owned by Haddonfield.
The displays that rotate are usually on rent. One example of this is HOST’s relationship with the estate of Seward Johnson. For a small rental fee every year, Johnson’s pieces are placed around the Borough and occasionally rotated for some
of his other pieces.
“They rotate pieces, which are usually among the most talked about, because they are the ones that, for better or for worse, look like people sitting at a table,” said Willmann.
The Trust is run exclusively by donations of art and money from those who choose to make contributions.
“We have no financial contribution from the Borough, or state or federal,” said Harting.
“We would be happy to pursue relationships with foundations and other philanthropic entities, as well as individuals, but everything we do is funded by donations,” Willmann added.
Besides the sculptures being around the Borough, HOST also hosts a number of events throughout the year at the locations of some of their most prominent works.
The first event held every year is the vow renewal ceremony at the “Low-Poly Open Heart” sculpture on Kings Highway. Couples, usually around 30 in number, line up to renew their vows on Valentine’s Day.
Another of HOST’s annual events is their Grandparents’ Day celebration at the Children’s Sculpture Zoo, usually held in the middle or towards the end of April. This event allows both grandparents and their grandchildren alike to enjoy the Sculpture Zoo, learn about the art form and spend quality time together.
The final event HOST holds every year is their annual tour of the art walk, in which second-graders from the local schools are taken on a walking tour down Mechanic Street to see the current art installation.
“Stuart does tours for elementary school kids,” said Willmann. “He’s had more than 1,000 kids go on those tours. I think that, as a building block to their appreciation of what’s in the Zoo and around town, is significant.”
Art Walk is HOST’s outdoor rotating display of art works, usually in the form of drawings and paintings. These works could be from local artists, high school students or loan displays from the Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
HOST’s current project is the development of a new sculpture for the Borough with the money left by Haddonfield resident Joseph F. Haro when he died in 2020.
“He left $400,000 for a sculpture to be put on municipal property. Money was given in trust to the Haddonfield Foundation for it to do that. It had no concept of what to do with the sculpture, so they turned it over to HOST to make it happen,” said Harting.
One of HOST’s trustees, Joe Levine who is also on the Haddonfield Foundation, took up the project of Haro’s sculpture, writing a request for proposals from artists.
The request went out nationally. The Trust was expecting to get about 50 responses.
They ended up receiving 162 proposals from 35 different states and 18 foreign countries. A selection committee made up of John Giannotti, the local sculptor that created the sculpture of the Hadrosaurus Foulkii dinosaur, colloquially known as “Haddy;” Robert Roesch, who is now the chairman of the Philadelphia Art Commission; and Gary Snyder, the executive director of the Grounds for Sculpture then began the process of narrowing down the proposals.
“They have now narrowed it down to five,” said Harting.
Now that that step has been completed, Levine has notified all submitters that they are either among the top five, or that they are no longer in the running.
“It’s good for the town, obviously for HOST, but it’s also good for a longer term relationship between HOST and sculptors generally, to know that this kind of opportunity exists,” said Willmann.
“It could lead to some of those folks who might not be among the finalists… to have a relationship with us, where some of their work might come here on a temporary basis or on a permanent basis,” he continued.
The next step in the process will be for the finalists to create scale drawings that will show the full size of their piece, as well as a maquette or small model study of the proposed sculpture.
Each artist will receive $5,000 of the allocated $400,000 to make these maquettes. After they are received by HOST, they will go on display at the library. One of the concepts will then be selected from those models.
“The people who contributed to the purchase of the sculptures, bought them for a reason,” Willmann said. “Typically, because they saw the appreciation kids have for that. So it’s increasing the visibility among people who appreciate it but also the visibility among the people who might be positioned to provide pieces.”
Other major projects in the works include a life-sized statue of Elizabeth Haddon, which will be made out of white marble, adding a rhinoceros to the Sculpture Zoo and a sculpture of some form that will connect to Black history.
