A young girl stands tall at her easel, focusing on her painting and concentrating on her brush stroke.
Located at J. Fithian Tatem Elementary School (Tatem) on Glover Avenue, the life-sized sculpture of “The Little Artist” is the work of local artist John Giannotti. It was created as a tribute to Hillary Johnston, an art teacher at Tatem, who died from breast cancer in 2011.
The school sought a way to commemorate her.
“The idea for the sculpture came about when parents from the Tatem PTA reached out to my colleague, Maria Iula Bezich, and me to plan something to honor Hillary,” said Daneen Scott, a Haddonfield Middle School teacher.
“Their children were moving on to middle school, and every outgoing 5th-grade class presents the school with a gift. We talked about gift ideas, and someone mentioned a sculpture with a plaque. I knew John [Giannotti] and asked him for advice about purchasing an already-made sculpture. That’s when he offered to help us by creating one himself.”
Giannotti sculpted “The Little Artist” for free, so the only cost to be covered was for the bronze casting foundry. (Of note, Giannotti also sculpted Haddonfield’s distinctive Haddy dinosaur free of charge, too.)
“Haddonfield has always been a place where donating your time, work and energy to the community has been important,” he said.
Giannotti used two materials to create this approximately 750-pound sculpture: aluminum for the easel and bronze for the rest of the piece.
While Giannotti worked on the sculpture, the PTA, Bezich, and Scott worked on raising funds to cover the foundry costs.
“John was incredible to work with,” Scott exclaimed. “Not only did he donate his time to the project, but he also included Maria and me in the process.”
“Haddonfield has always been a place where donating your time, work, and energy to the community has been important,” John Giannotti said. He donated all three when creating “The Little Artist” in honor of Hillary Johnston, an art teacher at Tatem Elemen- tary School who died from breast cancer in 2011.
Giannotti took Scott and Bezich to Laran Bronze Foundry to show them the progress on the sculpture. He suggested using a piece of art that Johnston created to be portrayed on the easel part of the sculpture.
“Hillary’s husband sent us a picture that Hillary painted, and John recreated that on the easel,” Scott said.
The painting on the easel depicts one of Johnston’s dolls, Giannotti said. “I wanted full color for the painting, not bronze patina color,” he explained, “so I used Incra-Lac, a specially formulated lacquer that adheres to the bronze.
“It’s one of my favorite aspects of the sculpture.”
The sculpture illustrates the brush painting the color of the sky, Giannotti noted.
The June 2013 unveiling in front of Tatem featured students and teachers speaking of their beloved teacher and colleague, respectively. Johnston’s husband and daughters attended the ceremony, Scott said.
“It was a beautiful, heartfelt ceremony,” she added.
“The Little Artist” sculpture, Giannotti said, is “tucked away and has become part of the school” in the same way that the Haddonfield Outdoor Sculpture Trust sculptures have become part of the community.
“They have become landmarks, and the landscape would seem incomplete without them,” Giannotti observed.
Scott occasionally stops by Tatem to see “The Little Artist.”
“Tatem School has undergone some renovations recently, and I’m happy to see that the sculpture is still part of the school’s landscape,” she said.
Scott misses her friend and recalls the dedication Johnston had to education. “She loved teaching art and had a way of inspiring students to believe that everyone had an artist in them who could create something beautiful,” she reflected. “She also enjoyed working with classroom teachers and often collaborated with them on designing art activities to enhance their curriculum.”
Giannotti, who earned his Master of Fine Arts from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts, went on to teach and hold leadership roles at his alma mater from 1970 to 2001. Gianotti has displayed his art internationally and continues to work from his studio, which is in the barn of his Haddonfield property.
“Haddonfield is a town that deeply values its history and its future, and few people bridge those two worlds as beautifully as John Giannotti,” said Joseph Levine, President of the Haddonfield Civic Association and Vice President of the Haddonfield Outdoor Sculpture Trust.
“From the iconic presence of Haddy to the tender inspiration of ‘The Little Artist’ at Tatem Elementary, John’s work has become woven into our community’s DNA. We are incredibly fortunate to have a world-class artist who doesn’t just live among us, but who consistently uses his gift to shape our town’s unique identity.”
