You might have noticed some peculiar individuals standing on the sidewalk at 131 Kings Highway East. These two older looking individuals cast in a bronze coating stare out across the highway with their unusual visage. One must ask, why are they here?
These individuals, named Sidney and Elliot, are part of Haddonfield’s art initiative with the Haddonfield Outdoor Sculpture Trust. The sculptures, together called “The Witnesses,” had their unveiling ceremony on Wednesday, May 27 with Stuart Harting of the HOST, “The Witnesses” artist Michelle Post, Philadelphia Museum of Art Inside/Out Project Coordinator Gina Ciralli, Mayor Jeff Kasko and Commissioner John Moscatelli. “The Witnesses” will be on display at 131 Kings Highway East for about a year, as the HOST does rotating exhibitions.
“This is an important piece of the puzzle to elevate Haddonfield as a major art center in South Jersey. We’ve begun with the HOST and we’ve added a great partnership with the PMOA who has recently installed 11 paintings here. Now we have Michelle Post here with her pieces called ‘The Witnesses,’” Harting said.
“First of all, I want to thank Stuart and the folks of the HOST, who bring art around town, and extend thanks to PMOA for the temporary pieces of art around town. I am learning about art, and thanks to these exhibitions, all of us can learn more about art and appreciate it. It is here; it’s all around Haddonfield; and I think it is a great addition to our town, and for folks who are able to walk in a walkable downtown, who appreciate these things. So I am very grateful. I also want to thank the artist for her most recent editions,” Kasko said.
HOST, in cooperation with the borough, has created a public/private outdoor art initiative that is populating downtown locations with rotational, contemporary outdoor sculpture. Its goal is to transform the borough into a center for juried outdoor sculpture in the tradition of public art.
For this most recent edition, Harting approached Post when he came to the Artist in Action event at Grounds for Sculptures in Hamilton where Post has her studio. He came in and loved her work, asking her to sculpt a piece or two for HOST.
“I was glad to know that Haddonfield is doing a program like this because it is so important for the art. In a vibrant town such as Haddonfield, to have an outdoor art program, I think it is just wonderful,” Post said.
“Stuart is doing a fantastic job bringing artists into town. The HOST is really turning into a beautiful thing,” John Giannotti, the sculptor of Haddy, said.
“The Witnesses” are what Post calls her Tronies, a 16th century Dutch term meaning anonymous. Post creates these Tronies to look familiar, but not be completely identifiable.
“They’re everyday people off the street. We all know them because we see them every day, and that is why they end up looking familiar. We all know someone that looks like these statues,” Post said.
More of Post’s Tronies can be found at the Grounds for Sculpture, as her permanent installation there features 10 similar Tronies in a piece called “The Oligarchs.” The 10 Tronies are cast in aluminum, painted and installed around the Greek Amphitheater there.
For her pieces in Haddonfield, Post came up with the name “The Witnesses” because they are on the side of a busy road watching everything going on around them. The question posed to residents and visitors is, “What did they witness?”
“Watching everything going by, they are bound to witness something. The question is, ‘What did they witness?’” Post said.
From the pieces, Post hopes residents and visitors take away a sense of themselves and the collective human experience.
“When I say themselves, I mean the collective human experience too because this is us,” Post said.
Post carved the sculptures out of Styrofoam and, once carved, “casted and layered them with a very hard ‘stucco-like’ coating in an expressive manner.” She can also create sculptures in various mediums such as aluminum, bronze or resin in various prices that can go indoor or outdoor.
To buy the sculptures or other sculptures like this, or to learn more about Post, go to her website at michellepost.net. To learn more about HOST, visit haddonfieldsculpture.org.
“I am thrilled to be a part of this really great program you have here in this wonderful town. And I am glad that it is giving artists the chance to have this kind of exposure, especially sculpture, which is very difficult to get out there. There is a lot in preparation and installation. So in that respect, thank you so much for pioneering this program and getting it out there for all to enjoy,” Post said.
