Haddonfield adds a nude to its outdoor art

As Haddonfield celebrates its 300th anniversary, the quiet Quaker borough on Saturday welcomed a new resident wearing only her birthday suit.

"Today, we celebrate Uno," Stuart Harting, chair of the Haddonfield Outdoor Sculpture Trust, announced beside the life-size bronze female statue during an unveiling ceremony at Mechanic Street and Haddon Avenue.

Word that a nude would be added to Haddonfield's streetscape prompted speculation about whether it would stir controversy.

But the response from the crowd of about two dozen was positive. "It's so beautiful," Sharon Hoobler said.

Tim Westerside, whose wife, Allie, teaches art at Haddonfield Memorial High School, called it "very impressive."

"It's definitely eye-catching," he said of the female statue, her eyes gazing downward, with arms and lower legs missing.

To Mayor Jeff Kasko, the sculpture was "something we decided to try, to see how it works to have public art in a public space."

If the statue draws people down Haddonfield's side streets, "then I think that's a great thing for our downtown," he said.

Created by Miguel Antonio Horn, a Philadelphia sculptor and 2006 graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), the statue isn't Haddonfield's first; Haddy the dinosaur is also downtown.

But Uno is the first nude in the upscale community, founded in 1713 by Quaker Elizabeth Haddon and covering less than three square miles.

"You put a nude together with a 300-year-old mentality, and you've got oil and water, a little bit," said Harting, a real estate developer. But "there's no real controversy."

The statue was chosen by an advisory committee that included Robert Roesch, chairman of the sculpture department of PAFA, Harting said. He said the statue was the first step to making Haddonfield "the outdoor sculpture capitol of South Jersey."

Its installation followed a reconstruction of Mechanic Street, which runs from Kings Highway to Haddon Avenue. It was once the transportation center of the township, home to blacksmiths and carriage factories, Harting said.

With a state grant, the street got new brickwork and lights, Harting said. Embedded in the bricks are ceramic tiles made by art students at Haddonfield High School.

Uno, wreathed by bent steel, sits at the end of the street.

Finished by Horn in 2010, the piece was last shown at the Museum of Fine Art in Brownsville, Texas. Before that, it was shown in Mexico City; this is the first time it will be shown locally, Horn said.

"At first people think, 'Nude,' and maybe there's some kind of connotation," said Horn, who was at Saturday's ceremony. "But I think people will like it. . .. I don't think it's offensive."

The statue isn't permanent: The trust will choose a new winner to put on display next year, Harting said.

Outside the Cooking Co. on Mechanic Street, store owner Kathy Gold peered at the statue from a distance.

"I'm excited about the idea of art in Haddonfield," she said. But "art is in the eye of the beholder."