'Haddy' Takes Center Stage at Dinosaur Exhibit Today

A dinosaur artist and educator will create a life-size drawing of Haddonfield's famous dinosaur today while museum visitors watch on the opening day of the new exhibit Drawn to Dinosaurs: Hadrosaurus foulkii at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.

The centerpiece is a full cast of Hadrosaurus foulkii, discovered in 1858 in Haddonfield, and reconstructed and mounted based on Academy research and artist interpretation. The illustrator will use colored chalk on a blackboard installed in the Art of Science Gallery to draw the 25-foot-long, duck-billed, plant-eating dinosaur, according to a news release.

The mounted cast of that dinosaur will stand nearby as part of the exhibit. Museum visitors can watch the process and ask questions. A time-lapse video of the daylong drawing session will be created and installed in the exhibit the next week.

The artist and educator is Jason Poole, coordinator of the Academy’s Fossil Prep Lab in Dinosaur Hall. Poole has participated in numerous dinosaur digs around the world and his artwork has been published in National Geographic, Science, and other publications and museum exhibits. Poole will interact with museum visitors as he draws.

He'll work from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with a break from noon to 1 p.m. The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University is located at 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia.

Haddonfield has it's own life-sized sculpture of Hadrosaurus foulkii near Chestnut Street and Kings Highway East in an area known as "Haddy Lane."

CORRECTION: Haddy Lane is located near Chestnut Street and Kings Highway East. An earlier version of this story was incorrect.