Tatem Statue Evokes Memory of Late Haddonfield Art Teacher

It’s been two years since breast cancer took Haddonfield art teacher Hillary Johnston’s life, but now a piece of the beloved, vibrant teacher will live on at Tatem Elementary School.

Colleagues, students, parents and Johnston’s family will gather at Tatem Wednesday evening to unveil a statue memorializing Johnston and the creativity she brought to Haddonfield’s elementary art program.

The Little Artist isn’t just a sculpture depicting Johnston’s love of art, it’s a personal piece that conjures Johnston’s red hair, way of dressing and even a piece of her own artwork.

The statue is a labor of love from Johnston’s colleagues and students, and an idea that sprouted very soon after her 2011 death.

“The tradition in this school is that the class leaving Tatem leaves a gift,” said Daneen Scott, a special education teacher at Tatem and good friend of Johnston. “The parents who were part of the fifth-grade gift committee came to my friend Marie Iula and I about doing something in honor of Hillary and that’s how it started.”

The group first considered buying a premade statue that would best memorialize Johnston, who taught in Haddonfield for 13 years. In stepped sculptor John Giannotti, who wouldn’t hear of anything premade for such a personal tribute. Giannotti is well-known to most Haddonfielders as the creator of the Haddy dinosaur statue; he offered his services for free to create The Little Artist.

Giannotti spent a lot of time hearing about Johnston—about how she let children work at their own pace and find their own sources of creativity. About how she wanted to meet children on their level and often created projects around the latest trends to make art more approachable. About her three daughters and even her red hair and how she dressed.

The sculptor poured that inspiration into a little girl sitting at her easel painting.

“It’s a little girl painting on an easel and her one arm is raised as if she’s actually painting,” Scott said. “The painting on the easel is a painting that Hillary did. She had a doll growing up and she often painted this doll at different stages in her life, so we used that painting on the sculpture.

“I cannot wait to see it. I’ve most been looking forward to that because it’s the most personal piece of this sculpture.”

Scott calls the sculpture “grander than anything I imagined” when she, Iula—a Tatem speech pathologist—and the school parents started with the project. It’s been a true community project from the start, with the idea inspired by the then-fifth-graders (now in seventh grade at the middle school). Parents and Tatem staff sought fundraising opportunities to pay for the statue’s costs, and received support from groups including Arts Plus Gallery in Collingswood, which donated paintings for auction.

Even the artists working on the statue, cast at the Laran Bronze foundry in Chester, PA, took the project to heart without ever having met Johnston. Gianotti and Gabrielle Silverlight at the foundry refused to accept anything but excellence for the statue, Scott noted.

“They’ve really taken The Little Artist under their wing to make her perfect, every last detail,” she said. “John has been really enthusiastic about this project. He sort of has an emotional tie to it now. Most of the people in the foundry do, I get that feeling.”

On Wednesday, all of that work will finally be on public display. The public, Tatem parents, students and former students (especially Tatem’s Class of 2011) are invited to the school lawn for the unveiling. It starts at 6:30 p.m. at Tatem, 1 Glover Ave., Haddonfield. 

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