At the Cherry Hill Public Library, we have various artworks on display for everyone to observe and appreciate.
The Library’s art collection, permanent and rotating, has become a popular feature and sets the Cherry Hill Public Library apart from other public buildings.
The CHPL Art Gallery (located on the Lower Level) showcases local artists on a monthly rotation. In addition to the gallery, other art is displayed throughout the building and many pieces on long-term or permanent loan.
If you are interested in featuring your art in the Library, please contact Valerie Carita at (856) 903-1205 or vcarita@chplnj.org.
Art Gallery information available under Library Policies, Exhibits and Displays.
Sunday Morning II, 1985
by Seward Johnson
The figurative sculpture on the library’s front lawn draws a lot of attention and double-takes because of its deceptive life-like features. “Sunday Morning” was created by J. Seward Johnson, Jr. known as Seward Johnson (1930-2020) in 1985. There have been two castings: “Sunday Morning I” was sold in 1989 to a private owner in Miami Beach, Florida; and “Sunday Morning II” now in the Cherry Hill Public Library’s permanent art collection.
“Sunday Morning II” is a painted bronze sculpture. The realism of textures and details is a hallmark of Johnson’s art, and this detailing is achieved with hours of intense labor. Delicate textures, such as the clothing, are made more real with fabrics pressed onto the clay in the making of the mold for the metal casting. Despite its realism, no actual clothing is part of the finished sculpture.
Johnson celebrates the familiar with this couple leisurely reading the Sunday newspaper. He called his figures “my bronze people.” They have an uncanny illusion of reality with natural poses and seemingly real clothing and accessories as the two figures are placed on a grassy spot directly in the viewer’s space, Notice the legible headline of the article that asks “But is it Art?’ revealing the artist’s tongue-in-cheek humor.
Before the new library officially opened in December 2004, the sculpture was on temporary loan from Johnson to the township’s library and installed on its front lawn., Without question, the library administration felt that the Johnson sculpture represents what Cherry Hill Public Library is all about – people gathering to read, learn, and relax. It was decided that this sculptural grouping would be a beautiful permanent addition to the library’s state-of-the art facility.
In April 2006, the Friends of the Library launched a “Save the Sculpture” campaign with eighteen months to raise the $57,500, a reduced purchase price specially offered to the township by the artist. The Friends made an initial donation of $10,000 and hosted several fundraisers, but most of the money was donated by library patrons. By the end of January 2007, the Friends had raised enough money to purchase the piece. A dedication ceremony was held on April 15, 2007. “Sunday Morning” is a striking feature that visitors encounter as they approach the library entrance.
You can see more pictures of Sunday Morning in our Flickr album.
Totem
by David Ascalon
“Totem,” is an eight-foot tall, fabricated bronze sculpture on display in front of the Library. Thanks to the generosity of the Friends of the Library, “Totem” was purchased in the fall of 2009 and is now part of the Library’s permanent art collection.
David Ascalon is a contemporary sculptor and stained glass artist, and co-founder of Ascalon Studios, located in West Berlin, N.J.
You can see more pictures of Totem in our Flickr album.
Children’s Mural
by Karol Greene Baker
This brightly-colored, highly-detailed mural measures approximately 37-feet wide and 9-feet high and features classic Mother Goose characters, including favorites such as Humpty Dumpty, the Three Blind Mice and the Cow Who Jumped Over the Moon. This year-long project, completed in 2008, started as a sketch and resulted in a one-of-a-kind treasure for generations of children and Library visitors to enjoy. Come view the mural in the Children’s Craft Room on the upper level of the library.
Artist Karol Greene Baker is a Cherry Hill native who specializes in oil painted caricatures and murals. Her dreamy, stylized illustrations, painted in rich, lush colors, bear a devotion to her craft and display a mischievous sense of humor. Baker donated her time and talent to create this treasured mural.
You can see more detailed pictures of the mural on our Flickr account.
Untitled by George Greenamyer, ca. 1968
Reinterpreted by “Nick” Burpulis, ca. 2010, and Reinstalled by David Ascalon, 2016
The untitled metal and wood sculpture by George Greenamyer (1939-2023) was commissioned for Cherry Hill’s former library designed by Malcolm Wells (1926-2009) in the 1960s. As a site-specific installation, the abstract components of cut steel were affixed to a 14-foot wooden pillar in the center of a turned staircase and seen from multiple points of view inside the Wells building.
The formidable sculpture was Greenamyer’s first commission and is Cherry Hill’s first public sculpture. The artwork was commissioned by the Porter family as a memorial to Valerie Porter, a young teenage girl who loved to read and had an untimely death from a neurological condition in 1966. Her mother, Jenny Porter, was then president of the library board.
Prior to the demolition of the Wells building in 2004, the sculpture was dismantled, professionally wrapped, and placed in storage for safekeeping through the efforts of a volunteer Sculpture Committee spearheaded by Sally Callaghan (1930-2017), who had lived in the Barclay Farms neighborhood. With approval from Greenamyer, the work was reconfigured for exterior display by Stamatios “Nick” Burpulis (1957-2012), a sculptor who was a resident of Cherry Hill and one of the committee members. After many years, David Ascalon realized Burpulis’s conceptual design and oversaw its placement on a grassy spot in front of the current Cherry Hill Public Library. Read the Philadelphia Inquirer article about the sculpture’s installation in 2016.
The abstract metal sculpture has now been preserved and is a prominent feature on the library grounds overlooking Kings Highway.