The Haddonfield Dinosaur Sculpture Committee envisons a 12-foot-long statue cast in Everdure bronze that captures the spirit of the animal but is a work of art rather than a museum-like piece.

First major art work
"We view this as the first piece of art in Haddonfield but not as the only piece of art," said Beverly Aldeghi, committee co-chair. "We hope this project gets the town to thinking about public art works."

Concerned with the issues of accessibility, durability and safety, the committee has consulted with institutions such as the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, which has long experience in the design of such public displays.

Concerned with being anatomically accurate, the committee has been in contact with the paleontologists at the Academy of Natural Science in Philadelphia, where the actual bones of Hadrosaurus foulkii have been kept on display for 143 years.

Artist selection expected soon
And, over the last year, the committee has extensively interviewed a number of sculptors who specialize in such work and reviewed models of their proposed design concepts. The final selection of an artist is expected soon.

"We've discussed at length with the artists their ideas for the shape and size, and how the statue should be situated, and how impressionistic compared to how realistic it should be," Aldeghi said. "The committee then took all of that under consideration and we're pretty much convinced that because Haddonfield is such a traditional town we will be going for a statue design that is realistic rather than impressionistic.

"We also want it to last a long time, so we're looking at classic material -- probably bronze," she said.