Rutgers University–Camden’s Stedman Gallery celebrates 50 years

In 1975, Angelo J. Errichetti, the mayor of Camden, who was later convicted in the Abscam scandal, vowed to turn the “city mired in a downward spiral” around. Promoting his hometown’s revitalization, Errichetti, in the New York Times, proudly cheered Rutgers University’s newly constructed multimillion-dollar Fine Arts Building (site of the former North Baptist Church on Linden Street) with a gallery and performing arts auditorium as a “long-needed cultural center.”

The Stedman Gallery is now celebrating its 50th anniversary. The art gallery on the Camden campus was established by a foundational gift of $104,000 in 1968 (approximately $950,000 today) made possible by Alonzo Weir Stedman (1921-2002), a civic leader and plumbing supply manufacturer in Camden. The funds were earmarked to furnish the gallery, acquire a range of fine arts objects for a permanent collection, and support a national drawing competition.

In 1976, with the arrival of full-time curator Virginia Steel, the gallery emerged as a significant exhibition venue in South Jersey offering regularly changing shows that are always free.

“To bring some attention to the campus, we decided to put together the Rutgers National Drawing exhibition [in 1975] … and received over 1,800 hand-delivered entries from all over the country. The gallery was covered with drawings,” said sculptor and Rutgers professor emeritus John Giannotti at a gallery talk last month, while reminiscing about his teaching days in a nascent art department and the early years of the gallery. That show became the much-lauded biennial Rutgers National Works on Paper. Over the years, artists like Louise Bourgeois and Faith Ringgold have served on the jury.

Ten years after opening in the Fine Arts Building, the Stedman Gallery was described, in an April 1985 Courier-Post article, as “a cultural oasis in the middle of an urban desert.” The gallery’s profile was substantially raised by its first large-scale exhibition that celebrated Louis Armstrong with coordinated programming and concerts during a run from August to October 1995.

Noreen Scott Garrity, former associate director of programming for 33 years, remembers “Louis Armstrong: A Cultural Legacy,” presented in partnership with the nearby Walt Whitman Cultural Arts Center. There were too many objects for the approximately 2500-square-foot art gallery space, she said. “The opening reception started at Stedman and then went down to the steps of the WWCAC for dessert and coffee. And, we were all led by jazz musicians! … Gold trumpets were painted on the sidewalks that directed people from us to the Walt Whitman Center.” Those stayed on for years after.

During his 16 years at Rutgers-Camden, Martin Rosenberg, professor emeritus of art history, worked with the staff at Stedman. “Any crazy idea that I brought to them, they said: ‘Let’s do it!’” he said. With the gallery’s enthusiastic support, he co-curated “Visions of Place” (2015), a group show of leading contemporary Jewish and Arab artists working in Israel, which toured nationally after. “By the way, not a single protest at any single site,” Rosenberg noted.

The gallery’s robust arts education program developed to focus on art and hands-on activities serving Camden’s school-age population. During a discussion of an exhibition of Russian abstract art with a group of school children, Garrity remembered, a young boy being “just unsatisfied why an artist did certain things.”

“Well, you know, it’s artistic license; artists can make up their own rules,” she said to him. At the end of the class, he asked: “Where can I get one of those artistic licenses?”

A 1997, a summer project called “Click!” (Camden Life Interpreted by Camden Kids) gave disposable cameras to approximately 600 children. With a limited budget, Garrity remembers “the pilgrimage looking for cameras around South Jersey.” A local gas station chain was offering single-use box cameras for one dollar each. With an assistant, she fondly remembers: “We drove around to every gas station that had the camera deal and bought as many cameras as they would let us buy.”

The currently ongoing “Emerging: The Stedman Gallery 50th Anniversary Show” brings together 87 works from the Rutgers-Camden Collection of Art that numbers about 760 pieces.

Jackie Neale, guest curator and photographer, was invited to curate the show with a strong focus on photography, which comprises a significant portion of the gallery’s permanent collection. Neale has included several prints and paintings that “spoke to the work in the photography collection” with pieces that provide “a journey through visions of our host city of Camden.”

William M. Hoffman Jr., member of the initial art department faculty, is represented by two plein air paintings from a series of Camden portraits done during the late 1970s and early 80s. View of Camden is a light-filled aerial view of the city’s skyline looking toward the landmark City Hall tower. Despite the seemingly spontaneous and loose brushwork, the cityscape is carefully observed under a bright cloud-filled sky.

Additionally, there are fascinating historic images like the black-and-white archival photos showing the Benjamin Franklin Bridge under construction from the Camden side and dating from the 1920s, as well as a group of photographs taken along the Admiral Wilson Boulevard, including a few of the Oasis Motel prior to its demolition ahead of the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.

Digital color prints by Eric Porter (1946-2014) form a quarter of the show. His 22 abstract images deal with formal elements of design that can be discovered by looking at the details of color and texture in the ever-changing urban environment.

“The arts are at the heart and soul of our city,” said Camden Mayor Victor G. Carstarphen, a lifelong resident. “For 50 years, the Stedman Gallery on the Rutgers University Camden-campus has been a staple in the cultural life of Camden.” Carstarphen‘s father, he said, “was active in the arts as a musician and songwriter. Music and creative expression have always surrounded me and play an important role in my life. Now that I am mayor, I am pleased to see the arts in Camden are still helping to mold future generations.”