Warden's House Gallery

Welcome to the Burlington County Wardens House Gallery. Completed in 1888, this house, which is attached to the Historic Prison Museum on High Street in Mount Holly, once served as the warden’s living quarters after the prison became too full. It has been beautifully restored and is now the perfect space for an art gallery.

You can find a variety of exhibits in the Wardens House Gallery, but often the displays are the works of emerging artists. Many of these artists go on to create important and very influential bodies of work. You may just get to view it first!

Exhibits can be viewed in the gallery on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and each exhibit will be displayed virtually to enjoy from home.

March 23– May 13

The Art of Claudia Teal

Claudia Teal grew up on a dairy farm in Mansfield Township in Burlington County and still resides near the family homestead.

She exhibits her work of area historic buildings, farms, and recognizable landscapes at craft shows, festivals, and the Burlington County Farmers Market.

Private commissions of her work were obtained from Princeton University, Johnson and Johnson Corporation, The Walter Annenberg Fund, The Robert Wood Johnson Hospital, The Masonic Home of Burlington County, Burlington County Commissioners, and private homes throughout the world.

Rick Rose: Framed in the Warden’s House

September 22 – November 12

Local artist Rick Rose grew up in Mt Holly New Jersey, attended the Philadelphia University of Arts, and then moved to Maine. He now currently splits his time between Maine and New Jersey. Wherever Rick is, his art is tethered to the moments and places in his life. Visits to the woods provide images and memories that combine art and life. Strong color and kinetic energy vibrate to give a moment for thoughts to emerge. Photos and memories of time provide the structure from which he works.

Rick starts by building layers of color on canvas, paper, or alternative materials. Everything from maps to take-out menus are used, and layers are then often wiped off and relayered. While the ebb and flow of the process is much like wandering in the woods, instinct and a sense of direction guide his way. Through drawing and color, flow the metaphors of life. “

Art is like a bike – it is a vehicle to transport you.” – Rick Rose

Souls Shot Portrait Project

The Souls Shot Portrait Project blends unique styles and personalities into a single collective artwork that forces viewers to confront what we have lost and to inspire empathy and action in the fight to end gun violence.

Selected fine artists created these portraits using a variety of styles, approaches, and mediums to reflect the diversity and individuality of every one of the souls depicted. Our participating families and friends of victims of gun violence have been extremely kind and open in allowing us to portray their loved ones in our exhibitions.

Warden’s House Gallery

July 21 – September 11

Reception, Friday, September 9, 5 PM - 7 PM

The HeART of a Veteran
March 17 – May 8
Presenting the works of artists in the Medford Arts Center Veterans Art Class (MAC VAC). The free art class is offered to veterans and active military members to honor them for their service to this country. Students are encouraged to grow and excel in all media, styles, and techniques through expansive lessons. It is a positive, stimulating environment where students can create, critique, and grow artistically. The shared military experience creates a community that transcends individual branches of service.

Second Floor:

Hugh Campbell: From the Vault

March 17 – May 8

The artist, published author, and philosopher Hugh Campbell lived an extremely minimalistic life in Mount Holly, focused on creating a rich body of work that captured life in town and on the Rancocas Creek. Much of the collection is stored away, deep within Burlington County’s archives. With this exhibit, you will have a unique opportunity to view rarely and never-before-seen paintings, sketches, and pastels, as well as early drawings from when Hugh first began to practice his art.

Jazlyne Sabree

February 3 - March 13

Jazlyne Sabree Wooden is a New Jersey-based artist specializing in contemporary art. Since early childhood, she has been creating artwork to cope with a tumultuous upbringing. Her artwork has always been a place of dialogue, refuge, and healing through all of life's storms. The figurative and abstract works are birthed out of Jazlyne's life experiences with themes of social justice, peace, and healing. The goal is to spread awareness and balance issues of humanity with peaceful, therapeutic paintings for moments of mental relief. It is crucial to address pertinent societal issues while also creating space for self-care, which the abstracts represent.

This body of work represents the artist's need to dialogue about the heaviness of the realities of these times of social unrest during political dis-ease and a global pandemic while also addressing the necessity for self-care and mental hiatus.

SEPTEMBER 18 – NOVEMBER 14 – THE ART OF MELISSA MONTIEL

Melissa Montiel is a Philadelphia artist and gallerist working in a variety of mediums including oils, watercolor and mixed media. In 2002, Montiel studied draftsmanship at the Barnstone Studios in Coplay, PA. In 2007, she received a Certificate in Printmaking at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and BFA from the University of Pennsylvania. She and her husband own a successful tattoo studio and art gallery in the Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Her work is an exploration of the human condition through the use of found images. She seeks out figures in disarming and uncomfortable positions to focus on the awkwardness and vulnerability of the individual. Melissa finds that although these expressions are unique to the stranger in the photograph, there are basic emotions that unite all people, throughout generations.

JULY 24– SEPTEMBER 12: CAUSA SUI: THE ART OF JACQUELINE SOLIMEO

This exhibit, Causa sui (pronounced kau̯. sa ˈsʊ. i) is a Latin term relating to a philosophical hypothesis denoting that something is self-generating or self-creating. Artist Jaquie Solimeo offers her take on abstract painting and what makes her love it so much.

As imperfect humans, she thinks that we can feel so aware of that imperfection that the process of creation and expression like art can be tainted. When Jaquie sees art that she carefully planned, re-visited, and toiled over, it seems ugly because what she really sees is this all-consuming battle against imperfection. Her experience with abstract art, however, is that it's almost as if it creates itself. There’s no plan, no expectation, no anxiety…and in the end when she looks at it, she finally sees art and beauty. She sees nothing of herself and it’s like she had no part of it. It’s a special mental space to enter into when you can enjoy art as if you didn’t make it.

The mixed media abstract paintings in this Causa Sui collection are largely monochromatic and generally influenced by grunge. You can expect to see translucent layers, scrapes, markings, lines, drips, and bits of mica. Rarely are brushes or tools used during the painting process but rather air, motion, heat, and repelling mediums are used to create unique shapes and organic motion.

THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF JOAN WHEELER

Joan Wheeler’s passion for photography began in high school. She worked for a newspaper, captured portraits of people and pets, photographed action sports, landscapes, abandoned spaces and worked with non-profits. Now, much of her artwork reflects old and abandoned places and things. She loves the history behind everywhere she visits and tries to imagine what life was like when these places and things were new and thriving. The photographs in this show include local places like Smithville, Batsto, the remains of the Circus Drive in Hammonton, as well as many old houses and barns in Burlington County. Also included are photos from an abandoned silk mill, barns from Peter’s Valley in the Delaware Water Gap, old Missions from Arizona, and old cars, some of which she found along the roads in South Jersey. While many of the prints are digital and were printed on fine art paper with archival inks, there are some that are printed using alternative methods including Gum printing and Van Dyke Brown prints. Joan feels it’s important to photograph the old so we can remember and learn. What most excites her is showing the audience her view of the world through her photographs. Her work will be on display through July 17.

THE ART OF CAROL BELL

Please welcome artist Carol Bell who recently won best of show in the 44th Annual Juried Art Show at Smithville park. Carol minored in art in college and always knew she would return to it when the time was right. Even though it took more than 35 years, when she retired in 2013 she started enjoying painting in water color. Carol began taking several classes at Perkins Center for the Arts in Moorestown and at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Although she really admires the work of those who paint more loosely, most of the work featured will be photo realism, which is a very literal interpretation of what she sees.

The Little Things (In Technicolor) - Paintings by Michael Anthony

Many of us look for beauty in the world in obvious places, like mountains, beaches, and forests. But many of the wild and scenic places omit any trace of the modern world. This exhibit by local artist Michael Anthony, displays these missed opportunities, and shows that beauty that can be found everywhere from a simple night scene to even a run-down old building! See the works in person on Tuesdays and Saturdays, from 10 AM – 4 PM, or view the gallery online!

THE ART OF JONNY BUSS

Jonny Buss, a handyman with the Burlington County Division of Parks, creates abstract compositions through the use of digital data corruption, photocopy wheat paste, and acrylic stenciling techniques. The aesthetic of his artwork is a commentary about the relationship between data, technology and contemporary society. Abstract Sound installations will accompany the visual art through the duration of the exhibit. Visit the Gallery on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 10AM-4PM or Preview the exhibit! .

THE ART OF ROBERT CUFF

Robert has been interested in the way strong light defines spaces by producing dramatic shadows and highlights can also help to create atmospheres. He has been experimenting with that idea using street musicians he sees in center city Philadelphia and people in outdoor restaurants. The strong light helps to influence the narrative behind the figures. The subjects are representational – ranging from landscapes — which are both studio and plein aire — to figurative studies of people within environments in the city of Philadelphia. The landscapes are views from where he lives, which is along the Delaware River in Southern New Jersey. He feels fortunate because out back of his house are views of the river that range from saturated sunsets of brilliant color to misty, foggy, nearly monochromatic grays of a spring afternoon, creating a wide range of outdoor atmospheres. Robert’s paintings are small to mid-sized oil paintings. The paintings are executed on canvas, linen, and museum board using brushes and palette knives.
Take a look at the virtual gallery of Robert Cuff. Or take a walk through the gallery with the artist himself in the video below!

ONGOING UPSTAIRS:
Hugh Campbell Exhibit

(1905 - 1997)
Exhibit is ongoing and can be viewed upstairs of the Warden's House Gallery

MOUNT HOLLY IN THE MID-20TH CENTURY THROUGH THE EYES OF HUGH H. CAMPBELL - Hugh H. Campbell was a man of many talents. He expressly captured his own view of Mount Holly via his paintbrush. He was an artist, published author, and philosopher who lived an extremely minimalistic life. Sometimes called the “Van Gogh of Mount Holly”, Hugh Campbell was a man who painted voraciously and then lined his canvases in front of a wall on High Street to sell. See select works from the Hugh H. Campbell Collection. Burlington County Arts Facebook Page

History of the Warden's House

Originally the warden’s living quarters were within the prison walls, but by the late 1800s the prison population had grown to a point where it was necessary to provide separate housing for the warden and his family.
The warden’s house was completed in 1888.
The warden had immediate access to the prison via a walkway (or bridge) between the two buildings on the second floor. The walkway can be seen during a Prison Museum tour.
Restoration of the Warden’s House was completed in 2011 and is now the permanent home of the Hugh Campbell Collection.