The Herbula Love Bug, in memory of Herb Iris, is installed in its perch atop the Garden State Discovery Museum in Cherry Hill.
Photo courtesy Garden State Discovery Museum
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The Garden State Discovery Museum is located at 2040 Springdale Rd. in Cherry Hill. It is open 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily, with an extended closing time of 8:30 p.m. on Saturdays from October through April. Admission is $9.95 for adults and children 12 months old and older, $8.95 for seniors. For more information, call 856-424-1233 or visit www.discoverymuseum.com.
July 17, 2008
Overlooking the entrance from its perch on the rooftop, a ladybug-like creature welcomes visitors to the Garden State Discovery Museum in Cherry Hill.
The Herbula Love Bug, a permanent exhibit in memory of Herb Iris, a past leader of the MetroWest community and a philanthropist who was involved in every step of the museum’s development, was installed June 26.
The recycled and playfully reconfigured Volkswagen Beetle is a tribute to Iris’ role as a builder, engineer, and family man, said Roree Iris-Williams, Iris’ daughter and the founder and executive director of the children’s museum.
“We wanted to honor him in a meaningful way but we wanted it to be playful,” she said.
The car was donated to the museum when it first opened and immediately became one of the most popular exhibits among children and nostalgic parents.
But after the wear and tear of 13 years, Iris-Williams said, “it was time for it to move on.”
She and her family approached Eric Schultz, an artist who specializes in recycled sculpture, to rework the auto.
The concept of the Love Bug came from the 1968 Disney movie of the same name featuring an anthropomorphic Volkswagen named Herbie. The Beetle had a lively personality; even the end product bears some resemblance to her father’s “sweet, friendly face,” said Iris-Williams.
“There’s something that really connects about the sculpture and him,” she said. “The artist said he felt my father was very present through the process.”
‘Heart and soul’
In addition to taking on a life of its own, the Love Bug “has some little secrets.” Mounted inside the hood, the “heart and soul” of the sculpture, is one of Herb Iris’ bowling trophies and his tennis racket. Schultz also incorporated some of the toys and trash left by the kids that he found as he dismantled the car. The Love Bug even has photosensitive lights that turn on to greet visitors at night.
Roree Iris-Williams, executive director of the Garden State Discovery Museum, left, with her mother, Milly Iris, and artist Eric Schultz.
“It’s another way for him to be present and to make people smile,” Iris-Williams said. “He can’t talk now but he can be a greeter and an ambassador.”
Herb Iris headed Iris Construction, and, in addition to chairing the MetroWest United Jewish Appeal campaign, was a leader of efforts to develop the Alex Aidekman Family Jewish Community Campus and the Lester Senior Housing Community project in Whippany, as well as capital expansions at Daughters of Israel in West Orange and the Leon & Toby Cooperman JCC, Ross Family Campus in West Orange. He and his wife, Milly, were also active at Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel in South Orange.
He died in 2006.
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