STATEWIDE -Go "on the road" with NJN's State of the Arts in January and meet an inflatable dancer, an original Chieftain, a Jersey girl who's a star in London and an artist who makes shoes out of recycled tires. This eclectic group demonstrates how they and their art forms change through the experience of travel. On the Road airs on Sunday, January 4 at 6 pm; Tuesday, January 13 at 6:30 pm; Thursday, Ja

On the Road includes Stacey Kent, an expatriate singer whose bio reads like a piece of romantic fiction. American girl studying abroad meets British saxophone player and switches from comparative literature to music. Kent then cuts a demo tape that lands her a movie role, a recording contract and heavy airplay on Britain's jazz stations. Next she marries the saxophonist and tours the world, becoming a star in her adopted country. In her native country (she grew up in New Jersey and New York), her star is somewhat dimmer. But American recognition is steadily building, thanks to great press and a lot of miles on the road. The grueling schedule of one-night stands in different cities is bearable, she says, because she and her husband, Jim Tomlinson, are together.

Next "on the road" is the Fred Garbo Inflatable Theatre Company as they bounce into New Jersey to create their expanding universe of gigantic puppies, floating shapes, shapeless blobs and many other pumped-up characters - and then deflate the whole show and move on to the next performance. Fred Garbo started his career as Barkley on Sesame Street, moved on to tour with Michael Moshen and now tours his own wildly popular dance theatre company.

Going on the road affects more than just performers; it affects the music they play as well. Paddy Moloney of the Chieftains points out that blue grass and country music both have their roots in Irish traditional music, and that the musical connections make moving between the three worlds extremely natural and comfortable. The feature includes an interview with Rosanne Cash, who worked with the Chieftains on their new album. The Chieftains' explore the roads taken by traditional Irish songs in their encore album to "Down the Old Plank Road" called "Further Down the Old Plank Road."

Making art out of what takes us "on the road" is New Jersey artist Chakaia Booker, who uses tires to create her art by manipulating their shapes and contents into works that are about conceptual meaning, perseverance and struggle as well as about form and motion. In January, the Jersey City Museum opens Booker's exhibition Jersey Ride, a mid-career retrospective that explores the fact that much of Booker's work is steeped in the influence of the landscape and environment in which she was raised.

If you live in New Jersey, going "on the road" must include the NJ Turnpike - watch a sneak peak of the upcoming NJN documentary that reveals how artists have represented this legendary road in a variety of artistic forms.

Funding for State of the Arts is provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. On the Road is produced by Susan Wallner, series