Public/Private
On NJN’s State of the Arts
Friday, November 16 at 8:30 pm; and Wednesday, November 21 at 11:30 pm

STATEWIDE – This special episode of State of the Arts traverses the worlds of public and private art. Public/Private visits a great private library; some of the first New Deal public murals; and a new exhibition, “INDIA: Public Places, Private Spaces.” The program airs on Friday, November 16 at 8:30 pm, with a rebroadcast on Wednesday, November 21 at 11:30 pm. State of the Arts marks twenty-five years on NJN this year. The series has earned 28 Regional Emmy Awards, including New York Emmy Awards in 2007 and 2005, and Mid-Atlantic Emmys in 2007 and 2006.

• India
New Jersey has the third largest Indian immigrant community in the country, but most Americans have little understanding of contemporary art from the world's largest democracy. State of the Arts producer Amber Edwards visits The Newark Museum for one of the largest exhibitions of its kind, including more than one hundred photographic and video works by contemporary Indian artists that highlight the dichotomy between India's public and private spheres. The first known photo studio in India dates back to 1849; feature filmmaking began in 1912, during the silent movie era, and has since exploded into the gigantic, visually spectacular Bollywood film industry. The artists featured in "INDIA: Public Places, Private Spaces" play with these familiar media formats to explore modern Indian identity, documenting how old cultural traditions are being transformed by a society dominated by the media, information technology, and a rapidly growing middle class. The exhibit runs through January 6, 2008.

• Charles Ward
In 1935 Trenton native Charles Ward (1900-1962) made history when he painted what is thought to be the very first post office mural for the first national arts program under the New Deal. The mural, “Progress of Industry,” was for the Trenton Post Office in the building that is now the United States Courthouse. The mural featured scenes of Trenton industry that Ward was intimately familiar with, having worked at American Steel and Wire with this father before becoming a full time artist. Later, Ward painted two more murals for the same building: “Rural Delivery,” and “The Second Battle of Trenton.” From October 11 through November 30, 2007, the Historical Society for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey is opening the Courthouse to the public for its first ever art exhibit, “Art For Everyone: Murals and Paintings by Charles W. Ward.” In addition to the murals, nearly 40 Ward paintings, drawings, archival photos and documents will also be on display. State of the Arts producer Susan Wallner visits the exhibit and Ward’s former studio in nearby Carversville, PA. Wallner speaks with curator David Leopold and with Ward’s daughters, Kristina Ward Turechek and Mary Ellen Ward Minnier. She also speaks to Magistrate Judge John Hughes, who was instrumental in bringing the exhibit to the Courthouse where he has worked for most of his career.

• William Scheide
State of the Arts producer Eric Schultz visits one of the most celebrated private collections of books and rare manuscripts in the world at The Scheide Library. William Scheide has chosen to house his collection at Princeton University, his beloved Alma Mater, so it can be shared with the public and scholars from around the world. Three Scheide generations, William, his grandfather, and his father have contributed to the collection. Owned by William Scheide, the library emphasizes three broad areas of interest: 1) the history of printing, including the four earliest printed Bibles; 2) items related to the development of freedom in America, including an 1856 handwritten speech by Abraham Lincoln dealing with the issue of slavery; and 3) musical manuscripts, including hand-written scores by Richard Wagner, J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart, Franz Schubert, and others. Schultz visits William Scheide at home, sees some of his rare treasures, and finds out why this collection evokes such passionate interest.

• Jonathan Shahn
The works of New Jersey artist Jonathan Shahn will be shown at the Noyes Museum in Oceanville, NJ in an exhibit called “Imaginary Portraits.” For decades Shahn has been sculpting and painting the human form in his studio – located in a corner of a functioning factory that manufactures machines that create product packaging. In contrast to his meditative studio work, Shahn has also produced public art commissions throughout the state in locations ranging from the Franklin D. Roosevelt memorial in his hometown of Roosevelt, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. train station in Jersey City, to the Department of Labor in Trenton. State of the Arts producer Christopher Benincasa meets up with Shahn at his studio, visits the public art sites, and speaks with critic Edmund Leites at the Jonathan O’Hara Gallery in New York City. “Imaginary Portraits” runs from November 16, 2007 through January 6, 2008.

State of the Arts, the award-winning, half-hour arts magazine, airs every Friday at 8:30 pm, followed by an encore presentation each Wednesday at 11:30 pm.

The current episode of State of the Arts can be viewed online at www.njn.net. Individual stories will be available to view following their broadcast by visiting the program online at State of the Arts.

Funding for State of the Arts is provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. The series producer is Susan Wallner and the executive producer is Nila Aronow.

NJN is available on all New Jersey cable systems, satellite systems, and Time Warner Cable channel 750 in NYC.
State of the Arts is also available via video streaming at njn.net after the original broadcast.
Additionally, the program is repeated on NJN’s JerseyVision available on Comcast Digital Cable in New Jersey.
(Check http://www.njn.net/digital/schedule.html for detailed listings.)
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