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Icons on NJN’s State of the Arts
Friday, March 27 at 8:30 pm; and Wednesday, April 1 at 11:30 pm
STATEWIDE – Tune in for Hollywood glitterati, a Bach fugue, and iconic images of American art, this week on State of the Arts. The next episode, Icons,airs on NJN Public Television on Friday, March 27 at 8:30 pm, with a rebroadcast on Wednesday, April 1 at 11:30 pm. The program will be broadcast in high definition, joining an increasing number of HDTV programs that may be viewed on NJN’s digital channel.
Robert Zuckerman, Photographer
Princeton, NJ: Robert Zuckerman hangs out with Hollywood glitterati on film sets taking pictures that end up as posters, production stills, or any other part of the industry’s promotional arsenal. However, some of his most inspirational subjects are everyday people – as chronicled in his photo/story “Kindsight” series. State of the Arts producer Christopher Benincasa got a chance to spend time with Zuckerman on the set of this summer’s impending blockbuster Transformers 2 being filmed at Princeton University, and also visited one of his “Kindsight” photography workshops for students at Ridgewood High School in New Jersey. Zuckerman’s “Kindsight” photo-essay pieces are featured in exhibitions, books, and most recently on his blog.
The Art of Fugue
Princeton, NJ: Organ virtuoso Joan Lippincott performed J. S. Bach’s monumental The Art of Fugue on the Paul Fritts Organ at the Princeton Theological Seminary. The eighty-minute work, comprised of twenty fugues and canons, epitomizes Bach’s contrapuntal genius. State of the Arts features her virtuosic performance, which was a highlight of the Westminster Choir College 2008 Bach Festival. Lippincott explains why she thinks Bach’s "The Art of Fugue" is such a masterpiece in a discussion with State of the Arts producer Eric Schultz. She also describes some of the intricacies involved in writing a fugue.
Picturing America
Newark/ Mt. Laurel/ Trenton/ Dover, NJ: As of January 2009, more than 76,000 schools, public libraries, and Head Start centers nationwide now have their own set of 40 large, high-quality reproductions of great American art, accompanied by an informative teacher’s resource book. Picturing America is the ambitious brainchild of Bruce Cole, the longest serving chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. As he tells State of the Arts producer Susan Wallner, the goal of Picturing America is to help tell the story of America through great art, to as many people as possible.
The Picturing America portfolio includes carefully selected images ranging from early Native American artists to painters Mary Cassatt and Thomas Hart Benton; from photographers Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange to architects Frank Lloyd Wright and William Van Alen. So as students around the country are being presented with iconic images of American art, State of the Arts producer Susan Wallner visits a middle school social studies class and elementary art and library classes in New Jersey. At the Greater Newark Charter School, eighth grade social studies teacher Keisha Daley uses the George Caleb Bingham painting “County Election” and the James Karales photograph, “Selma-to-Montgomery March for Voting Rights in 1965”in a class about the evolution of voting rights. At Larchmont Elementary School in Mt. Laurel, students use library and art time to learn about quilts, using seven 19th and 20th century quilts included in the Picturing America portfolio. State of the Arts will also be stopping in at Little Cherubs, the Community Development Institute (CDI) Head Start program serving Mercer County. Finally, at Dover High School in Dover, New Jersey, an honors humanities class brings technology into the mix – students reflect on images from Picturing America in their own video essays. Technology teacher Tim McElroy and English teacher Kathy Paterek collaborate on new ways of using words and images.
State of the Arts, the 29 time Emmy award-winning, half-hour arts magazine, airs every Friday at 8:30 pm, followed by an encore presentation each Wednesday at 11:30 pm. All new State of the Arts programs are broadcast in high definition (HDTV) on NJN’s digital channel.
The current episode of State of the Arts can be viewed online at www.njn.net. Photo images for this episode are also available. Individual stories are available to view following their broadcast by visiting the program online at State of the Arts. Selected State of the Arts stories can also be seen on YouTube (look for NJN’s Arts & Culture Channel).
Funding for State of the Arts is provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. The series producer is Susan Wallner and the executive producer is Nila Aronow.
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