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State of the Arts explores the importance of "A Sense of Place" to an artist’s work. Composer Robert Maggio creates a new work for–and about–his hometown of Lambertville, writer Valerie Wilson Wesley sets her mysteries in the city of Newark, artist John Goodyear gives a tour of his site-specific sculpture, and ceramic artist Toshiko Takaezu‘s newest works reach for the stars.
at the river
Robert Maggio has composed a new work about Lambertville, New Jersey, his new hometown. "At the River," a 20-minute suite for 15 players, was commissioned by the Riverside Symphonia to celebrate its 15th anniversary. It premiered in 2006. Riverside Symphonia is based in Lambertville, an old mill town on the Delaware River that is now home to a thriving arts community. "At the River" explores the town’s history through music as well as through sound collages of interviews recorded with area residents. State of the Arts producer Eric Schultz followed Maggio as he collected sounds and interviews and discussed the innovative new work with the composer.
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Composer Robert Maggio
Lambertville, NJ
Shops in Lambertville, NJ
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art on location
State of the Arts producer Chris Benincasa is going places with artist John Goodyear, a resident of Delaware Township in Hunterdon County. Throughout his career, Goodyear, whose art is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Museum of American Art and the Smithsonian Institution, has been chosen to create public works that relate to the places where they are installed. We'll travel from his home studio to the various sites of his public sculptures throughout New Jersey, and learn how an artist designs a work of art for a specific place.
 see the 1991 State of the Arts story about John Goodyear's exhibition of abstract sculpture
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From “Drawn From the Water,” stone reliefs by John Goodyear (1984), The Jewish Center, Princeton, NJ
“The New Death of Socrates,” anodized aluminum by John Goodyear (1981), Institute of Forensic Science, Newark, NJ
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mysteries of newark
Author Valerie Wilson Wesley takes State of the Arts producer Amber Edwards on a private investigator's tour of Newark, New Jersey, where her popular Tamara Hayle mystery series is set. They also take a side trip to neighboring East Orange where Wesley once lived. Wesley, who also writes children's novels and adult fiction, wrote her first mystery, "When Death Comes Stealing" in 1994. The book introduced readers to Tamara Hayle, a wise and witty African American single mom and ex-cop, who makes her living as a private investigator in Newark. "When Death Comes Stealing" was nominated for the Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America as Best First Private Eye Novel.
 read an excerpt from "Dying in the Dark"
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Author Valerie Wilson Wesley
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in the stars
Ceramic artist Toshiko Takaezu has always shown a strong sense of place in her work. Most important is her native Hawaii, with its volcanic landscapes and deep colors. There’s also rural New Jersey, where she has gardened and made her pots for since the 1960s. But she started her career in the Midwest, in Michigan and Wisconsin in the 1950s. Takaezu recently donated her largest ever clay works, 14 monumental pieces that form a single installation called "Star Series," to the Racine Art Museum in Wisconsin, where it was on display through early January 2006. The New York poet, artist, critic, and former senior curator of the American Craft Museum John Perreault calls "Star Series" Takaezu’s masterpiece. State of the Arts producer Susan Wallner visits the exhibit, meets people important to Takaezu’s early career, and speaks with Takaezu, now in her late 80s, about the importance of both place and timing to her intuitive creative process.
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Toshiko Takaezu, 2005
From left: "Nommo" "Unas" "Nephthys" "Po Tolo" and "Isis (Sirius)", from "Star Series" by Toshiko Takaezu
Racine Art Museum, Wisconsin
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