STATEWIDE – While the origins of the children’s game “Rock, Paper, Scissors” are lost in time, the fascination with the game continues — from kids deciding who goes first to computer programmers working on chance theory. This episode of State of the Arts takes a look at artists working with one or more of the game’s three elements. Along the way, we’ll also visit the RPS Championships in Toronto and learn about the cultural life and dubious history of this time-honored game. This encore presentation of Rock, Paper, Scissors airs on May 18, at 8:30 pm with a rebroadcast on Wednesday, May 23 at 11:30 pm. State of the Arts marks twenty-five years on NJN this season. The series has earned 26 Regional Emmy Awards, including New York Emmy Awards in 2007 and 2005, and a 2006 Mid-Atlantic Emmy.

• The Digital Stone Project (DSP)
Currently housed at the former Stone Division of the Johnson Atelier in Mercerville, New Jersey, the Digital Stone Project was founded by a group of sculptors to explore the full potential of advanced stoneworking technology and to make available the most revolutionary computer-aided stone-carving facilities. State of the Arts producer Christopher Benincasa takes viewers on a high-tech tour with DSP director Christoph Spath and artist Barry Ball into this experimental intersection of science and sculpture.

• African-American Printmakers
Aljira, the Center for Contemporary Art in Newark, surveyed 80 years of printmaking by black artists with "African-American Printmakers: The Legacy Continues.” State of the Arts producer Eric Schultz visited the 2005 exhibit, which featured works by pioneers such as Aaron Douglas, the "artist of record" for the Harlem Renaissance; Hale Woodruff and Wilmer Jennings, who created public murals for the WPA during the Great Depression; and influential artist-educators like Robert Blackburn and Vivian E. Brown.

• Paper Makers
From pulp to paper: master paper-maker Ann McKeown shows us how it’s done at the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper in New Brunswick, New Jersey. But State of the Arts producer Peter Shea shows that there’s more to the story than you think. Some artists, like German Pitre, are taking the art of making paper in some very unexpected directions.

• Paper Cutter
When he arrived in the United States from Taiwan in 1972, Houtien Cheng worked as a bus boy in one of South Jersey’s Chinese restaurants. Today, Master Cheng is a professional artist of traditional Chinese paper cutting. This art form has been used to adorn walls, windows, and clothing in China for more than 2,000 years, and skills of the predominantly female paper cutters were often used to indicate a woman’s value as future bride. State of the Arts producer Peter Shea follows Master Cheng as he visits a Chinese restaurant in Hamilton, New Jersey and introduces customers to the art of paper cutting.

• Movable Books (Pop-ups)
In 1992, Rutgers librarian Ann Montanaro founded The Movable Book Society – 450 members strong worldwide – to provide a forum for artists, collectors and other pop-up book enthusiasts. State of the Arts producer Christopher Benincasa talks to Ann about the history of the pop-up book as well as the fresh ideas coming out of the innovative studios of paper engineers like Matthew Reinhart and Robert Sabuda. The undisputed champions of the world of pop-up books, Matthew and Robert recently captured the imaginations of both children and adults with their phenomenal three-dimensional editions of Alice in Wonderland, The Movable Mother Goose and The Wizard of Oz. Matthew gives us a behind-the-scenes tour of their Manhattan studio and a look at how his continuing book series of prehistoric creatures is created.

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.)
NJN – Uniquely New Jersey
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