chick chair (artist timothy martin)

Timothy Martin has gained widespread acclaim for his unique artistic style. His paintings are reminiscent of the Italian Renaissance mannerist Achimboldo, who arranged fruits and vegetables to form faces. Martin uses organic textures – flowers, plants, and animals – within manmade forms such as chairs, furniture, and musical instruments, to create stunning visual puns. In 2005, the Stockton, New Jersey artist accepted a commission from Steinway Pianos in New York City to paint the wooden surfaces on four grand pianos, each representing one of the seasons.

View images of Timothy Martin’s paintings

• also visit
  www.timothymartin.com

“Daffodil” - by Timothy Martin

“Acorn Rocker” - by Timothy Martin

grounds for sculpture

Grounds for Sculpture is an oasis of large-scale works made by world-class artists nestled amidst fantastic landscapes and architecture. State of the Arts delves into the inner workings of this 35-acre sculpture park guided by founder, sculptor J. Seward Johnson, Jr. Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz is featured as she visits Grounds for Sculpture to oversee the installation of her new work, "Space of Stone," made of enormous blocks of free-standing granite. Abakanowicz places the blocks in order to create an environment that, in the artist’s words, “We must enter, penetrate, become part of.” The imposing sculpture is now recognized as one of Abakanowicz’s major outdoor installations.

• also visit
  www.groundsforsculpture.org
  www.abakanowicz.art.pl

Bull (#4), 2002 & Bull (#5), 2002 – by Peter Woytuk

Moby Dick, 2003 – by Ava Blitz

the botanist (manabu saito)

Manabu Saito, professional horticultural artist, watercolorist, and naturalist, travels the world to find and paint rare orchids, cacti, and exotic tropical plants, but some of his best work is done from his own garden in Stillwater, New Jersey. Saito is an accomplished botanical illustrator. He has created illustrations for Audubon and National Geographic magazines, and for many books on plants and flowers such as "Wildflowers of North America," "A Guide to Field Identification," and "A Passion for Plants: Contemporary Botanical Masterworks." He also designed the Orchid Stamps for the U.S. Postal Service, depicting four orchids native to the United States.

• also visit
  www.zytgallery.com

“Vandel”, an illustration
by Manabu Saito

“Pink Peonies”, an illustration
by Manabu Saito

six poets (at the dodge poetry festival)

With up to 25,000 visitors, the biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival is the largest gathering devoted to poetry in North America. Although usually held at Waterloo Village, in 2004, the Poetry Festival was held at one of the most fabulous estates in the country, Duke Farms in Somerset County, New Jersey. Although Doris Duke opened one acre of her gardens to the public in 1964, more than 120 acres of the estate were open for the first time with the 2004 Poetry Festival. More than 60 nationally and internationally renowned poets read their work amidst the glorious settings. State of the Arts heard from six including the Irish poet Paul Muldoon, Newark native C.K. Williams, and Southern-born Yusef Komunyakaa, all of whom teach at Princeton University, as well as Chinese-American Marilyn Chin, Mark Doty, the only American winner of Britain's T.S. Eliot prize, and Coleman Barks, the pre-eminent translator of the Persian poet Rumi.

See a story from the 2002 Dodge Poetry Festival featuring Billy Collins, former U.S. poet laureate
Watch Yosef Komunyakaa read his poem, “Facing It”

• where to see
  The 11th biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival
  Thursday, September 28 – Sunday, October 1, 2006
  Waterloo Village
  Stanhope, NJ
  973-540-8442 ext. 5
  www.grdodge.org/poetry/main.htm
  the gardens at duke farms
  80 rt. 206 south, hillsborough, nj
  guided tours - wednesday through sunday, by reservation only
  908-722-3700
  www.dukefarms.org

C.K. Williams reading “The Doe”

Mark Doty reading "Signal"

Paul Muldoon reading "The House of Poetry", a poem he wrote in celebration of the first Dodge Poetry Festival held at Duke Farms