- Photographs of art project on show over Liberation Day weekend
- Project celebrates the link between ‘old’ and New Jersey
- It is being held as part of the celebrations to mark the 350th anniversary of the founding of New Jersey, which was named by former Bailiff Sir George Carteret
PHOTOGRAPHS of an art project celebrating the link between ‘old’ and New Jersey will be exhibited over the Liberation Day weekend.
- The Island of Jersey would fit 189 times into the area of New Jersey
- It has 7,504.8 square miles of land and 699.57 square miles of water
- Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Whitney Houston, Frank Sinatra and Paul Simon all hail from cities in the state of New Jersey
- New Jersey has 127 miles of coastline on the Atlantic Ocean
- New Jersey is home to more than 9,800 farms covering 790,000 acres of farmland
- It is made up of 21 counties and 566 municipalities
Last November local artist Christine Finn installed 350 concrete flower pots at a wartime bunker in Cape May, a seaside town in the US state.
The installation represents the link between the history of the two jurisdictions as part of the celebrations to mark the 350th anniversary of the founding of New Jersey, which was named by former Bailiff Sir George Carteret.
And now the pots, which featured in the Skipton Open Studios before being shipped to the US, will make a symbolic journey back to the Island in photographic form in the exhibition named Garden States: Return.
Ms Finn said: ‘The show will be a chance for those who took part in the original Garden States: Jersey project to see how the 350 pots looked on the other side of the Atlantic.
‘I’d especially welcome them back.
‘The Frances Le Sueur centre now features some of the concrete pots which were too large to ship, and people will have the opportunity to buy prints, and souvenir pots.’
The exhibition will open at 6 pm on Friday at Frances Le Sueur Centre on Grande Route des Mielles, St Ouen.
THE art project celebrating the link between old and New Jersey was nearly scuppered in November when US Customs seized a shipment container on suspicion that drugs were hidden among the concrete artworks.
The container, carrying 350 concrete flower pots made by a Jersey artist, was held by the authorities in October after it arrived on a freight ship at Bayonne port in New Jersey.
The pots were due to be placed on a wartime bunker to represent the link between the history of the two jurisdictions as part of celebrations to mark the 350th anniversary of the founding of New Jersey, which was named by former Bailiff Sir George Carteret.
Before the pots were released seven days later, X-rays were taken of the crate to ensure that there were no drugs inside.
Jersey-born artist Christine Finn, who travelled across the Atlantic for the installation of the pots in the New Jersey town of Cape May, said she was worried that the project would not be able to go ahead.
‘I just had to accept that that was the procedure, and that since 9/11 they have needed to be very careful with everything that comes into the country. I was told that concrete was often used to conceal drugs and I presume that’s what they were checking.’
And the 55-year-old, who started the Garden State project in the Island during the Skipton Open Studios in June, said that at one point even a Congressman had tried to help to get the pots released.
‘I had all sorts of people who were helping me and it was a real team effort.’ said Ms Finn.
‘In the end, it was decided that we would postpone the event to the following weekend because we had so little time when it was eventually released.’
‘People really seemed to understand the concept once they found out that there was another Jersey.
‘I had some explaining to do, though, and had to keep referring to it as old Jersey as it really wasn’t widely known.’
