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William J. Higginson (1938-2008), was a American master of a Japanese art form - the haiku. Born in New York City, he grew up in Bergenfield, NJ, later returning to Paterson NJ to study the work of Paterson's native son and master poet, William Carlos Williams. He attended MIT, joined the US Air Force, which sent him to Yale to learn Japanese and then posted him for two years to Misawa Air Base, where he mastered Japanese through the study of verse. Ultimately he would become an exceptional haiku master and evangelist for the art form.

POBA is making available for the first time several informative videos of POBA presentations at the New Jersey State Council on the Arts‘ Professional Development Roundtable for working artists on Preserving Your Art. Led by POBA Co-Managing Directors, Jennifer Cohen and Regan McCarthy

If it could be painted, it could be carved, and Elijah Pierce did both for more than 85 years. Born in Mississippi but living mostly in Ohio, Elijah Pierce began carving wood at the age of 7. Over the course of his life, he would create an entire "zoo" of imaginatively carved animals, hundreds of carving depicting day to day life in the communities in which he lived and traveled, and in his most famous work, The Book of Wood, many carvings about the life of Jesus. Here we see some of the carvings from this masterfully hand-carved "good book."

George Tooker (1920-2011) was an artist both ahead of his time and very much from another era. Using the classical medium of tempura, he depicted modern life in all its stark, unsettling beauty. In cooperation with the Vermont Arts Council, POBA displays one of the 20th Century's great but little known artists whose works captured the tension between faceless modern life and the deep humanity in each of us.

Broad & High, a cultural affairs program of PBS station WOSU in Ohio, recently featured POBA and its partnership with the Ohio Arts Council. In an evocative, brief segment, Jennifer Cohen, of POBA and Donna Collins of OAC talk about the rich contributions of Ohio artists and how POBA keeps their legacies alive and widely available to the public in a unique and vibrant way.

In a recent blog post on Legacy.com, POBA invites readers to consider what it is worth to find out the worth of artwork or collectibles you may have. Following the adage - it takes money to make money - this is true even for determining the value of things because that often requires someone with expertise to confirm or vouch for that value. And that expertise costs money to obtain. So, before you let your fantasies run ahead you will want to check out POBA's tips on how to see if a work has more value than you will spend to find out.

Barbara Shilo published the moving exhibit on the Nazi Holocuast, "Silent Voices Speak" on April 16, 2001. She also created over 120 more works on canvas, numerous multimedia pieces, and a novel and memoir before she died in 2015. POBA assisted her family to navigate the road from overwhelm to legacy preservation.

Salli LoveLarkin (1937-1999), artist and arts advocate, is one of Ohio's most respected and recognized homegrown artists. LoveLarkin was a visual artist, performer, costume designer, and theater director, in addition arts leader arts administrator. Her personal and artistic "mission" was to break what she viewed as the elitist underpinnings of contemporary art and to invite the public to engage with politically-minded art, free from academic or artistic intimidation. LoveLarkin was a recipient of the prestigious Ohio Governor’s Award for the Arts.

AIC | The American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works is a long name for short message: when you need help with preserving important art collections, works or historical documents, AIC is the go to resource for that help. POBA is both pleased and honored to have AIC affiliate with POBA, and join us in our mission to keep creative legacies alive.

POBA and the NJ State Council on the Arts offer working artists an opportunity to learn from the best experts in the region about the central issues and important actions working artists should know about to handle their own works for future preservation, viewing, and value.