Visual arts/museums

Photographer Roy DeCarava. A collection of his photographs, featuring leading jazz musicians and life in Harlem, spanning the past 50 years has been published recently: "Roy DeCarava: A Retrospective." (Museum of Modern Art)

Poet, performer, and punk rocker Patti Smith. Early in her career she lived with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, and -- she says -- the two helped each other form and develop their individual talents. (Her 1975 debut album cover was photograph was taken by Mappelthorpe.) Terry talks with Smith on the occasion of the publication of, "Mappelthorpe Altars," (Random House) the color companion volume to the collection of his black-and-white prints, "Mapplethorpe" published in 1992.

Photographer, writer, attorney, and former Special Assistant for Disability Policy to the Vice President of the U.S., George Covington. He was born legally blind, with less than ten percent of normal vision. He says he photographs "to see." Through his pictures he's able to hone in on the subject. His work is featured in the book, "Chronicles of Courage: Very Special Artist." (Random House). He was also featured in the PBS documentary series "People In Motion."

Brazilian photojournalist Sebastio Salgado's newest book documents working class people with difficult jobs. It's called "Workers." He began his professional life as an economist.

Photographer Fazal Sheikh. Since graduating from Princeton University in 1987 he has won an impressive collection of awards including the Leica Medal of Excellence, The Ruttenberg Award, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. His new book "A Sense of Common Ground," (Scalo) presents a series of photographs taken of African refugees from several different camps. The book was published along with a traveling exhibition, opening at the International Center for Photography in New York City. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Art historian and curator Mark Rosenthal. He is curator of the new exhibition "Abstraction in the Twentieth Century: Total Risk, Freedom, Discipline" at the Guggenheim Museum in New York (Feb 9 - May 12). There's also a companion book to the exhibition, same title, published by Guggenheim. Rosenthal is Curator of Twentieth Century at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. and formerly Consultative Curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

Actress/painter Mary Woronov. She was part of Andy Warhol's "Factory" in the 1960s. She was discovered while still a college student and was in Warhol's film, "Chelsea Girls," about New York bohemian life. She has a new memoir about those years, Swimming Underground: My Years in the Warhol Factory (Journey Editions).

Designer, sculptor, architect Maya Lin. She was a 21 year-old undergraduate student when her design was selected for the Vietnam War Memorial. Her works are known for their ability to elicit powerful emotions. Lin also designed the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, and the "Women's Table" at Yale ( which dealt with the history of female students at Yale, which was mostly all-male for 300 years.) Most recently Lin designed "The Wave Field" in memory of Francois-Xavier Bagnoud, pilot, aeronautical engineer and humanitarian.

Tattoo artist and tattoo historian Don Ed Hardy. He came to tattooing by way of a Fine Arts degree in printmaking, and he studied in Japan with a traditional tattoo master. He was the first non Asian to gain access to that world. HARDY also publishes colorfully illustrated books of tattoo art. (Hardy Marks Publications, P.O. Box 90520, Honolulu, Hawaii 96835). And he's curated the exhibition, "Pierced Hearts & True Love," which is at The Drawing Center in New York City (Sept. 16-Nov. 11). The exhibit then travels to Williamstown, Mass., Miami, and San Francisco.

Illustrator and comic-book artist Peter Kuper. His work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, The New Yorker, The Village Voice, and his "Eye of the Beholder" was the first comic strip to regularly appear in The New York Times. He is also co-founder and co-editor of World War 3 an illustrated political comics magazine. He's illustrated a number of books. Most recently, Give it Up! And Other Short Stories by Franz Kafka, (NBM Publishers)