An afternoon of discovery with world famous sculptor Gar Waterman and Branford Poet Laureate Judith Liebmann. Open to all ages.
Mr. Waterman’s beautiful sculptures of the the Nudibranch will be on show. His presentation on the fascinating marine creatures — how he came to discover them, what they are, and why he creates sculptures of them — may well inspire you to try your hand at poetry under the guidance of Branford’s Poet Laureate Judith Liebmann. Prepared to be surprised!
Gar Waterman’s sculpture explores organic form. A combination of observation of natural phenomena, sensual devotion to the tactile possibilities of material, and a model maker's tinkering sensibility inform his work. He grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with a formative year in Tahiti at the age of 9 to 10, where his father, pioneer underwater film maker Stan Waterman, documented the adventure in a National Geographic Special. Waterman’s daily contact was with the exotic flora of the Polynesian landscape and the barrier reefs of the South Pacific, with their hydrodynamic fish, rays, sharks, and corals. After college at Dartmouth, Waterman moved to Pietrasanta, Italy, where he lived for seven years and learned to carve stone. A foundation of ocean imagery experienced first hand over a lifetime of diving infuses his sculpture with marine forms, from fish, nudibranchs, and squid to the spiral perfection of shells.
Judith K. Liebmann is a poet, fiction writer, and literary scholar. Her work has been published in numerous literary journals, as well as in The New York Times and Scientific American, and has been anthologized in the short story collection The Safe Deposit Box. A collection of poems, Ekphrasis”, was published in December 2023. Judith has a Ph.D. in Literature from Yale University and was the Director of the Writing Program at the Center for Independent Study. She has served on the Advisory Board of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and has conducted writing workshops at middle schools, high schools, and universities throughout the country. In January 2024, she was inaugurated as the first Poet Laureate of the Town of Branford.
